MUET Writing Task 1 (kind of the Simple way)

Step 1: Read the question and instructions carefully. What is the question about?
How many words required and how much time do you have?
Step 2: Plan your essay. Label the charts for easy reference and make notes on the
charts.
There are 3 pie charts, you MUST compare them. The total student population pie
chart is the base; you compare the undergraduates to all students and then
postgraduates to undergraduates and all students.
Use the relevant target vocabulary to describe the pie charts, i.e. majority, minority,
one third etc
Step 3: Write it. Write in paragraphs.
Step 4: Check your answer. Make sure its between 150 to 200 words.

You are advised to spend 40 minutes on this task.

The pie charts below show the number of hours spent in a Malaysian university
library by undergraduates, postgraduates, and the total student population over
the past year.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write between 150 to 200 words.

The pie charts provide information on the time spent in a Malaysian

university library by undergraduates and postgraduates compared to all students
over the past year. It is noticeable that postgraduates spend a significant amount of
time in the library when compared to the other students.
Overall, the time spent in the library by undergraduates and the total student
population was quite similar. The majority of undergraduates spend 1 to 7 hours in
the library, which is similar to the total student population; the figures were 63% and
50 % respectively. The minority of both groups spend 15+ hours in the library, at 9%
and 15% respectively.
Meanwhile, the majority of postgraduates spend 15+ hours in the library,
which was slightly above half at 51%. While the minority of postgraduates spend 1 to
7 hours in the library. This is the complete opposite when compared with the total
student

population

and

undergraduates.

The only similarity between the undergraduates and postgraduates was that
about one third of both groups spend 8 to 14 hours in the library, the figures were
28% and 32% respectively.
In conclusion, there is a clear trend towards using the library more as students
move towards post-graduation.

Writing Part A: Report/ Summary writing (150-200words) (kind of the

hard way)

Guidelines for Writing Summary

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.

A) Title:
Visitation of Youths to the Dentist from 1971-2010
B) Introduction:
The stimuli present a bar graph on the Number of Youths visiting the the dentist over
four decades (1971-2010) and a table listing medical and cosmetic reasons for two
periods (1971-1980 and 2001-2010).
C) Overview/Trend:
In general, visits to the dentist has risen steadily for both genders and girls recorded
the highest visitations mainly for cosmetic reasons.

D) Key features:
ANALYSIS (within each stimulus)

* According the the bar graph, visitations to the dentist by both genders increased
steadily.
* The lowest recorded visitations was by the girls in 1971-1980 with only 26,000
visits. This total almost tripled to 75,000 in 2001-2010 which is also the highest
recorded for both genders.
* The lowest recorded visitations by boys was also recorded in 1971-1980 with
30,000 visits which doubled to 60,000 in 2001-2010.
* 1971-1980 was the only period where the number of boys visiting the dentist was
more than girls.

* According to the table, the main reason for visiting the dentist for both genders is
for filling cavities.
* Girls showed a drastic increase of reasons for visiting the dentist where they only
went for medical reasons in 1971-1980 to going for both medical and cosmetic
reasons in 2001-2010.
* In 1971-1980, boys visited the dentist for more medical reasons than the girls and
later in 2001-2010 they clearly visited the dentist only when they had medical
reasons rather than cosmetic ones.
* By 2001-2010, girls showed very high concern for cosmetic reasons compared to
boys as records showed that they visited the dentist to fit braces and to whiten or
clean their teeth whereas boys only had braces fitted.

SYNTHESIS (Linking between stimuli)

* The number of visitations for both genders showed a steady increase which is
parallel with the increase of reasons for going to the dentist over the years.
* Girls recorded the lowest visitations to the dentist with only 26,000 in 1971-1980
because they only went for one medical reason which was to fill cavities.
* In 1971-1980 as well, boys recorded a slightly higher rate of visitations than girls
(30,000) because they went for more medical reasons which was to get their teeth
extracted as well as cavities filled.
* The data shows girls recorded the highest visitations (75,000) to the dentist in
2001-2010 when cosmetic treatments like fitting braces and the whitening and
cleaning of teeth were available.
* Boys also recorded the highest visitations to the dentist in 2001-2010 (60,000)
which is double the number in 1971-1980(30,000) but they mainly went for medical
reasons rather than cosmetic ones.
E) Conclusion:
In conclusion, visits to the dentist steadily increased for both genders by 2001-2010
whereby boys showed more concern for medical reasons while girls focused more on
cosmetic reasons.

Basically, 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
year to year 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. Am I making sense?
I hope so.
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.