Popular hobbies and interests change over time and are more a reflection of trends and fashions than an indication of what individuals really want to do in their spare time. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Sample Response
It is true that people's hobbies and interests change in accordance with the latest trends and fashions. They follow these hobbies and interestsThey are following these hobbies and interest for the sake of popularity, not for personal pleasure. To a certain extent, I would agree with the statementstatements, but there are some new hobbies which people pursue because they like the activitypeople follow due they like the activity.
On the one hand, many people change their hobbies for the sake of popularityfor popularity purpose. People take part in popular activitiesfollow and do popular activities to show that they are socially visible and up to date with the latest trendsthey exist and up to date with the latest trends. In realityBut In the reality, they do not have a passion for these activitiesthe passion in doing it. For example, mountain biking has become a popular activity in Indonesia lately, and many people are taking it upare following it. While some of them do mountain biking because they like the sportmountain biking due to they like the sport, others are doing it to show that they are following the current trend and to show that they have the latest bicycle modellatest model of the bicycle.
On the other hand, there are some peoplethere are few other people who change their interests and hobbies due to the fact that they like these new activities. These new hobbies might be the latest trend, but these people change their interestsinterest because they have such a strong passion forsuch huge passion in these activities. In additionBesides that, these hobbies might be newly invented; therefore,newly invented, therefore no one did these activitiesno one was doing these hobbies in the past.
In conclusion, it is a fact that people's hobbies and interests sometimes changepeople's hobbies and interest sometimes changes. To a certain extentpoint, I agree that some people change their hobbies to follow trendsdue to following the trend, but there are others who change their interests because they like the new activitychange their interest due to they like the new activity. I personally believe that choosing a hobby is a personal matterhobby is a personal matter, and we should not follow what is popular in public and should do things that we really like.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response presents a clear partial-agreement position and organises the trend-driven and genuine-interest explanations into distinct paragraphs, supported by a relevant mountain-biking example. However, the counterargument remains thin and the language repeatedly uses inaccurate grammar and collocations. The priority is to explain more fully why genuine preferences can coincide with new trends, while correcting recurring patterns such as due to the fact that and subject-verb agreement.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay answers the extent question with a consistent position and relevant ideas, but the genuine-interest side is only briefly developed.
Extend the counterargument with a specific example and explain how a fashionable activity can still reflect an individual's authentic preference.
Coherence and Cohesion
The four-paragraph progression is clear and cohesive devices guide the reader, although repetition and mechanical linking limit fluency.
Build stronger logical links between sentences and reduce repeated references to hobbies, interests, and trends.
Lexical Resource
The response has adequate topic vocabulary, but imprecise collocations and repeated wording limit flexibility and naturalness.
Use more accurate phrases such as for popularity, keep up to date, be passionate about, and because they enjoy the activity.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Simple and complex sentences are both attempted and meaning remains clear, but agreement, article, preposition, and clause-structure errors occur frequently.
Focus on accurate reason clauses with because, consistent plural agreement, and correct article use before expanding sentence complexity.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Popular hobbies and interests change over time and are more a reflection of trends and fashions than an indication of what individuals really want to do in their spare time. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.