MUET July 2014 Report Writing Sample Answer

In general, the academic essay question for July 2014 was difficult but luckily the report writing question was a clone of a question that came out in the past (about radio stations and the promotional activities they did, if I remember correctly). Therefore, it is hoped that many people will gain some marks here even if their essays were less than perfect.

A) Title
B) Introduction sentence.
(What are the stimuli?)
C) Overview/Trend 
(What is the most outstanding idea that LINKS all stimuli?)
D) Key Features 
(Most outstanding features as opposed to listing down the obvious features)
E) Conclusion sentence.
(Similar to Overview but just written from a different angle.)

Based on the format given, you could easily write 150 - 200 words.

Question: 
Study the chart and table below. Using only the information provided, analyse the sales of three fast food outlets in the first quarter of 2012. In your answer, you are to link the information presented in both visuals. You should write a report withing 150 - 200 words. 

A) Title: 
Sales of Three Fast Food Outlets in the First Quarter of 2012

B) Introduction:
The stimuli present a line graph on the sales of three fast food outlets in the first quarter of 2012 and a table on their promotional activities. 

C) Overview/Trend:
In general, the sales of fast food outlets increases in direct relation with the amount of promotional activities. 
OR
In general, Ken Burger recorded the highest amount of sales especially when they carried out promotional acitivities.  

D) Key features:
ANALYSIS (within each stimulus)

LINE GRAPH:
* According the the line graph, among the three fast food outlets, Ken Burger is the most popular choice followed by Mario Pizza and Ray's Fish & Chips. 
* The highest recorded sales was by Ken Burger in April as it rose sharply from RM3000 to more than RM4000 in sales. 
* Sales for Ken Burger dipped between February and March to an all time low of below RM1900.
* Mario Pizza achieved its highest sales of RM1500 between February and March before dropping to less than RM500 at the end of April.
* Ray's Fish & Chips was the least popular among the three fast food outlets selling less than RM500 for all four months. 

TABLE: 
* Ken Burger and Mario Pizza both carried out two promotional activities in the first quarter of 2012. 
* Ray's Fish & Chips carried out the least number of promotional activities which was to give a free drink in March. 

SYNTHESIS (Linking between stimuli)
* Ken Burger's sales increased when they carried out promotional activities in January (free drink) and April (gift voucher) whereas sales dipped when no promotions were carried out. 
*Similarly, Maria Pizza's sales also increased in February and March due to the two promo activities they held during that period. 
* Ray's Fish & Chips  had poor sales throughout the first quarter as they rarely had promotional activities. 
* Furthermore, Ray's Fish & Chips only offered a free drink in March and this resulted in only a slight increase in sales. 
(A friend kindly explained that my synthesis examples are not accurate because it lacks data so here are the examples given. Thanks a million to helpful people who are willing to share, otherwise we will keep groping in the dark!) 

"As for the Synthesis, just add in the data into the sentence as u hv done for the Analysis. When u link the visuals u have to do it with the data....For example,
1. (Among the 3 outlets), KB had the highest sales from January to April ranging from around RM1900 when it offered a 50% discount on (the) next item in March and RM4200 in April, when it gave away Gift Vouchers. 
2. In (the beginning of) January, Free drink by KB raked in the highest sales of RM2500 while RFC saw its lowest sales of RM350 as it had offered nothing
3. The highest sales of MP were in mid-Feb (RM1550) when it gave 50% discount on next item while its lowest (sales) were towards/at the end of April (RM380/RM400) when no activities were promoted."


E) Conclusion:
In conclusion, attractive promotional activities organised by fast food outlets can positively affect their sales. 
OR
In conclusion, fast food outlets sales are boosted when they carry out promotional activities which are attractive to customers such as offering gift vouchers or discounts. 

Basically, as I have mentioned before, a high band answer will have more synthesis than analysis because it is stated very clearly in the instructions/rubrics that you should ANALYSE the results of the survey and LINK the information presented in the two visuals. You will still get marks if you analysed the visuals correctly, but if you were to relate the data using a month to month explanation this would not award you many marks as you are merely stating the features. Therefore, a good MUET student would be able to identify which points ARE THE MOST OUTSTANDING ideas you can get from LINKING the visuals rather than merely retelling the data which everyone can see for themselves. I do hope you know the difference between FEATURES and KEY FEATURES by now.

Therefore, teachers, the challenge is for you to make students realise the difference between Key Features vs Features and Analysis vs Synthesis. Easier said than done,right?! Hence the need for higher critical thinking skills.

So, does anyone want to submit a sample answer for this report? Good luck!