INFO EKSTRA

Paper 4
SET 1

WRITING

Question 1 PRACTICE 1
You are the Secretary for your school Sports Club. You have been asked to write a short article on sports injuries. Your article should use the information given below. You should write 150 to 200 words. Number of sports injuries 10,122 3,777 3,636 3,408 3,228 3,098 1,219 882 787 776 % of sports injuries 24.5 9.2 8.8 8.3 7.8 7.5 3.0 2.1 1.9 1.9 % admitted to Hospital 7.5 7.1 10.9 5.4 4.1 2.5 3.2 5.6 6.4 2.2 % of injuries during competition or practice 83 84 95 83 83 85 95 71 91 79

Sport Type

Water-based sports Soccer Rugby Cricket Basketball Netball Hockey Martial Arts Squash Volleyball

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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

Suggested Answer
Sports Injuries in School
The table shows the different types of sports, and the numbers and percentages of sports injuries in school. It can be said that different types of sports have different numbers and percentages of injuries. Water-based sports have the most number and percentages of sports injuries as compared to the other types of sports, charting 10,122 injuries. In contrast, volleyball charted the smallest number of injuries (776). Other sports with lower numbers of injuries are squash (787) and martial arts (882). Both squash and volleyball showed the lowest percentage of sports injuries, recording only 1.9% followed by martial arts with 2.1%. On the other hand, water-based sports have the highest percentage of injuries, followed by soccer (9.2%) and rugby (8.8%). Rugby recorded 10.9% admissions to hospital, the highest amongst the other sports. However, volleyball had the lowest number of hospital admissions at only 2.2%. Both rugby and hockey have the highest percentage of injuries during competition or practice at 95%, as compared to martial arts which has only 71%. In conclusion, there is a signicant number of sports-related injuries and therefore there is a need to be vigilant to reduce the number of injuries.

Words in red show the trend and comparison with other sports Words in green show the synthesis of information Words in blue a signal of concluding

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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

Question 2 PRACTICE 1
Financial education should be introduced as a compulsory subject in schools. What is your opinion? You should write at least 350 words. Illustrate your opinion with examples.

Suggested Answer
I agree that nancial education should be introduced as a compulsory subject in schools. Some students believe that certain subjects taught in school are not benecial in later life. Students want to learn something that they can utilize in life. Therefore, nancial education is indeed a good subject to be introduced in schools. Firstly, students will learn how to spend wisely. Students should learn how to save and spend wisely even when they are in primary school. Some students are given a lot of pocket money as parents are busy with their own agendas. Some parents do use money to compensate for lack of time spent with their children and to show their love. However, young children may misuse the money given to them. They may spend their money on junk food or other useless things as parents are too busy to instill in their children the value of saving money and spending wisely. Similarly, secondary school students with extra pocket money can afford to buy more expensive, pricey items such as mobile phones and branded clothing. They have high spending, but not earning, power. This can create the habit of spending without budgeting or planning. This is a situation that certainly calls for nancial education. Financial education will teach these students how to budget or plan their expenditure, and how to make decisions on what to buy. Other than that, nancial education also teaches students the advantages of saving and investing money. A healthy savings account will help students to be prepared for a nancial emergency. Today, many students do not seem to care too much about saving money. They would rather spend it on having a good time. The subject of nancial education could teach students how the money spent could actually grow instead by accumulating interest if placed in a banking institution. They are also exposed to how short-term or long-term savings accounts work in banks and the difference between a simple savings account and a xed deposit. The knowledge gained can be useful when the students go out into the real or working world. Introducing this subject at a young age would give them a strong foundation. Finally, nancial education can instill wise nancial management among students. This can help them to manage and overcome nancial problems once they are in adulthood. For example, problems such as bankruptcy and credit card debt, which point to poor nancial management, are on the rise. If students learn about nancial management, it can help to alleviate this phenomenon. At the same time, students will also learn about insurance, unit trust funds, share markets and retirement plans which can help them tremendously when planning their future nancial life. In conclusion, nancial education provides important awareness on spending habits and helps individuals in future. Therefore, I agree that nancial education should be made a compulsory subject in schools. Words in red to make a stand Words in brown thesis statement what my essay is about Words in green topic sentence what the paragraph is going to be about Words in blue to conclude the paragraph Words in pink to restate stand
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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

SET 2

Question 1 PRACTICE 2
You are an education officer attached to the Ministry of Education. You have been asked to write a short article on literacy in selected countries. Your article should use the information given below. You should write 150 to 200 words.
Literacy Rates, by Country, 1990 and 2000 100 90 80 (percentage) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Bangladesh Brazil China Egypt Kuwait Pakistan

Male 1990 Male 2000 Female 1990 Female 2000

Adapted from http://www.writefix.com

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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

Suggested Answer
Literacy Rates in Selected Countries
The chart shows the percentage of literacy rates in six countries between the years 1990 and 2000 for both men and women. The trend indicates inconsistent literacy rates among males and females in six nations. More people are literate in 2000 compared to 1990, especially women. However, the trend shows that women have lower literacy rates. In 1990, 45% of Bangladeshi men were literate. However, only 25% of the women were literate. Far more men than women in Pakistan were literate, 50% of the men compared to a mere 20% of the women. In Kuwait and China, slightly more men than women were literate. The trend in 2000 shows the substantial improvement in literacy for both genders. Pakistan had the biggest increase, the male literacy rate rising from 49% in 1990 to 57% in 2000. Countries with high literacy rates saw signicant increases for the men. Similarly, literacy rates for women jumped in 2000. In Egypt, the number of literate women rose from 20% in 1990 to 28% in 2000. In conclusion, all countries have improved over ten years, but are far from achieving 100% literacy. However, the women are catching up and need support to further improve.

However Far more Slightly Went up to Similarly

Sentence connector to state an opposing idea. In Bangladesh, very few women could read and write compared to the men. Starts with the subject to describe one part of the chart to emphasize the difference in the percentage. Adverb to describe the degree of change. Verb to show an upward direction of growth. Sentence connector to state explicitly that two items are similar to each other. Both the men and women have shown improvements in the literacy rate over the decade. Adjective to describe the degree of change.

Substantial

In conclusion Sentence connector to summarise the idea that all countries have shown improvement in the literacy rate over the decade.

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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

Question 2 PRACTICE 2
Studying abroad is better than studying in local universities. What is your opinion? You should write at least 350 words. Illustrate your opinion with examples.

Suggested Answer
Wealthy parents send their children to study abroad with the perception that overseas education is denitely better. These parents lack condence in the quality of education in local universities. They are victims of the perception that overseas graduates are better compared to local graduates. They are not aware that overseas education does not guarantee a high-paying job and the expenses incurred are much higher than the potential earning power. They are more concerned with the social status of sending their children overseas. I disagree with the idea that studying abroad is better than studying in local universities. Firstly, local universities produce quality graduates who are successful leaders. The quality of education in local universities has improved tremendously. Malaysia is now known as the education hub for higher learning. The Ministry of Higher Learning was set up to ensure the quality of education in countless public and private universities. The number of foreign students in these universities shows that foreigners trust our quality of education. We have qualied lecturers conducting various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which are internationally recognized such as the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) in University Malaya. Most academic programmes in universities have received full accreditation from the Malaysian Qualications Agency, formerly known as the National Accreditation Council (LAN). Overseas students come back with learned accents that may be impressive but do not mean that they are better qualied or more competent than local graduates. Many successful teachers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs are from the local graduate pool. Secondly, many people prefer not to study abroad due to cultural differences. It is difcult to cope with ones studies and at the same time adapt to a foreign lifestyle and culture. Thus, those who are less adaptable may be engulfed with anxiety and stress that will eventually take a toll on their studies. Furthermore, studying abroad means that students might lose certain crucial cultural values. On the contrary, they are inuenced by the Western culture and come back with new modern values that contradict Asian family values. They are less understanding towards family customs and traditions. This can cause feuds and conicts within the family. Besides that, after years of studying abroad, the family relationship is generally different. In contrast, studying locally ensures that local and family values are maintained, and avoid the issues which overseas graduates face upon their return to their homeland. Finally, people prefer to study locally to save costs. Studying abroad requires high tuition fees, expensive accommodation and transportation. High exchange rates that might uctuate could also create nancial woes for some families. Other than that, students who study overseas often feel homesick and this could lead to more money spent on travelling home during the holidays or having their parents to visit them often. While the advent of the Internet and the latest technology has alleviated this problem somewhat, nevertheless it is a fact that overseas education is many times more expensive than local education. Hence, many prefer to study in local universities where there is quality education minus the nancial woes and cultural differences. Undergraduates feel more secure and are more focused in their studies. Local graduates have proved that they are as competent as overseas graduates in the Malaysian workforce.
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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011

Firstly, Secondly, Shows the logical order of ideas to support the writers opinion. Finally Such as Furthermore On the contrary Besides that Other than that Provides an example to illustrate that programmes conducted by universities are internationally recognized. Links the idea of losing cultural values to the earlier idea on culture shock. Signals a difference in ideas: students lose their own cultural values but came back with contradicting Western values. Adds a further reason as to why family relationships are looser. To link the new idea of hidden costs involved to the previous idea of the high costs involved.

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ACE AHEAD MUET Paper 4 Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 2011