Feature Article — ‘Surfing on the Waves of Trends’ (a beauty blogger’s guide to keeping up — and knowing when not to)

Year: 2019 Part: B Question: Q5 Genre: feature article (Learning English through Popular Culture) Grade band: 5* Marks: ^18 + ^18 = 36 / 42 (perfect agreement, no third marker) · booklet pp. 8–11 + supp. Candidate: 2019-001

Question prompt — Q5 (Part B, Learning English through Popular Culture elective)

Popular culture — including fashion and beauty trends — changes fast. Write a feature article sharing tips on how to keep up with the latest trends in style and beauty.

About 400 words. Booklet pages 8–11, continuing onto the supplementary sheet. A witty, well-structured feature article in a beauty-blogger voice: where to find trends fast (social media, magazines), how to actually pull off makeup and hairstyles (YouTube), and a mature closing turn — cultivate your own style rather than blindly follow the herd. Organised with its own subheadings.

Show original handwritten pages (5)

Booklet p.8 — Q5 X-box, title 'Surfing on the waves of trends', intro and where to find trends fast — Booklet p.8 — intro and social media

Booklet p.9 — Instagram/OOTD, then 'What it takes to be a fashionista' (magazines) — Booklet p.9 — social media and magazines

Booklet p.10 — magazine picks, then 'Makeup and hairstyles' and the Urban Decay gag — Booklet p.10 — magazines and makeup

Booklet p.11 — learning makeup from YouTube, then 'Trends and timeless fashion'; to End of Paper — Booklet p.11 — YouTube and the balanced close

Supplementary sheet — the conclusion: cultivate your own style — Supplementary sheet — the conclusion

The writing, with corrections marked inline

Legend: green = the candidate’s own insertion | dotted underlineour fix = our small correction | every inline fix has a matching row in Grammar notes. The candidate’s own subheadings (e.g. lines 12, 33, 51, 81) are kept as lines. The title sits above line 1. Line numbers show every 5th.

Booklet p.8 — the Q5 X-box, the title, the ‘trends come and go’ intro, and where to find trends fast (social media) (lines 1–20)
Surfing on the waves of trends.
1Trends come and go in a flash. The waves of
2different popular cultures are constantly washing towards
3the shore. Given that trends change in the blink of an eye, it
4could definatelydefinitely be difficult to catch on the everchangingcatch up on the ever-changing
5fashion and beauty trends. The problem is, we all want
6to hop on the bandwagon before it’s too late to
7pull off an offshoulder topan off-shoulder top, or rock the braided
8eyebrow style. In this article, I hope I could use my
9experience as a beauty blogger to share a few tips on
10how to get information about the latest trends in style
11and beauty.
12Don’t be late! Not for school, but for trends!
13Talk about speed. Owing to globalization and the
14global division of labour, the production cost of clothing
15has drastically reducedhas drastically dropped. This gives rise to the culture
16of disposability and the rapidly changing fashion trends.
17In fact, there are as much as 52as many as 52 fashion seasons
18in a year! In order to know about the latest outfit
19combinations, I suggest you follow some fashion pages
20on social media. These are the platforms which are
Booklet p.9 — following Instagram/OOTD posts, then ‘What it takes to be a fashionista’ (fashion magazines) (lines 21–42)
21updated most frequently, enabling us to know
22the latest hit in the fashion industry. Using
23social media such as instagram, facebook and twitter,
24it is not hard to see users posting their OOTD &mdash;
25outfit of the day, showing off their newly acquired
26fashion statement pieces. I like to scroll through
27instagram when I have spare time on my
28hands, and check out the posts of stylish instagram
29models. By paying attention to what they wear,
30it is not hard to find out the latest trends since
31they are especially enthusiastic on ravingenthusiastic about raving about the
32latest hits.
33What it takes to be a fashionista:
34Apart from paying attention to social media, I
35suggest you get your hands on some fashion
36magazines. I personally think it helps me cultivate
37a marvellous fashion sense, as well as a firm grasp
38of the latest hits in the fashion industry. The special
39thing is that magazines display a more comprehensivedisplay them in a more comprehensive
40and ‘designer approved’ manner, with full time
41professional models rocking the outfits. It’s easier to learn
42a skill or two on how to master that effortless
Booklet p.10 — magazine recommendations, then ‘Makeup and hairstyles’ (the Urban Decay / ‘punched in the eye’ gag) (lines 43–64)
43chic style you might be yearning for. I recommend
44‘The Fashionista’ and ‘The Stylist’ for they’re
45very reasonably priced fashion magazines. They’re
46good channels for learning how to match daily
47outfits. After all, we all perferwe all prefer following the practical
48trends we can try out for ourselves, not those extravagant
49and eye-catching outfits shown in the Victoria
50Secret’s fashion show, right?
51Makeup and hairstyles
52Some trends simply can’t be followed and
53mimicked just by looking at instagram posts or
54reading magazines. Take makeup as an example.
55You’ve seen this trendy eyeshadow colour on
56supermodel Karlie Kloss’s eye, and you’ve got your
57heart set on trying it out. Not only after you’veOnly after you’ve
58bought the latest Urban Decay palette did you
59realize, with your nonexistantnonexistent makeup skills, you
60can only manage to draw something that has an
61uncanny resemblance when one is punched in the
62eye. Tragic, isn’t it? Therefore, not only do we
63have to know these trends, we should get information
64on how to apply them by honing relevant skills.
Booklet p.11 — learning makeup from YouTube (Michelle Phan), then ‘Trends and timeless fashion’ — the balanced close; runs to End of Paper (lines 65–87)
65I taught myself makeup application by watching
66Youtube tutorials: If you ask me which
67Youtube channels you can learn the latest makeup trends
68from, I would say go check out Michelle Phan’s
69videos. She has a series of videos called ‘The
70Trend Report’ in which she tries out makeup
71and hairstyling styles that are recently popularare currently popular.
72In her latest video, she taught her subscribers how to
73braid the mermaid fishtail hairstyle. It indeed
74takes a bit of practice, but upon seeing how it
75made the celebrities that recently tried it so elegant
76I was determined to give it a go. It’s trendy
77for a legitimate reason! However, the rainbow highlighter
78she tried last week seemed a bit weird to me. I would
79not want to go around looking like a unicorn. Who
80says one must follow every trend anyway?
81Trends and timeless fashion
82I hope you could find a few useful tips
83on how to get hold onget hold of information about the
84latest trends in style and beauty in my article.
85I do believe it is fun to try out new trends, but
86I hope my fellow readers won’t feel pressured to
87give into the herd mentality and blindly copy
Supplementary sheet — the conclusion: cultivate your own style rather than blindly follow the herd (lines 88–91)
88the latest trends. Cultivating your own style and
89knowing what might suit you is more important.
90Good luck in being trendy while building up
91your own fashion sense!

Strengths to praise

A genuine feature-article structure, with subheadings

Text-type command title, lines 33, 51, 81

A catchy title and the writer’s own section subheadings — “What it takes to be a fashionista”, “Makeup and hairstyles”, “Trends and timeless fashion” — turn this into a real magazine feature, easy to scan and clearly organised.

A witty, self-deprecating blogger voice

Voice & register lines 60–62, 79–80

“you can only manage to draw something that has an uncanny resemblance when one is punched in the eye. Tragic, isn’t it?” and “I would not want to go around looking like a unicorn”. The humour is on-brand for a pop-culture feature and keeps the reader smiling.

Specific, current cultural references

Concrete detail lines 24–25, 56, 68–70

“OOTD — outfit of the day”, “Karlie Kloss”, the “Urban Decay palette”, “Michelle Phan’s… ‘The Trend Report’”. Real names and platforms make the advice feel authentic and of-the-moment.

Idiomatic, lively language

Vocabulary in context lines 3, 6, 16

“trends change in the blink of an eye”, “hop on the bandwagon”, “the culture of disposability”. The idioms and phrasing are apt and give the article real momentum.

A clear, practical through-line

Structure & cohesion lines 13–20, 34–42, 52–64

The tips build logically: where to spot trends (social media), how to study them (magazines), and how to actually do them (makeup/hair via YouTube). Each section answers a real reader question.

A mature, surprising final turn

Persuasive technique lines 82–91

After 80 lines of ‘how to keep up’, the close pivots: “don’t feel pressured to… blindly copy… Cultivating your own style and knowing what might suit you is more important.” Ending on individuality, not conformity, gives the piece a real point of view.

Grammar notes

Issue	Explanation
fix (line 4) `definately` → `definitely`	Spelling. definitely (contains ‘finite’).
fix (line 4) `catch on the everchanging trends` → `catch up on the ever-changing trends`	Phrasal verb + spelling. To stay current you catch up on something (catch on = become popular / understand); and ever-changing is hyphenated.
fix (line 7) `an offshoulder top` → `an off-shoulder top`	Spelling. The compound adjective is hyphenated: off-shoulder.
fix (line 15) `the production cost… has drastically reduced` → `…has drastically dropped`	Voice. reduce usually needs an object or the passive (has been reduced); an intransitive verb like dropped / fallen is cleaner here.
fix (line 17) `as much as 52 fashion seasons` → `as many as 52 fashion seasons`	Count vs mass. seasons are countable, so as many as (use as much as only for uncountable amounts).
fix (line 31) `enthusiastic on raving about` → `enthusiastic about raving about`	Preposition. enthusiastic about (or recast: they love raving about the latest hits to avoid two ‘about’s).
fix (lines 39–40) `magazines display a more comprehensive… manner` → `…display them in a more comprehensive… manner`	Missing words. You display something in a manner: add an object and in — display them in a more comprehensive… manner.
fix (line 47) `we all perfer` → `we all prefer`	Spelling. prefer.
fix (lines 49–50) `the Victoria Secret's fashion show` → `the Victoria’s Secret fashion show`	Proper noun. The brand is Victoria’s Secret; its show is the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
fix (lines 57–59) `Not only after you’ve bought… did you realize` → `Only after you’ve bought… did you realise`	Structure. The fronted-time inversion takes Only after… did you… (Not only pairs with but also, a different structure).
fix (line 59) `nonexistant` → `nonexistent`	Spelling. nonexistent (ends -ent).
fix (line 71) `styles that are recently popular` → `styles that are currently popular`	Word choice. recently describes a past action; for what is popular now use currently / now.
fix (line 83) `get hold on information` → `get hold of information`	Preposition. The idiom is get hold of (obtain) something.
notice (line 3) `in the blink of an eye`	Idiom. A vivid idiom for how fast trends change — used correctly and to good effect in the opening.
notice (line 6) `hop on the bandwagon`	Idiom. ‘Jump/hop on the bandwagon’ (= follow a trend everyone’s following) is exactly on-topic and idiomatic.
notice (line 87) `herd mentality`	Vocabulary. ‘Herd mentality’ (blindly following the crowd) sharply names what the conclusion warns against.

Style suggestions

How to read these: fluency smoother, more varied sentences | authenticity a truer, more natural voice | text-type sharper feature-article conventions

Capitalise the platforms

authenticity lines 23, 28

“social media such as instagram, facebook and twitter… stylish instagram models”

“social media such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter… stylish Instagram models”

Brand and platform names are proper nouns — capitalise them (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube).

Fix the ‘Only after… did’ inversion

fluency lines 57–60

“Not only after you’ve bought the latest Urban Decay palette did you realize, with your nonexistant makeup skills…”

“Only after buying the latest Urban Decay palette do you realise, with your non-existent makeup skills…”

The emphatic structure is Only after… do/did you…; ‘Not only’ needs a ‘but also’.

Avoid ‘about…about’

fluency lines 31–32

“they are especially enthusiastic on raving about the latest hits”

“they love raving about the latest hits”

Recasting removes the awkward ‘enthusiastic on’ and the doubled ‘about’.

Tidy the magazine sentence

fluency lines 38–41

“magazines display a more comprehensive and ‘designer approved’ manner, with full time professional models”

“magazines present looks in a more comprehensive, ‘designer-approved’ way, with full-time professional models”

Add the object and ‘in’; hyphenate ‘designer-approved’ and ‘full-time’.

Let the subheadings stand out

text-type lines 12, 33, 51, 81

“Don’t be late! Not for school, but for trends!” … “Makeup and hairstyles”

Format these as bold standalone subheadings (and keep them in a consistent style).

You’re already using subheadings — making them visually distinct is the finishing touch of the feature-article form.

Trim the opening clause

authenticity lines 3–5

“Given that trends change in the blink of an eye, it could definitely be difficult to catch up on the ever-changing fashion and beauty trends.”

“Because trends change in the blink of an eye, keeping up with fashion and beauty can be genuinely hard.”

‘Trends…trends’ repeats; one mention plus a tighter clause reads better.

Strong moment worth teaching from

A twist ending that earns a point of view

Clean as written. The structural choice — subverting its own premise — is the lesson.

“Who says one must follow every trend anyway?… I hope my fellow readers won’t feel pressured to give into the herd mentality and blindly copy the latest trends. Cultivating your own style and knowing what might suit you is more important.” (lines 80–89)

For 80 lines the article teaches you how to chase trends — then, in the last section, it turns and gently undercuts that: don’t just follow the crowd; find what suits you. That late pivot gives the whole piece a thesis and a personality, lifting it from a how-to list into an article with something to say. A deliberate change of direction at the end is a powerful, transferable move.

Professional rewrite — the makeup paragraph

Model rewrite

A model of the makeup paragraph — keeping the joke, fixing the inversion and spelling.

Student (verbatim)

You’ve seen this trendy eyeshadow colour on supermodel Karlie Kloss’s eye, and you’ve got your heart set on trying it out. Not only after you’ve bought the latest Urban Decay palette did you realize, with your nonexistant makeup skills, you can only manage to draw something that has an uncanny resemblance when one is punched in the eye. Tragic, isn’t it?

Professional version

You’ve seen this season’s eyeshadow on supermodel Karlie Kloss, and you’ve set your heart on trying it. Only after splurging on the latest Urban Decay palette do you realise that, with your non-existent makeup skills, the best you can manage looks less ‘runway’ and more ‘punched in the eye’. Tragic, isn’t it?

What changed and why:

Inversion: ‘Not only after… did you realize’ → ‘Only after… do you realise’.
Spelling: ‘nonexistant’ → ‘non-existent’.
Sharper joke: the ‘punched in the eye’ punchline is set up with a ‘runway vs…’ contrast.
The self-deprecating humour — the best part — is kept.

Vocabulary to notice

Word & alternatives	Definition	Usage notes
ever-changing constantly changing, fast-moving, fluid	(adj.) always changing; never staying the same.	“the ever-changing fashion and beauty trends”. Hyphenated; a tidy single adjective for something in constant flux.
bandwagon trend, craze, fad	(n., idiom) jump/hop on the bandwagon = join something popular that many others are doing.	“hop on the bandwagon”. Slightly disapproving (implies following the crowd) — fitting, given the article’s ending.
disposability throwaway culture, impermanence	(n.) the quality of being designed to be thrown away after use.	“the culture of disposability”. A precise, slightly academic noun — strong for the fast-fashion point. Adj disposable.
fashionista style icon, trendsetter, fashion lover	(n., informal) a devoted follower of fashion.	“What it takes to be a fashionista”. On-trend, register-appropriate for a pop-culture feature.
comprehensive thorough, complete, all-encompassing	(adj.) covering everything; complete.	“a more comprehensive… manner”. A useful upgrade on full or detailed; collocates with guide, coverage, overview.
uncanny eerie, striking, remarkable	(adj.) strange or surprising, often in an unsettling way.	“an uncanny resemblance”. The set phrase is an uncanny resemblance (a striking, almost eerie likeness) — used well in the makeup gag.
herd mentality groupthink, mob mentality, following the crowd	(n. phrase) the tendency to think and act like the majority.	“give in to the herd mentality”. A sharp term for blind conformity; pairs with follow / give in to / resist.