Example Question (Writing Exam)

Answer

The Various Types of Cooking Oil Used in the Kitchen

The stimuli present a line graph on 'Global production of cooking oil (2000-2006)', a bar graph on

'Fat content in commonly-used cooking oils' and an article excerpt on the healthiness of oils. In

general, palm oil is the most produced oil while the least produced but healthiest option is

sunflower oil.

According to the line graph, the highest world oil production is palm oil increasing steadily from

25 million tonnes in 2000/01 to 35.5 million in 2005/06, beating soya oil by a small margin. Among

the 5 types of oil, sunflower has the lowest production stabilising at just under 10 million tonnes

from 2000 to 2006. Based on the bar graph, the healthiest oil is sunflower because it contains the

second lowest fat (12%) content and the highest healthy polyunsaturated fat (71%). This is

followed by other healthy oils with lower fat like canola (7%), olive (15%) and soya (16%). The

unhealthy oils are very high in fat and very low in polyunsaturated fat such as palm oil (51%) and

coconut oil (91%). The article states that we cannot be sure about how healthy the oils we eat are

because it may contain too much trans fats leading to heart diseases and cancer.

In conclusion, coconut and palm oil should be avoided because fo the high fat content while the

healthiest oils are sunflower, canola, olive and soya.

Crimes Involving Foreign Workers in Malaysia

The stimuli show a line graph on 'Number of crime cases involving foreign workers (2006-2008)',

a bar graph on 'Types of crime committed by foreign workers (2006-2008)' and a newspaper

headline on 'Overworked and Underpaid foreign workers'. In general, the number of crimes are

increasing steadily from 2006 to 2008 especially petty crimes like robbery and snatch theft by

underpaid foreign workers.

According the the line graph, every year the number of crimes increases by about 200 cases which

is 1535 in 2006, 1780 in 2007 to 1926 in 2008). These crimes can be divided into petty crimes

including robbery and snatch thef and hardcore crimes like rape and murder. Based on the bar

graph, the highest incidence of crime is robbery that rose from 65 in 2006 to 75 cases in 2008. This

is followed by snatch thefts from 15 in 2006 to 18 cases in 2008. Conversely, rape and murder

cases have reduced drastically by 50% or more from 2006 to 2008. The reasons given for the

increase of crimes in the headline are that foreign workers are unhappy with their meagre incomes

which result in them being overworked and underpaid.

In c onclusion, foreign workers are committing more petty crimes like robbery and snatch theft

because they are overworked and underpaid.

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 within 150-200 words.

Title

Sales of three fast food outlets in the first quarter of 2012

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.

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 activities.

Key features

Analysis within each stimulus

Line graph:

According to 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 RM3,000 to more

than RM4,000.

Sales for Ken Burger dipped between February and March to an all time low of below Rm1,900.

Mario Pizza achieved its highest sales of RM1,500 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

RM400 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

drinks) 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 promotional

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.

Conclusion

In conclusion, attractive promotional activities organized 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.

The chart shows how students on all courses at a Malaysian university viewed different

subjects on a scale of easy to difficult. You should write 150 to 200 words.

Sample answer:

How Students on All Courses at a Malaysian University View Different Subjects According to

Different Levels of Difficulty

The bar chart shows how students who are studying in a Malaysian university rate different

subjects according to its difficulty – easy, moderately difficult or difficult.

The subject which was most commonly rated as difficult was math, by 70% of the total

students. While only 20% of students saw it as easy. Physics was also largely judged to be a

difficult or moderately difficult subject. Only 25% of students viewed it as easy. By contrast,

chemistry was regarded as easy by a massive 70% of students.

As far as language subjects are concerned, languages in general were seen as easy by 40% of

students. This percentage dropped to 20% for oriental languages. African languages, however,

were viewed as easy by 60% of students. Next, Art was rated to be an easy subject by only 30% of

students and like Physics, 50% rated it as difficult.

In conclusion, there seems to be no clear correspondence between the type of subject and

whether it was generally rated as easy or difficult.

(168 words)

Tips for Task 1: · A title MUST be written

· Title MUST be underlined

· Write a minimum of 3 paragraphs (Introduction, body and conclusion). Students can also write

2 paragraphs for body.)

MUET WRITING NOVEMBER 2009 – QUESTION 1 (SAMPLE ANSWER)

The table shows the ranking of qualities employers look for in job applicants and the ranking of

qualities applicants believe employers look for. There is a mismatch in employers’ expectations

and applicants’ perceptions of qualities required at the workplace.

Communication skills is the highest ranked quality that employers look for in applicants though

applicants find it less important as they rated it number five. Respect for authority is ranked the

lowest which is 10 by both employers and applicants. Applicants ranked qualification as the

number 1 quality they believe employers look for but employers ranked it number 7. A quality

ranked quite low by applicants is motivation, which is ranked number 9. Employers too find it less

important as they ranked it number 8. Experience is considered important by applicants as they

ranked it number 2. However it is not what employers want as they ranked it number 9. Besides

that, team-work skills is a quality applicants do not believe employers want so much as they ranked

it number 7 but it is a quality employers look for as they ranked it number 3.

In conclusion, employers and job applicants have different views on the qualities expected at the

workplace. (200 words)

MUET WRITING QUESTION 2 SAMPLE ANSWERS FOR 350 WORD ACADEMIC

ESSAY

SAMPLE 1) YEAR END 2008: MUET WRITING 800/4 QUESTION 2

“People are becoming more materialistic. They are concerned with making more money and what

money can buy.” What is your opinion on being materialistic? You should write at least 350 words.

[60 marks]

They say that money makes the world go round. And indeed it does as without money, life would

be very difficult as in today’s society, nothing is free. The side effect however is that people are

becoming more materialistic; more concerned with making money and what money can buy. But

how much money is enough? Is it ever enough? To some, it will never be enough. In my opinion,

I truly believe that this statement is true and that people are becoming more materialistic in nature.

In this essay, I will discuss how materialism has affected modern society’s way of life on an

individual level, the country’s economy as well as our spiritual and moral beliefs.

First and foremost, each individual is affected by materialism to some extent in this day and age

because hedonism is becoming an uprising trend. This is because today's generation are geared

towards making more and more money so that they can enjoy the carefree lifestyle that is so

popular these days. Moreover, people now are striving to earn more income in order to afford

things that are more expensive and branded. For example, people spend their hard earned money

on material objects like genuine LV and Coach handbags, expensive gadgets like Iphones and

Tablet pcs and so on which in my opinion is a waste of money when regular goods may prove to

be good enough. Therefore, while individuals become more focussed on their pursuit of material

wealth and improving their standard of living, they may forget that what matters most in life is

quality time spent with family and friends and not the quantity of their material goods.

Secondly, when society starts spending in a materialistic manner it will surely have a domino effect

on the country’s economy. This means that the spending power of society will help boost the

economy and create more business opportunities for the booming trade. However, when a society

overspends, using plastic money or credit cards, or when they take loans they cannot afford to

repay, then the country’s debt margin will be higher. For instance, USA today is facing an

economic crisis because banks have approved home loans to people who aspire to own bigger

houses than they can actually afford and this is causing the collapse of the country’s economy

there. Thus, while a society’s spending habits helps our economy to grow, overspending due to

materialism will have an adverse effect to the country’s financial stability.

Last but not least, materialism affects our spiritual and moral beliefs. This is due to the fact people

who are materialistic may become ‘amoral’ whereby they disregard their spiritual and moral

upbringing and instead turn to crime to satisfy their materialistic needs. In fact, the crime rate is

increasing because criminals these days have developed many ways to gain more money from

society. Take for example, there are more reports of snatch thefts, burglaries, kidnapping for

ransom, credit card fraud, internet banking hacking and others that are driven by materialistic

criminals. Hence, when people lose sight of their spiritual and moral beliefs and believe instead in

the greed of materialism, therefore the crime rate is bound to increase.

In a nutshell, materialism is a common agenda in the 21st century as more people are working hard

to afford things beyond their reach. While this may spur individuals to work harder to improve

their standard of living, overspending due to materialism may cause the downfall of a country’s

economy and their morality. In my opinion, I still firmly believe that materialism has a strong hold

on today’s society; both positive and negative effects. Our government can encourage society to

be less frivolous and wasteful in spending by running campaigns such as ‘Consumer Awareness’

and ‘Buy Malaysian Made Products’ in order to educate our younger generation for the prosperity

of our nation.

Women Make Better Leaders Than Men

The debate between the supremacy of the genders have been in session since time immemorial. In

the past, it would seem that men had the upperhand but these days, women are starting to leave

their mark in many aspects from business to politics rather than just domestic affairs. In my humble

opinion, both men and women have the potential to be great leaders but the question of 'better

leaders' does not lie in a person's gender alone but his or her innate character. In this essay, let us

explore the qualities that make men and women great leaders before focusing on other factors that

are unrelated to gender.

First and foremost, men have some distinctive qualities that make them far better leaders than

women. We can attribute this to the fact that men are generally physically stronger than women.

This is undeniable because a man has clearly more muscle mass than a woman so in terms of

leadership that has to do with physical ability, men win hands down. For example, in the army,

most leaders are men that are buffed up and better able to handle the physical exertions of this field

compared to women who are more delicate in structure. Men are also known to have better ability

to strategise in terms of warfare and they seem to command their armies better. For example, great

leaders have been men such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Hitler and so on. Moreover,

men tend to be able to make quick decisions that are not usually based on their emotions but

logical, rational and practical reasons. Women, however, seem to be very emotional creatures so

they may make poor leadership decisions if they simply follow their feelings. Therefore, men have

many qualities like physical strength, ability to strategise well and make snap decisions which can

make them better leaders.

However, women have proven to be better leaders in an increasing number of cases. This can be

seen as more and more countries have entrusted women to be their leaders. These women have a

more 'feminine' approach to leadership which is more sensitive towards the needs of society. For

instance, history is peppered with exemplary female leaders such as Indira Ghandi, Benazir Bhutto,

Eva Peron and present day heroines such as Aung San Suu Kyi. Women tend to be more caring in

nature and quite patient in dealing with problems which makes them better leaders compared to

men who could be less sensitive and impatient. Most women are also known to be perfectionists,

and this is an advantage because they are often very meticulous and detailed in carrying out their

duties as leaders. Thus, with a more open-minded society, an increasing number of women are

being given the onus to take the lead and may even one day supersede men in their traditional

leadership roles!

Although I have gone to great lengths to show that both men and women have the ability to be

great leaders, I still completely believe that 'leadership' has little to do with gender and a lot to do

with a person's innate character. This means that to be a great leader does not depend on whether

you are male or female but rather your personal characteristics that drive you to succeed. Men and

women both possess the qualities of confidence, responsibility, time management and delegation

skills, public relations and good communication skills, positive outlook, high commitment,

creativity and innovation, forward-looking visionaries and many other characteristics of a good

leader. Hence, the question of gender should not arise because being male or female does not

guarantee the ability to lead well.

In conclusion, history has shown that men make better leaders but this is a faulty argument because

it does not take into consideration the fact in the old days women were discriminated against and

not allowed to lead. Today, society is more open-minded and more women are taking the helm

and proving that women can be better leaders. Nevertheless, leadership to me is 'genderless'

whereby it is completely dependent on a person's positive characteristics which makes people

respect them and want to follow in their footsteps. Every country needs more leaders regardless of

gender so the government should conduct more self-improvement leadership courses for the

younger generation so they may become better future leaders of our country.

MUET WRITING SAMPLE MAN'S CARELESS ATTITUDE ESSAY MARCH 2013

QUESTION

MARCH 2013

Man's careless attitude is the main cause for the destruction of the environment. Discuss. You

should write at least 350 words. (60 marks)

Below is a good sample answer written by Franky, my 2013 lower 6 science student.

In this modern civilization, man struggles to survive the high cost of living expenses, which

significantly increases with each passing year. This causes them to use any method available that

generates income and they start to sideline the importance of preserving nature. This is due to

mankind realising the potential of economy that can come from nature. So, I strongly believe the

destruction of nature is mostly caused by man's careless attitude whereby they prioritise their greed

for money and the development of civilisation. Let us analyse this phenomenon in terms of the

country's development, illegal activities of exploiting nature and the job opportunities.

First of all, many nations try to achieve the title of the most leading nation in economy or

infrastructure. So in order to compete with other countries, most nations try to explore any

available land in their country for development such as industries, tourist spots and many other

purposes that are related to money. Whenever they see the potential of a certain piece of land, they

tend to develop it despite some of these places might still be uninhabited or the home for many

wildlife. Sometimes, they would also plod through jungles or level the mountains for road

development which severely changes the landscape of nature. As a result, this selfish and careless

act will cause the deforestation and global warming. For example, Indonesia has become quite

careless with their handling of these problems. In Kalimantan, Indonesia, the forest is being

severely deforested by their people for land development. And to make matters worse, they even

choose the fastest and cos-saving method of deforestation which is by burning down the trees, the

mass release of carbon dioxide from the mass burn down of trees lead to ozone thinning and

greenhouse effect. Also, the haze problem is another negative side product. As for the real victims

of these acts, they are the neighbouring nations such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and

Philippines especially as haze causes many health issues such as lung cancer and breathing

problems. Therefore, these careless acts and greed not only cause the destruction of nature but also

endanger many lives, both man and animals.

Secondly, some people's greed for great fortune and easy life make them become selfish and

careless by over-exploiting nature. They willingly do illegal activities such as cutting down trees

or animal hunting, seeing the high demand for these materials. It will slowly cause the

depopulation of different kinds of flora and fauna. In China, these activities of eating inner organs

of animals such as tiger or bear and they even use these animals' body parts for economic purposes

such as tiger skin, crocodile skin and elephant teeth and tusks by exporting it to those who pay a

high price for it. This has a serious effect on the ecosystem which is the extinction of animals. In

Indonesia, trees are being cut down for making expensive house furniture made of material such

as teak wood. In fact, these trees require a long period of 10 to 20 years to mature. Thus, the

continuous cutting down of trees will eventually lead to its extinction. These activities are illegal

by law and still occurs widely despite many countermeasures that have been taken by the

authorised organisations such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Somehow, these criminals are able

to slip through the organisations's enforcement laws of protecting the wildlife and nature. Plus,

most society are careless to even take notice of these problems because they have yet to come to

awareness of the dangers that would happen from these illegal acts. If only they had given more

attention and cooperation to the authorised organisations, these problems might have been able to

be prevented.

Lastly, to survive in this modern world, every person needs to be able to make a living for

themselves of their family, but many people with low education level cannot get high salary jobs,

even university scholars are yet to be certain of getting a proper job after their graduation despite

their high level of education. The competition is just like the survival of the fittest among these

graduates and people with low qualifications. Therefore with the growing demand for more natural

materials such as petroleum gas and minerals from the earth as well as a high demand of smuggled

goods, people are willing to pay high prices to have employees do their job of exploiting nature

because these jobs are high risk. So people that are desperately in need of jobs are usually tempted

with the pay and they would take up the call. This situation had opened up a lot of job opportunities,

but they are careless to not realise that these jobs are the main cause of nature's destructtion because

they are being pinned down by the pressure of high living cost in this modern world that they have

forgotten the importance of preserving nature.

In a nutshell, I still strongly believe in my opinion that nature's destruction is mainly caused by

man's careless attitude. They strive to make a living in the world so desperately that some

eventually deny the truth that it is their own fault for nature's destruction. If no serious and proper

actions are being taken immediately by many wildlife and nature preserving organisations or

authorised organisations such as WWF, UNESCO and ASEAN to prepare an effective strategy or

blueprint to prevent this problem, there probably won't be any jungles or wildlife left in the future

and our young generaton will have to live in a polluted world.

MUET Academic Essay Sample March 2014

Question 2:

The trend today among youths is to own the latest technological gadgets such as mobile phones

and other devices. Is this a healthy development among young people? Give your opinion. You

should write at least 350 words.

In this modern world of ours, technological devices such as mobile phones and other gadgets

are no longer foreign to us. Most of the young people today are treating these luxuries as a necessity

as they compete to own the latest devices, leading to the adults’ questioning whether this is a

healthy or an unhealthy development for youths today. In my own humble opinion, this issue will

be a never-ending argument because it solely depends on the user itself to determine their purpose

of using these devices. Thus in this essay, this issue can be discussed in terms of both healthy and

unhealthy development and some recommendations.

Firstly, with these newest devices, young people can access information wherever there are

with just a touch of their fingers. This can help to expand their knowledge about the current issues

of our world which will be a key role to take their mind to a higher level. They can also use these

facilities to help them in their studies. All of these can help our country to produce more intellectual

people which indeed is a healthy development by contributing to a more productive nation.

In the old days, we had to do a lot of work and research in order to finish our school assignment,

which is time consuming and tiring. Now we can obtain any information we need for our

assignment without having the need to go to the library anymore. This can help the students to

save more time for them to do other things. Furthermore, students can also increase their efficiency

of work. The government also supports this by launching the ‘Wireless Village’ programme so

that both rural and urban people can access the internet without having to subcribe to any internet

packages. Overall, students can perform better and become more productive in their work, so this

is certainly a healthy development.

Moreover, young people that chase after these latest technological devices can help to

strengthen the country’s commerce through the constant supply and demand of gadgets. This can

help the government to focus more on developing this technology or subsidising companies in this

industry as it can guarantee good profits. Besides, in line with the previous years’ budgets, the

government is giving out ‘smart phone rebates’ to citizens above the age of 21. All of this can help

to improve our economic level and lead to a more developed country, therefore another sign that

it is a healthy development.

On the other hand, this trend to own the latest technology devices could lead to a waste of

money. Even though these devices are useful to us, but the fact is that most young people are

chasing the latest devices regardless of cost. Mind the word ‘latest’ as they only want the latest

edition that is being released in the market almost once per year for different brands such as

Samsung and Sony. In order to keep up with the trend, these young people are willing to waste

their money or more accurately their parents’ hard-earned money. Instead, they could use the

money for better purposes like buying books or stationery.

Furthermore, as time goes by, they might eventually become ungrateful for what they already

have and keep nagging for new gadgets. This is unhealthy as it breeds materialism. In addition, if

one did not have proper discipline within oneself while using these devices, one will easily become

a victim to various addictions such as social networking and games. This can cause the young users

to become distracted and greatly decrease their work efficiency. As for students, their performance

at school might become affected. To add to the matter, young people can easily access

inappropriate content such as porn and violent materials at a young age, unsupervised. All of this

can retard their mind’s growth and become influenced by negative things. In the end, these devices

become a bane to them instead of a boon to the development of society.

Hence, for us to fully utilise the advantages of technology, I humble share some of my

recommendations. Firstly, parents play a big role as they spend the most time with their children

thus they should watch strictly over their children’s usage of these devices per day by limiting it.

Next, the government can work on preventing or blocking many harmful websites in our country

so that young people have no access to it.

In conclusion, I believe that in the end, it depends on the user itself whether to abuse or to

use the devices to their disadvantage or advantage. We can draw an analogy from guns – used by

the police it enforces the law; by a criminal it abets the crime. It would be illogical to put the gun

in jail instead of the person who pulls the trigger. Similarly, it is we ourselves that click the mouse

or swipe the screen of our gadget so we must use it responsibly to contribute towards a happier

and healthier development in society today.