MUET Report Writing : Profile of Professionals & Their Main Goals

Guidelines to write this report:

1)Introduction
Begin with the phrase "The tables show ...... and ......" or "Table 1 shows .... while Table 2 shows ...."
As usual, use the headings of the tables.

2) Overview
Yes! This report only has an Overview ( and not an Overall Trend). Why? because there is no movement in the data. So avoid "Trend" words like "increase/increasing"; "decrease/decreasing", etc

There's also no cause-and-effect relationship between the tables. So, observe the difference in the ranking of the main goals according to the two different age groups. Write about this as the Overview.

3) Analysis
To write the analysis and synthesis, these are a few things you need be aware of:
1) The goals (1st column in Table 2) are the the key features
2) You need the ranking words (or the Analysis words, as I call them): higher/lower than, the highest/lowest, topped/top-ranked/top priority, last.
3) This question is about ranking of goals. So in your Analysis (Table 2) or Synthesis, you need to use "was/were ranked"; "ranked" or other similar words to show the ranking of goals.
4) What's in the columns & rows (all the numbers in Table 2, the percentages, RMs, number of years) are the data.

Analysis Table 1: 
Compare the average income, average work experience and marital status of the two groups of professionals. Use "higher than", "lower than", "more", and/or "less"
Refer to the two groups according to their positions, as "senior managers" or "junior executives".
You may also refer to them as "professionals of age group ( 46-55 or 18-27) years" but this is rather long. If you want to use this phrase, please limit the use to only once or twice in your report.

Example: " The average income of the senior managers (RM10,000) was higher than that of the junior executives (RM3000)"

Analysis Table 2:
For Analysis in this table, you compare the ranking of the goals according to the two groups of professionals.

You can use all the Analysis words I mentioned in No 2 above (higher/lower than, the highest/lowest, topped/top-ranked/top priority, last) and write the respective Analysis. Of course, these words must be used with the words "ranked", "was/were ranked", etc because that's what we are discussing/explaining : the ranking of the goals.

Example: "The senior managers ranked [goal] the highest [at no ...] while the junior executives ranked it lower [at no ...]". YES! YOU MUST STILL COMPARE THE TWO COLUMNS!  The number (of ranking) must be given as that is DATA.

4) Synthesis
To write the Synthesis successfully, you must connect, link or relate the information between both tables. Yet, the connection or link must be logical. So you need to be aware of these details:
                               

PROFILE		KEY FEATURES
1	Age Group	Be more healthy
2	Position	Improve technology skills Improve communication skills
3	Average Income	Make more money Save money
4	Average Work Experience	Improve technology skills Improve communication skills
5	Marital Status	Make new friends Spend more time with family

What it means is, if you write the senior managers ranked the goal of being more healthy the highest, it is because of their age (mention the age); like this:
" The senior managers ranked be more healthy as the highest (at No 1) because they were older (46-55 years old)"

So whatever key features/goals you would like to write on, link or relate them to the profile as given in the table.

A more advanced Synthesis sentence is to compare both groups of professionals profiles as well as ranking of goals in one sentence like this:
"The older professionals with 20 years of working experience, ranked improving technology and communication skills as 5th and 6th respectively while the younger professionals with 5 years working experience ranked them 2nd and 3rd respectively"

"The older professionals with 20 years of working experience" - Profile / Table 1
"ranked improving technology and communication skills as 5th and 6th respectively" - Ranking of goals/ Table 2.
"the younger professionals with 5 years working experience" - Profile / Table 1
"ranked them 2nd and 3rd respectively" - Ranking of goals / Table 2

* Take note that a successful Synthesis sentence must contain the Key Features + Ranking/Trend/Analysis words + Profile.

5)Conclusion
The conclusion is just a restatement of the Overview. Avoid using the Overview as the conclusion.
Changing the sentence structure of the Overview is a good way to restate. If  your Overview earlier is in the Active Voice, now write the conclusion in the Passive Voice.
Another way is to change the words to other words of similar meaning. For example, if you use "different age groups" in the Overview, now use "the two groups of professionals" in the conclusion.

OKAY THEN.

HAPPY TRYING WRITING & HAPPY WRITING, EVERYONE!

Sample Argumentative Essay 2

Question:

Living away from parents is different from living with them. Give your opinion by providing relevant examples. Write your essay in about 300-350 words.

            Where is he now? Is he in a good condition? It has been almost two months your brother has not come home. These are the common phrases that have always been said by my mother. Working as an army officer makes my brother always living far away from my parents. Without a doubt, I can say that living away from parents strengthen relationships, brings about less problems, and we can train ourselves to be independent.

            First, relationships between parents and sons or daughters will be stronger. When we live far away from them, they will always think of us. The phrase “Miss you a lot” will always stick in their hearts. I think it is normal for us that if we bump into someone we always see everyday, in our mind we would think that we would bump into him or her again tomorrow and thus we will not miss him or her. However, if we live far from parents, it will be different. They will think of us, miss us and visit us whenever they have some free time. Not only that, we will call them or they will call us whenever they feel like talking to us. We also will sometimes spend more time chatting with them on the phone than when we are at home. As a result of this, our relationship with them will become stronger and closer.

            Secondly, if we live far from our parents, more problems can be avoided. Our parents will rarely be angry at us as they do not know about our activities and behaviour. It is not that we are trying to hide our bad attitude but sometimes parents are very strict in imposing rules or living up to a tradition or cultural need. As an example, a young Malay girl might not be allowed to sing in the kitchen at her home when it is actually something that can be done almost anywhere. Moreover, when living far from parents, they will think twice to scold us if we did anything wrong as we only stay with them for a short time and they might not want to spoil our holidays with them. Thus, many problems can therefore be avoided if we do not live with them.

            Finally, living far from parents will make us more independent. House chores such as washing clothes and cooking will have to be done ourselves. Other than that, we also will need to solve any problem we have ourselves. We will not be totally dependent on our parents. If we depend too much on out parents, we might be spoilt. What will happen then if they leave this world? Are you going to go with them or create problems for other people as you want to be treated like how you are treated by your parents? So, living far from parents will make us more independent as we have to rely on ourselves more to carry out chores and to solve problems.

            In a nutshell, living away from parents has more advantages as it leads us to train ourselves to stand on our two feet. We will have our own lives and will be responsible people. We will also not drag our parents into our problems and let them enjoy their lives in their golden age.

Sample Expository Essay 1

Question: Matriculation students often face a lot of challenges. What are some of these challenges?

A fortnight ago, I visited my cousin who is studying in the Johor Matriculation College. I was shocked to see her at first. With dark circles around her eyes and severe weight loss, she looked pale and tired. After much inquiry, she admitted she faced hard times in the college. Indeed, matriculation students do face many challenges; namely, time management, adapting to the new learning style and competition in studies.

Firstly, time management is one of the great challenges faced by matriculation students. Students find it hard to manage their time due to their busy and demanding schedule. For example, a matriculation student's daily routine starts at 8 am and ends at 5 pm. Between this time, students have to manage lectures, tutorials and science practicals wisely. Besides, students have to finish up loads of homework amidst limited resting time. Usually the homework must be submitted within one or two days only. So students will have to sacrifice other activities such as playing games or jogging in order to finish the tasks given to them on time. However, if the students planned and used time wisely, activities that they desired to be carried out can go without any hindrance. As matriculation students do face difficulties in managing their time, it is clear that time management is a challenge they have to face in the matriculation programme.

Secondly, adapting to the new learning style is another challenge for matriculation students. New learning style refers to the new style of learning students are experiencing in matriculation colleges. Nearly all the students here graduated from secondary schools where they were often spoon-fed by their teachers with  information and knowledge pertaining to their education. Almost all exercises, notes and reference books were provided to them by their teachers. However, in matriculation programmes, university-like learning style is implemented and this is a major change for the students. For instance, students have to find extra inputs such as lecture notes, reference books and exercise papers on their own. This change might be difficult for students who are used to being provided with all the necessities in the secondary school as they have to shed their old habit of depending on others to being a 21st century independent learner. Instead of being the receiver of knowledge, now they have to be the seeker of knowledge. This transformation to adapt to the new learning style is certainly a big challenge for matriculation students.

Finally, competition in studies is also one of the challenges faced by students in matriculation colleges. It is a known fact that students who got into matriculation colleges are students who passed their SPM examinations with flying colours. Now, we have all the smart students in one place: the matriculation college. As a result, competition in studies increases. All the students have to compete to obtain the 'perfect' results in order to be the best among the best. For example, ten students would like to pursue their studies in the same field. So, they have to obtain not only outstanding results in their matriculation examinations but also high co-curricular marks as well. Other than that, students have to score well in pop quizzes and assignments to add on extra marks that will be collected throughout the matriculation programme. The competition is so tough that even a slight mistake might push down the rank of a student way below the line. In short, matriculation students have to compete among themselves in studies in order to succeed in their lives academically.

In a nutshell, the challenges faced by the matriculation students are time management, adapting to a new learning style, and competition in studies. Students have to prepare themselves mentally and physically so that they can strive towards victory in their matriculation lives.

Writer: GIRISHA a/p VANOH, (K2P2, KMPP, 2011/2012)

Edited/i.me.my/2013

* The sentences in italics are the important elements of each paragraph; namely the Thesis Statement, Topic Sentence, Concluding Sentence, and Restatement of Thesis

Sample Expository Essay 2

QUESTION: WHY DO WE NEED TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT?

           All of us should be very thankful because we are blessed with such a beautiful environment to live in. Even so, the environment we are granted with may not last for a long period if we do not take necessary actions to save it. We must realize that each one of us is responsible and plays a role in saving the environment. Many people tend to question the reasons for saving the environment. There are several reasons why we need to save the environment; that is to prevent the extinction of living organisme, to prevent global warming, and to preserve Mother Nature.

            Firstly, saving the environment will help to prevent the extinction of living organism. Living organism refers mainly to the wildlife and also the plants which is the source of oxygen. The existence of flora and fauna is very important in order to maintain a balanced ecosystem. Illegal activities such as deforestation and logging are the main contributor for the extinction of flora and fauna. For example, wildlife needs certain habitats to survive or will become extinct if their habitats are destroyed. Before we even damage the environment, we should question ourselves, wouldn’t it hurt our eyes to see those cute bears, birds or insects become extinct? Plus, it would be a shame if we could not introduce those animals to our grandchildren. Besides that, caring for the flora and fauna shows the value of humanity we possess in ourselves. The government can prevent this extinction from happening by enforcing the law and maximizing the penalty to the offenders. Thus, to prevent the extinction of living organism is a reason why we need to save the environment.

           Next, we need to save the environment because it can prevent global warming. Global warming is the rise in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans. It is a big issue and can never be taken lightly. Global warming happens due to excessive production of chlorofluorocarbon in the atmosphere. When large area of trees are being cleared or open burning takes place, less carbon dioxide can be absorbed by the plants causing heat to be trapped in the atmosphere which then increase the risk of global warming. Global warming can cause climate change and rising of sea levels. We can prevent global warming by switching off electrical appliances when not in use. By doing this, we can save energy. Besides that, we can practice car pooling which can reduce the consumption of fuel and reduce the emission of harmful gases. Without global warming, we can enjoy a better and high quality life. Therefore, to prevent global warming is another reason why we need to save the environment.

         Last of all, we need to save the environment to preserve Mother Nature. The main reason of why we need to preserve Mother Nature is for the future generation. As we all know, earth has only finite resources and we need to make a good use out of them in order to ensure these resources can be passed on for the coming generation. For sure we would not want to see our grandchildren gasping for air in the next coming years. Our ancestors have left us with a lush and plentiful environment and now it is our duty to do the same for the next generation. We must preserve Mother Nature by not polluting the environment and also by preserving enough resources. Besides, we must also save the rainforest as it is an important resource for life. We get water, power and oxygen from the environment. We may run out of these resources if we do not preserve Mother Nature. In short,we need to save the environment to preserve the mother nature.

           In conclusion, it is important to save the environment because of several reasons such as those mentioned above. It is highly hoped that each one of us would be more sensitive and considerate when it comes to issues regarding saving the environment. With that, we may live a better and prosperous life.

Writers: Josephine Laurence & Nursafika Binti Sujangi (A3P4, KMPP, 2012/2013)

Edited/ i.me.my/2013

* The sentences in italics are the important elements of each paragraph; namely the Thesis Statement, Topic Sentence, Concluding Sentence, and Restatement of Thesis

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Expository Writing

Introduction

In this pre-university programme, there are two types of essay writing that you have to master. One is Expository Writing or Expository Essay, and the other one is Argumentative Writing or Argumentative Essay.

In expository writing, as the word 'expository' would suggest, you write to expose or to tell something to the readers.In our pre-university programme, usually you will be asked to expose or tell the reasons for a particular event/incident; or the qualities of something, for example the qualities of an excellent student.

Among the types of questions that you can expect for Expository Writing in this programme are:

a)  What are three qualities that a student should have in order to become successful academically?

b)  What are the reasons for the popularity of reality shows, for example Akademi Fantasia?

c)  Discuss three ways how you have exercised your independence.

In contrast, in Argumentative Writing, you write to argue a certain stand and persuade readers to agree with you. So you would have to present points to make readers agree with what you believe. Your points must be strong and convincing in order to make readers agree with you.

The kinds of questions you can get for Argumentative Writing in this programme are:

a) Living away from parents is different from living with them. Give your opinion.

b) The Matriculation programme is better than the Form Six Programme. Do you agree?

c) Globalisation has brought more harm than good. Do you agree?

For your information, in the MUET, only Argumentative Writing tasks are given. 

Format

No matter what kind of writing you are doing, the format is the same.

Your essay must have at least 5 paragraphs following this order:

a) Introduction - 1 paragraph

b) Body - 3 paragraphs

c) Conclusion - 1 paragraph.

In each paragraph, you have important elements that you must insert, which are:

a) Introduction - Thesis Statement 

b) Body - (In each paragraph) A Topic Sentence + Elaboration + Concluding Sentence

c) Conclusion - Restatement of the Thesis

* For Argumentative Writing, in the Introduction, you need to have 2 important elements, that is

   i) the Stand 

   ii) the Thesis Statement.

Sample Argumentative Essay (MUET)

Dear all,

I have here an essay on "People Commit Crimes for Selfish Reasons" (one of the best, after having been edited) written by my student to be shared online. Hopefully you will benefit from it.

[Nevertheless, this essay was uploaded to be shared, and to be read for the purpose of educating readers and MUET candidates on how detail you have to write to score high marks in the extended writing section. Please DO NOT PLAGIARISE this essay. PLAGIARISM IS A CRIME.]

_________________________________________________________

People commit crime because of selfish reasons. Do you agree?

   How do people define crime? Some might define crime as an act of offence towards the morality of humans. Others might regard crime as an act that harms the universal human rights. In my perspectives, I think that crime is an offence made towards the law. Therefore, why do people still commit crimes? Some crimes were committed because of hatred, hardships and even because of the people they loved. All in all, I do agree that people commit crimes because of selfish reasons. I am saying so based on several reasons.

  My first reason to agree with the statement is that people commit crimes because of greed. Greed is one’s desire to have more than what one already has. We can look at greed using different perspectives. One of them is of a poverty-stricken person whose only desire is to fill up his hungry stomach. Since he was born in poverty, it would be nearly impossible for him to pay for his food. So, in order to fill up his stomach, he decided to steal, for instance, a piece of bread from a nearby bakery shop. This is a kind of greed that is used to fullfill one’s basic needs, like to kill the dying hunger.

  However, there is another perspective that can be used to view upon greed. It is the wanting to lead a luxurious life or even to own something that is beyond one’s financial budget. For example, a person of moderate income would like to own an expensive plasma television which the price is beyond his budget. However, his greed prompts him to own that item by either stealing money to purchase it or to steal the item itself. When the person get caught by any law enforcer, the person will be charged in court for committing a crime. To steal to fulfill one’s desire to own an item which one understands that it is beyond his financial budget is committing a crime by the cause of greed. This, in my view, shows that people commit crimes for selfish reason.

  Next, people commit crimes because of hatred. Why are there hatred within people? The root of hatred might be caused by peer influence or environmental sway or even being envious towards others’ wealth and prosperity. One of the crimes that was committed by the cause of hatred was the Nazi’s genocide. That was Adolf Hitler’s policy to literally eliminate the Jews throughout Europe. Many Jews had been sent to concentration camps in order to be sentenced to death, and many Jews died during that period of Nazi’s administration.

The common question is, why did Adolf Hitler commit genocide on the Jews? It was said that Hitler’s hatred towards the Jews began when his letter of application had been rejected by the famous Art Academy in Venice, that was controlled by wealthy Jews. Hitler was probably rejected because Hitler himself was not a Jew. Probably having felt discriminated, when Adolf Hitler headed the Nazi’s party, this hatred led him to formulate a policy to eliminate the Jews throughout Europe, once and for all. In reference to Hitler’s case, I think that it can be justified that people commit crime because of  selfish reasons like one’s hatred towards another person or race.

Third of all, people commit crimes because of ignorance. An ignorant person is said to be a person having blind and stubborn determination. For instance, they insisted on being correct at all times, without any knowledge that what they had actually done was wrong by the side of law. The most prominent example was the war waged by the government of the United States of America towards Afghanistan following the incident of 9/11, which was when ‘terrorists’  attacked the World Trade Centre in New York in two air crafts. As claimed by George Washington Bush, former president of the United States of America, after the 9/11 attack, “ the surest way to avoid attacks on our people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans. We are fighting … Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our streets, in our own cities.” Consequently, the government of the United States of America had declared war with the country that had been suspected to house the major terrorist who instigated the 9/11 incident, Osama Bin Laden. They then sent troops to savage Afghanistan, bombing the residences of Afghanistan, thus killing thousands and thousands of innocent lives there.

From my point of view, the government of the United States of America was actually committing a crime as the mass killing of Iraqi citizens for something they are not responsible of is a crime. Furthermore, to champion on a revenge as what the Americans were trying to do for the killing in 9/11 is an ignorant act. The Americans might have been ignorant of the real truth and had been misguided by their anger into believing that Osama Bin Laden was the actual culprit for the 9/11 incident. In short, the government of the United States of America committed a crime because of ignorance. And by this, they are actually committing a crime out of a selfish reason.

In conclusion, based on what have been discussed, it is true that people commit crimes for selfish reasons. I hope that people will realize that whatever crimes that they had committed, it is more for selfish reasons. In order to stop this cycle of violence from recurring, they should avoid committing themselves to crime activities, thus ensuring the world to be a safer place to live in for future generations.

Written by,

Chin Ri Andrew (H4T6), Penang Matriculation College 2011/12

Tips for Extended Essay Writing

With the coming of MUET written examination (as opposed to Speaking) this Saturday, 9 March 2013, I have here some tips as guidelines for better performance in the exam:

Tip 1:

When you write your essay, it is important that you follow the academic writing conventions. Therefore, you must make sure that you have written

i)   the thesis statement, 

ii)  the topic sentence for each paragraph; and 

iii) the restatement of the thesis.

Tip 2:

Make sure your stand is clear. And make sure your thesis statement is clearly written to display this stand of yours.

Tip 3:

Among the problem I see in MUET essays is the inability of a candidate to explain the topic sentence he/she has written. Thus, to ensure you gain a lot of marks for extended writing, write supporting details or elaboration that explains the topic sentence clearly.

Tip 4:

Always imagine that the reader of your essay do not easily understand what you are saying or writing. Think of the best words to use or the best way to say or explain about something to make your reader completely understands what you mean 100%.  By doing this, you will ensure you write a clear explanation of your topic sentence.

In another entry following this, I am posting an essay done by one of my previous students ( a good one too!) as example of how well, how clear and how detailed you must be when writing the extended essay for MUET.

My student wrote it as practice but the essay was based on a past-year MUET question. Do check out this essay.

Hope I have been helpful. Have a nice day.