Good luck 13th Nov! LOL

ok it's been a while since i updated and i'm sure everyone is itching to know more tips.

GRAMMAR FIRST.
I've developed some basic rules. If you can follow it, i'm sure your writing will improve by leaps and bounds.

Firstly, you must learn (memorise) all the words in the table of tenses. There are 4 columns, all starting with 'P'.

P1 - Present tense (+s or -s) [for now, facts or habits]
P2 - Process (+ing) [takes time to complete]
P3 - Past (+ed or spelling change) [for stories that are over]
P4 - Participle (=ed, spelling change or +n) [for perfect tense and passive sentences]

Here are the common words in English according to the table of tenses.
P1 - P2 - P3 - P4
has/have - having - had - had
goes/go - going - went - gone
gives/give - giving - gave - given
chooses/choose - choosing - chose - chosen
buys/buy - buying - bought - bought
flies/fly - flying - flew - flown
sings/sing - singing - sang - sung
cuts/cut - cutting - cut - cut
puts/put - putting - put - put
becomes/become - becoming - became - become
*smiles/smile - smiling - smiled - smiled
*explains/explain - explaining - explained - explained

* if you notice P3 and P4 looks the same in smiled and explained but they are completely different meanings.
the 4 columns in Malay actually means:
p1 - sekarang
p2 - sedang (imbuhan me-)
p3 - telah
p4 - imbuhan di-
so for 'kick'
kicks/kick - kicking - kicked - kicked
is actually in Malay
tendang - menendang - telah tendang - ditendang.
Get it?

Now for the rules:

1. P1: present
1 +s, >1 -s (except for sentences that start with 'You' or 'I')

1 +s
He likes to eat. (Correct)
He like to eat. (Wrong)
>1 -s
They like to eat. (Correct)
They likes to eat. (Wrong)

1 +s
She is a prefect now. (Correct)
She was a prefect last year too. (Correct)
She are a prefect now. (Wrong)
She were a prefect last year too. (Wrong)

>1 -s
They are prefects now. (Correct)
They were prefects last year too. (Correct)
They is prefects now. (Wrong)
They was prefects last year. (Wrong)

Sometimes the verb is quite far away but the rules still apply.

1 +s
The student reading the biology book is the top student.

>1 -s
The students reading the biology book are the top students.


2. P2: Process (+ing) (imbuhan me-)
If you want to use 'ing' it cannot stand alone
It needs one of the Be5 (am/is/are/was/were)
The 5 versions of Be5 are very important words that are always lost when translating directly from Malay or Chinese as it doesn't exist in these languages.

The baby is sleeping soundly. (Correct)
The baby sleeping soundly. (Wrong)
The babies are sleeping soundly. (Correct)
The babies sleeping soundly. (Wrong)

*notice you need a combination of 2 words to make the process sentences correct!

3. P3: Past (+ed/spelling change)
There is no rule. You have to just memorise all the words in this column.

4. P4: Participle (+ed/spelling change/+n)
This is the trickiest part of English grammar.

There are 2 uses: perfect tenses and passives.

a) Perfect tenses: 3H + P4
if you see the words Has/Have/Had, it MUST be followed by P4.

3H + P4
He has eaten the cake. (Correct)
They have eaten the cake. (Correct)
The boys had eaten the cake yesterday. (Correct)
He has eat the cake. (Wrong)
They have eating the cake. (Wrong)
The boys had ate the cake yesterday. (Wrong)

b) Passive sentences: Be5 + P4 (Imbuhan di-) [kek dimakan, bukannya dia dimakan]
The cake was eaten by him. (Correct)
The cakes were eaten by them. (Correct)
The cake eaten by him. (Wrong)
The cakes eating by them. (Wrong)


Be5 + P4 (don't confuse kicked with P3)
The ball is kicked by him. (Correct)
The balls were kicked by him. (Correct)
The ball kicked by him. (Wrong)
The balls kicking by him. (Wrong)

* Passive sentences are a combination of 2 WORDS: Be5 +P4, not P3. But sometimes if the spelling it +ed, it looks like P3, but the function is actually P4.


5. Other rules:

a) to + ori
to give (correct)
to gives, to giving, to gave, to given (wrong)

b) to + be + P4
to be taken (correct)
to be take, to be takes, to be taking, to be took (wrong)

c) modals: can/cannot/may/must/mustn't/should/shouldn't/will/would etc
modals + ori
can swim (correct)
can swims, can swimming, can swam, can swum (wrong)

d) modals + be + P4
must be discussed (correct)
must be discuss, must be discusses, must be discussing (wrong)

e) by + ing
by taking the bus (correct)
by takes, by take, by took, by taken (wrong)

f) for + ing
for demonstrating (correct)
for demonstrate, for demonstrates, for demonstrated (wrong)

g)
3H + been + P2
has been taking (correct)
has been take, has been takes, has been took (wrong)
or
3H + been + P4
has been taken (correct)

* P2 is used if the process takes a long time,
P4 is used if it is a passive sentence.


NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE RULES, CHALLENGE YOURSELF AND TAKE MY GRAMMAR TEST. YOU WILL FIND THAT KNOWING THE RULES MAKES ANSWERING SO MUCH EASIER.

http://muetmyway.blogspot.com/2010/07/grammar-test.html

WELL... WHAT DO YOU THINK?

MARKING SCHEME MUET 800/4 Q1 & Q2

As requested here is the marking scheme for the writing paper.

Q1

Task Fulfilment
(critical thinking skills, answered the requirements of the question, clear introduction and overview linked stimulus, synthesise info, many accurate key features, good conclusion etc)
B6 : 18 -20
B5 : 17 - 15
B4 : 14 - 11
B3 : 10 - 7
B2 : 6 - 4
B1 : 3 - 0
Total: x/20

Language & Organisation
(Grammatical accuracy, vocabulary, relavant phrases, arrangement of report (intro, key features and conclusion), word count does not exceed 200 words (ignore 201 onwards) etc.)
B6 : 18 - 20
B5 : 17 -- 15
B4 : 14 - 11
B3 : 10 - 7
B2 : 6 - 4
B1 : 3 - 0
Total: y/20

So for question 1, x + y = a/40


Q2
Same as above, Task Fulfillment (x/30) + Language & Organisation (y/30) = b/60
B6 : 30 - 26
B5 : 25 - 21
B4 : 20 - 16
B3 : 15 - 11
B2 : 10 - 6
B1 : 5 - 0

TOTAL FOR WRITING PAPER Q1 (a) + Q2 (b) = z/100

CONVERT TO 30% weightage
90/300 = z x 0.9

example: 50 x 0.9 = 45 marks from maximum 90 for the writing component.


Does anyone have any issues about how to calculate the marks for muet?

It's a bit tricky but here are the breakdowns.

Listening : students' mark x 45 / 20 = i
Speaking : students' mark x 45 / 54 = ii
Reading : students' mark x 120 / 45 = iii
Writing : students' mark x 90 /100 = ix
TOTAL MUET MARKS : i + ii + iii + iv = Z/300

B6 : 260 - 300
B5 : 220 - 259
B4 : 180 - 219
B3 : 140 - 179
B2 : 100 - 139
B1 : 0 -99

Ok.. i know what you're dying to know now. haha.. how do we calculate the speaking marks right. This is even more complicated at the real exam level. Here goes.

Task A
a) Task fulfilment (relevant answers) maximum 18 marks
b) Language max 18 marks
c) Communicative ability (gestures, eye contact, convincing style, confidence, fluency etc) max 18

B6 : 16 - 18
B5 : 13 - 15
B4 : 10 - 12
B3 : 7 - 9
B2 : 4 - 6
B1 : 0 - 3

So task A, a + b + c = x/54

Task B is exactly the same breakdown of marks.. max 18 each category
a) Task fulfilment (understands topic, relevant response)
b) Language
c) Communicative ability (fuency, interact confidently, manage a discussion, displays initative etc.)

So task B, a + b + c = x/54

TO GET THE TOTAL U HAVE TO AVERAGE TASK A & TASK B = total x/54

In the actual exam, it gets extremely complicated cos after every group the two examiners must have a discussion about the performance of each candidate and standardised their marks. so there will be adjustment of marks on the spot according to performance and discussion of examiners, and they will double check if they agree with the marks by ranking the four candidates. when they are satisfied with the marks awarded, then the examiners will call in the next group. quite a tedious process if you ask me, but very necessary.

HOWEVER,
for school exams. I use an 18 point system for Task A & B, then I average the marks and convert to 54 by multiplying by 3. Youc can use this system if you like or simply ignore it if you find it is not accurate enough.

low - mid - high
18 - 17 -16 = B6
13 - 14 - 15 = B5
10 - 11 - 12 = B4
7 - 8 - 9 = B3
4 - 5 - 6 = B2
1 - 2 - 3 = B1

I find this to be the best method cos it's not as complicated and as an examiner you always have to consider if the candidate is low, mid or high band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.


CONGRATULATIONS if you have understood everything I have written thus far. Any questions? Please feel free to ask.

Latest on MUET marking scheme

Well, well, well.. we never cease to learn.. today I was conducting a course for district level trainers in KK for MUET.. and I learnt so many new things... so just a short note here to clear the air...

Apparently, for report writing (question 1 in the writing paper), they don't use the terms 'overview' and 'controlling idea' anymore.. the concept and content is the same but now overview is called introduction and controlling idea is the overview. confusing but i suppose this is slightly easier to understand rather than the term controlling idea. :)

Also, I found out that contrary to what they told us the last time I went for a course, it would seem that you CAN'T write MORE THAN 200 words for Q1. Examiners have been given strict instructions to ignore every word written after that... Yikes! Now I have to review and modify all my samples for Q1 in order to conform to this new ruling. Ah well, at least I know now. Thanks Suzie for the juicy info.

I've also gotten confirmation that every single error in grammar, spelling, vocabulary and what not is deducted in the listening paper.. and examiners don't even award half marks, therefore it's either 1 mark or 0.

Anyway, tomorrow is the second part to this 2 day course. I'll upload some pics later. Have a nice week everyone!

The week that was.. SMK Inanam & UiTM MUET Seminars

Was a really hectic week thus far. I started it off with a MUET seminar in SMK Inanam, thanks to Mainie and Suzana for inviting me. If you didn't know, I first started working at this school and you can imagine what fun it was to see and chat with all my ex-colleagues. :) Was a great time and I hope the students enjoyed my talk.

Then I rushed over to present the Reading Component workshop at UiTM from 10am to 1pm at the KK campus and the crowd was extremely good and cooperative. The reading workshop with sample questions from past year exams were a hit going by the responses from the students. If you're a UiTMn student reading this now, I'm happy to have helped you and I hope you'll explore the archives of my blog to read up about MUET. Good luck to everyone!

Thanks to Suzie and team for inviting me for my third seminar here.. may we have a long lasting professional and personal relationship.

Some really enthusiastic uni girls.. try your best ok!

Some smart looking and hopefully smart thinkin agricultural boys... Well done!

Workshop style for teaching reading comprehension. I've received some feedback pertaining teaching reading by other MUET teachers. I'll detail how to do this best in the next blog entry. At the end of the day, the onus is on the teacher to be creative, adopt or adapt, and the students to read, read and read some more!

Happy teaching and learning everyone! :)

Busy bee!

My bunch of crazies! hehe.. but I love them all!

Notice the plaster ceiling, downlights and chandelier in my school's meeting room.. haha.. not even in KK but million times more posh! Hidup Majakir! Here you can see the kids enjoying the karaoke session 'I believe I can fly' at the end of my seminar. :)

Here the teachers from all over Sabah have come to 'THINK' for our tank. ;-) English Teachers Unite!

Sabah Think Tank Exco Members .. thanks Pn Hjh Nuri & Pn Jenifah from SPA for empowering me to empower others.

Guest lecturing in SMK Putatan, KK.

Thanks for having me, Pn. Haribala & Pn Balvinder... for inviting. ;-)

As you can see, I've been super busy and the cog is still spinning as we speak. :) So far, I've presented a MUET Seminar in SMK Putatan last week, and created the module for the Sabah Think Tank English Language Task Force which I presented at a full day seminar in KK Highschool for English language teachers all over Sabah, some as far as Nabawan.

You can see from the uploaded video clips below the MUET seminar I did yesterday at my own school. It's very rewarding when students come up to me and thank me for teaching them. My eyes actually watered when I read a post in facebook where my student said: "I love MUET". This came from a student who at the start of this year was completely freaked out about the whole subject. Hehe..

Next week I'll be presenting in SMK Inanam and UiTM on the same day. It's a lot of hard work and travelling but I have to admit that I do it because of the joy it brings me. Not the glamour mind you, but the reaching out to help those who need my help most. :)

Anyway, Lydia (thanks, dear!) has kindly agreed to share the essay she has written which I have reviewed using Microsoft Word (the review application is soooooo cooool!!! I can't believe I just found it!!!!) Anyone who would like to read it please email me at queendrey@gmail.com. If anyone knows how I can upload documents onto this blog.. pls let me know.. I'm savvy but apparently not that savvy. Hehe.. cheers ya'all!

SMK Majakir MUET Strategies 2010 Seminar

MUET Speaking Task B