RESEARCH !!!

Research! Research! Research!

Now our current assignment are doing research. 

Some may think of it as a pain.

But it's fun anyway!

Leadership..

Time management..

It's like a bit detective-vary!

But..

Writting it will be a pain...

XDD~~~

ATtenTION!!!!!!!!!!!the memories with USTAZ ASRI in THE last ISLAMIC SESSION...

ALHAMDULILLAH...................

deAR fRienDS!!!!

after having practICes day and niGHt...at last today is the DAY!...the speaking test for the muEt had sEttlEd!!!

MUET Speaking (Paper 800/2) Tips

How to improve your English speaking skills?


Speak in English at every opportunity

Speak in English with your teachers and friends at school and speak in English with your parents and siblings at home. Grab any opportunity you have to speak in English.Most Chinese native speakers are ashamed to speak in English because they think they cannot speak fluently compared to those English native speakers. In fact, the earlier you start to speak in English, the more fluent you can speak.


Think in English
You might be surprised that thinking in English actually helps you in speaking in English. Try to think or think aloud in English. It helps since you do not have to worry about the spelling error. Again, thinking in English for non-English native speakers is sometimes very hard at the beginning. However, once you have started for a few days or weeks, you will get useto think in English.



Practice makes perfect. By following these effective tips, you should be able to speak in English confidently in your Malaysian University English Test (MUET).

MUET Listening (Paper 800/1) Tips

How to improve your listening skills?

Listen to wide range of audio materials
Since the recorded texts in MUET may include dialogues, radio talk shows, etc, the more types of audio materials you have listened, the more prepared you are.

Listen to television news broadcasts
News broadcasts are very informative and up-to-date. Try to watch and listen to news broadcasts daily at regular time, this way you will be addicted to news broadcasts.

Listen to conversation in the movies
When watching movies, sitcoms or dramas, instead of reading the subtitles, you should listen to the conversation between the actors. If English is not your mother tongue, you may find it quite hard to start. Try to train yourself not to read the subtitles but listen carefully to what the actors are talking about in the movies.

Listen to radio talk shows
This is another effective way to boost your listening skill. Tune in to your favourite radio station and enjoy the talk shows.

Listen to podcasts available on the Internet
Similar to blog (weblog), podcast is something very new in the Web 2.0, even dictionaries haven’t coin these words. Download some podcasts on your preferred topics and enjoy them while upgrading your listening skill.

MUET Reading (Paper 800/3) Tips

How to improve your English reading skills?

 
Make Reading your Habit
Reading for many people is fun and enjoyable. You can improve your English reading skills by reading as much as possible. Reading articles on topics of your interest is always an enjoyable and pleasure experience. To make reading your habit, you may begin by reading shorter texts and after a week progress to the longer texts. Train yourself to read daily.

Read a Variety of Materials
Newspapers, magazines, novels, encyclopaedia, etc are some typical reading materials to start with. In addition, reading English ebooks and weblogs or blogs helps too. Magazines such as Readers’ Digest are suitable for your general knowledge, English grammar and vocabulary. A recommended blog for Malaysian students is Malaysia Students blog.

Read Articles form Different Disciplines
Do not limit your reading materials to your favorite topics. Instead, you should read articles and scholarly journals from various disciplines. For instance, health, technology, education, science, environment, you name it.

Learn Skimming and Scanning Skills
Skimming is a skill to read something quickly to find the main facts or ideas in it while scanning is to read something word by word quickly for a better understanding of the text. Skimming and scanning skills come in handy in your MUET reading test since you have to answer 50 multiple-choice questions (MCQ) based on several texts given.

Malaysian University English Test (MUET) Guide

Malaysian University English Test (MUET), first launched in 1999 and administered by Malaysian Examinations Council (Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia), is a test to measure candidates’ English language proficiency. MUET is taken by students who intend to pursue their tertiary education at local public universities since it is a mandatory test to gain entry into degree courses offered at all Malaysian public universities. This test is carried out twice a year, in April/May and October/November. Candidates usually register through their academic institutions while private candidates through State Education Departments (Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri), with a registration fee of RM60.

Unlike International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) which are globally accepted as the certification of English language proficiency, MUET is recognized only in Malaysia and Singapore (National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University).

MUET consists of four components: listening, speaking, reading and writing. New test specifications have been introduced officially and will apply from MUET October/November 2008 onwards while old test specifications will still apply for MUET October/November 2007 and April/May 2008. The table below shows the detailed comparison between new and old format of MUET.

Test	Old Test Specifications	New Test Specifications	Possible Genres
Listening (800/1) Duration: Weighting: Number of texts: Number of questions: Question type:	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 3 15 Four-option multiple-choice	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 5 20 - Information transfer - Short answer - Four-option multiple-choice - Three-option multiple choice	Lecture, briefing, talk, discussion, interview, telephone conversation, announcement, instructions, advertisement, news, meeting, documentary
Speaking (800/2) Duration: Weighting: Number of tasks: Task format:	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 2 A: Individual presentation B: Group interaction	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 2 A: Individual presentation B: Group interaction	Contemporary issues
Reading (800/3) Duration: Weighting: Number of texts: Number of questions: Question type:	135 marks 120 minutes 45% 4 50 - Cloze - Information transfer - Four-option multiple-choice	120 marks 90 minutes 40% 6 shorter texts (at least one text with graphics) 50 - Three-option multiple-choice - Four-option multiple-choice	Articles from journals, newspapers and magazines, academic texts, electronic texts
Writing (800/4) Duration: Weighting: Number of questions: Question type:	75 marks 90 minutes 25% 2 Task 1: Summary of not more than 100 words Task 2: Extended writing not fewer than 250 words	90 marks 90 minutes 30% 2 Task 1: Interpretation of information based on specific stimuli provided (no less than 150 words) Task 2: Extended writing based on a given topic (no less than 350 words)	Report, article, letter, essay

Candidates are rated into six bands – band one being the lowest and band six being the highest -- according to their test scores. The total score is 300 and the table below shows MUET band description.

Band	Aggregated Score	Description
6	260 - 300	Very good user - Very good command of the language. Highly expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language: hardly any inaccuracies. Very good understanding of language and contexts. Functions extremely well in the language.
5	220 - 259	Good user - Good command of the language. Expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language but with minor inaccuracies. Good understanding of language and contexts. Functions well in the language.
4	180 - 219	Competent user - Satisfactory command of the language. Satisfactory expressive and fluent, appropriate language but with occasional inaccuracies. Satisfactory understanding of language and contexts. Functions satisfactorily in the language.
3	140 - 179	Modest user - Modest command of the language. Modestly expressive and fluent, appropriate language but with noticeable inaccuracies. Modest understanding of language and contexts. Able to function modestly in the language.
2	100 - 139	Limited user - Limited command of the language. Lacks expressiveness, fluency and appropriacy: inaccurate use of the language resulting in breakdown in communication. Limited understanding of language and contexts. Limited ability to function in the language.
1	Below 100	Extremely limited user - Poor command of the language. Unable to use language to express ideas: inaccurate use of the language resulting in frequent breakdowns in communication. Little or poor understanding of language and contexts. Hardly able to function in the language.

Students that have taken MUET are eligible to be enrolled into degree courses offered at local public universities as long as their CGPA for Diploma STPM or Malaysian Matriculation examinations are good enough to fulfil the entry requirement. The difference between all these bands is that students from band 1 and 2 have to take two extra English courses during holidays while band 3 and 4 students take one extra course. Students with band 5 or 6 can skip the extra English course. Some competitive degree courses like medicine and pharmacy, however, require students to get band 5 or 6 in MUET.

Science Week!

Well, needless to say, it was the most exhausting week of the year. Rushing 24 hours, and don't even get me to talk about sleeping. Activities were held, such as pop quiz, cross-word puzzle, explore race and science exhibition. Our class had to do a chemistry sub-topic, Mass spectrometer.

   

History said that Sir Frank William Aston, an English scientist, was given a noble award for introducing mass spectrometry into the world of science.

The preparation were tiring, the boys had to sleep at 5.00 am. At first, no one wants to be representative, but we somehow manage to handle it. We were nervous at first, but soon after that, we started to enjoy the atmosphere, although the hall was as hot as a sauna. The eyes of the visitors were the most valuable one. The curious look when they saw our mass spectrometer model, the light lit on their face when hearing our explanation and so on. The most funny part was, when the main people came, we spoke English. Literally. No mistake. As if that time we spoke in Malay. When the left, we thought we would fainted. In the end, we didn't win anything.... Hahaha.....XDD

ORENTATION WEEK AT KMPh!! ~F.A view~

 My first impression of this place is ‘WOW!’ ... I mean, why wouldn't I? From outside it had very high security... Looks like an army camp! Anyway, the buildings are all a beauty. Inside my daddy’s dearest car with my mom sit up front, we made our way to a drive through registration thingi’s... There’s three registration type. Manually, a drive through and I forgot the last one. We went to a drive though one! WwEEEEE!!!!! My room is pretty decent.. A Genius Chinese, Poh Ying and a shortie, Eiza are my roommates. Poh Ying got 7A+, 2A & 1A-... 10 A’s! Eiza is a 7A’s student. I’m the weakest I guess. But, if I concentrate enough, I’ll be able to stand by their side.

Our facilitator leader, Kak Farah, was such a nice woman. She’s good but the other students were the problem. Our first day was filled with our facilitators annoyance. Some new batch students doesn't follow much what the faci’s said... Which conclude to 24/7 warning... The speeches and introduction was pretty boring.. We have to run here and there... Seriously, we have to move so much, my shoes fell apart. It became completely hideous!!! And I just bought it too...

That night, we have to go through a very annoying session. Argh, I don't really mind singing the college song, I actually like that song. But, before we were sent to bed, the faci’s told us what to do and not to do. And believe me, it was pretty sleepy. And I have to sit at the front. I was pretty proud of myself that I didn't fall asleep. We were sent off to bed at 11.45p.m. At least, our faci’s are kinder than the other blocks. I mean, they only slept for 2 hours?!!!! Well, I slept late anyway... hehehehe....

On so go on the day with speech, motivation, annoyance, sleepiness and boredom.... I think on Thursday, where the girls have gone beyond the limit, does things that they aren't suppose to, the main faci, Kak Farah fed up with us... And so was the other faci's. During our night meeting, she cried her heart out. All of us were numb-struck. There's also another faci, who never been angry before, explode before us. Wargh!!! 'We' , I mean, the others really done it this time. Kak Farah said that she'll respect our action and wanted to leave the next day. I mean, they made her think that she's useless. Well, she's not! She's a great faci, the most kind one.

That Friday morning, she had her baggage next to her.. Saying few advice and made her way. Well, at first no one move. Then there's 2 faci's who still care about us told us to stop her. Finally someone move and all of us surround Kak Farah. Not letting her leave. One of us spoke, told her to take care of us until the end of the orientation week. That was the last day. Some of them begged her to stay. While some cried like the lost someone or regretting their action. Kak Farah struggled but finally gave in. As the sun rise, we had a great time. They're some girls who woke up late got some punishment. What kind of punishment you might ask? They have to play 'air badminton'... Well, it was more like a entertainment than a punishment. It was so much fun!!!!

Oh yeah, I haven't said a word about my mentor group, didn't I? There was a Chinese in our group, goes by name Lim Yong Kee Joseph, or much well know as 'Mr. Lim' for short. He's now attending a-level studies. But we still keep in contact. Me, Mr. Lim, and Ira were in a group during the orientation. We won most the activities held, especially about designing stuff called " think outside the box" . We (me) design a E.A.L.com ( Eira, Ana, Lim) a futuristic laptop, design for students. It can use batteries, electric and solar power, can be a hand phone, also easy to bring anywhere laptop. Just typing here won't be enough. So much fun we had spent together, but, it didn't last long... Haha... I barely remember their names.

Maybe next year I should apply as a Faci?