Causes and solutions: why adults exercise too little
You can answer both parts of a causes and solutions question, with each solution matched to a cause.
Some Task 2 questions describe a problem, then ask two things: why it happens, and what can be done. Your essay has to answer both.
The one here is about adults who do too little exercise. In the plan I'll show you, each cause gets its own solution, so the two halves of the essay fit together.
The band 7 descriptor for Task Response says "a clear and developed position is presented". In this kind of essay, your position is your answer to both questions.
Warm-up
What is the question asking?
A Task 2 question ends with these two lines: Why is this the case? What can be done to encourage adults to be more active?
What must your essay do?
How it works
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
In many countries, a large number of adults do less physical activity than doctors recommend.
Why is this the case?
What can be done to encourage adults to be more active?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Five minutes of planning
- 1Split the question
Start your notes with two headings, causes and solutions. Every idea you plan goes under one of them.
- 2Find two causes
Choose causes you can explain with an example: desk jobs and long commutes, the cost of sport, a lack of time. Two developed causes do more than four listed ones.
- 3Give each cause its own solution
A solution should answer a cause you named. If the cause is long days at a desk, the solution has to change the working day.
- 4Say who would act
Employers, local councils, schools, families. A solution with a person or an organisation in it is easier to explain than the government should do something.
- 5Decide what matters most
Choose the bigger cause, or the solution that would work best. One sentence on this is your position. It closes the introduction, and the conclusion says it again.
Two ways to lay it out
Choose the one that applies to you
Introduction. Body 1: both causes. Body 2: both solutions, in the same order. Conclusion. The easiest layout to plan quickly.
Introduction. Body 1: cause 1 and its solution. Body 2: cause 2 and its solution. Conclusion. Useful when each pair needs a lot of explaining.
Watch me do one
My notes for this question start with two headings, causes and solutions. I fill in the causes first.
Cause one: work. Many adults sit at a desk all day, then sit in a car or a train to get home. Cause two: exercise looks expensive and hard to fit in, with gym fees and classes at times that don't suit parents.
Now a solution for each. Work keeps people sitting, so employers should act: paid time for a walk at lunch, or help to buy a bike for riding to work.
Cost and time point to local councils: free outdoor gyms in parks, safe cycle lanes, and paths that are lit in the evening. That means exercise near home, at any hour, for little money.
My position: work is the bigger cause, so employers have the bigger part to play. That sentence goes at the end of my introduction.
A model answer
In many countries, a large number of adults do less physical activity than doctors recommend. Why is this the case? What can be done to encourage adults to be more active?
In many countries, adults move far less than doctors advise, and this harms their health. In my view, the two main reasons are the way people now work and the belief that exercise needs time and money. Work is the larger cause, so employers have the greater part to play, although local councils can also do a great deal. The first cause is the working day. A large number of adults sit at a desk for eight hours and then sit again in a car or on a train to get home. After a day like this, few people have the energy to go for a run. The second cause is that exercise is often seen as expensive and hard to fit in. Gym memberships can cost a lot, and a class at seven in the evening is difficult for parents who need to cook and put their children to bed. As a result, many adults decide that exercise is not for them. Each of these causes suggests a solution. Since work keeps people sitting, employers are well placed to change it. Companies could give staff thirty minutes of paid time for a walk at lunch, or help employees buy a bicycle to ride to work. The second problem is one that local councils can reduce. Free outdoor gyms in parks, safe cycle lanes and paths that are lit in the evening allow people to exercise near home, at any hour and for little money. In conclusion, many adults are inactive because their jobs keep them sitting and because exercise seems costly and time-consuming. Since work is the larger of the two causes, employers should act first, while councils make activity cheap and easy for everyone else.
- TaskThe answer to the first question, in one sentence: two causes.
- TaskThe position: which cause matters more, and who should act. It answers the second question in outline.
- CoherenceA short topic sentence tells the reader what the next few sentences explain.
- GrammarA large number of with a plural noun, from this unit's language lesson.
- GrammarFew without a, meaning almost nobody, which is exactly the point.
- CoherenceOne sentence joins the two halves of the essay.
- TaskThe solution starts from the cause it answers.
- TaskThe same position in new words, now that the body paragraphs have supported it.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
A teacher's reading helps most with the solutions paragraph, because a vague idea is hard to spot in your own work. Kriti and Christine mark essays like this in their classes.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Four questions on the plan and the language, then a plan and a paragraph of your own.
A solution that fits
The cause in an essay is this: many adults sit at a desk all day, then drive home.
Which solution answers that cause?
Which paragraph?
The essay uses the first layout: causes in body 1, solutions in body 2. Where does this sentence go?
Local councils could keep sports halls open until ten at night for people who work late.
Specific or vague?
Three ideas for the solutions paragraph.
Which one would be easiest to explain and support?
Find the mistake
These sentences come from one body paragraph. One has a grammar mistake from this unit's language lesson.
Which sentence contains the error?
Plan your own
Plan an answer to a new question in five minutes. A few words in each box is enough.
In many cities, people sleep fewer hours than they did in the past. Why is this happening? What can be done about it?
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Write the solutions paragraph
Write the body paragraph that gives your two solutions. Link each one to its cause.
Write the solutions paragraph for: In many cities, people sleep fewer hours than they did in the past. Why is this happening? What can be done about it?
0 / 90 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
Not moving or exercising much. Adults who drive to work can be inactive for most of the day.
Taking a lot of time. A trip to the gym after work can feel too time-consuming.
Be in a good position to do something. Employers are well placed to change the working day.
Make someone more likely to do something. Cheap classes encourage people to try a new sport.
The regular trip to and from work. A long commute leaves little time for exercise.
Find time for something in a busy day. It's hard to fit in a workout on weekdays.
Before you go
Split the question before you plan: one half for causes, one half for solutions.
Give each cause a solution that answers it, and say who would act.
Explain two causes with examples. That does more than a list of four.
Say which cause or solution matters most. The essay opens and closes with that view.
Next: Next, for the Academic paper: two pie charts on weekly exercise time, 2005 against 2025. If you are taking General Training, go on to Unit 6, which starts with words for places and change.