In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?
Sample Response
These days traffic congestioncongested traffics in developing nations has caused many environmental problemshas made lots of environmental issues such as air and noisesound pollution and governments have taken different strategies to tackle this problem. Undeniably increasing tax on private car owners and investing more in public transport systems are the most considerable ways which governments have usedwhich government have performed in most of the countries to control the traffic but it is essential to investigate both theof negative and positive aspects of mentioned policies and applying other solutions to reduce the amountnumber of traffic on our blue planet.
However, people will not use their own cars most of the timein most of the time when they must pay more taxes or insurance money and it can influence the number of traffic in each residential area. On some occasionsin each residential area, in some occasions, it directly affects the economy of a country. In other words, if the tax on private cars were increasedif the tax on the private car would be increased, prices of other goods would be raised and it putsmakes people under pressure. On the other hand, policies should allow people to have a better life while adding costs for using a private car standsstand against this human right.
Also, some governments have tried to improve transport system by developing underground railwaysdeveloping under ways and increasing the numbers of buses and trains which are appreciated and havehas had a deep effect on traffic issues, especially in mega cities. While this strategy is useful,While this strategy is a very good solution but perhaps allocating some part of transport system budget to develop freeways would be a fundamental solution as people can use their own cars without causing congestionwithout making traffics.
I think, therefore, not only should governments limit societies to use private cars as the best solution for traffic problem, but they should try to make a situation which allows anyone to use his own car without worries about spending more money as the tax. Perhaps other steps would be taken beside boosting public transportation or getting tax on using own cars.
Why this response received Band 5.5
The response recognises both benefits and drawbacks of taxing car owners and investing in public transport, with relevant attention to congestion, costs, and infrastructure. However, its position becomes indirect as it shifts toward freeways and a general right to drive, while long sentences and frequent language errors blur the argument. Prioritise organising explicit advantage and disadvantage paragraphs, then conclude by directly weighing the proposed policy.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay discusses both possible benefits and drawbacks of heavy taxation and public transport investment, but the answer is partly indirect because it shifts toward freeways and a general right to drive.
Make the advantages and disadvantages explicit: explain one benefit of reduced car use and one drawback of unfair cost, then keep the conclusion focused on this policy.
Coherence and Cohesion
There is paragraphing and a basic progression, but several long sentences contain multiple ideas, and the order of advantages and disadvantages is not always signposted clearly.
Use one paragraph for disadvantages, one for advantages, and one short conclusion that directly weighs the solution.
Lexical Resource
Topic vocabulary is adequate, but inaccurate collocations such as congested traffics, number of traffic, and under ways reduce precision.
Use natural transport-policy phrases such as traffic congestion, private motorists, public transport systems, metro lines, road users, and congestion charges.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is usually understandable, but frequent errors in agreement, articles, plurals, and clause control interrupt fluency.
Break long sentences into shorter ones and check each clause for subject-verb agreement and correct plural forms.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.