PMR 2011 PMR Tips_ Writing Essay .

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Analysis of past years questions

2000 - Informal letter & picture series 2001 - Giving opinion & newspaper article 2002 - Newspaper article & report for magazine 2003 - Giving opinion & description of robbery 2004 - Speech & Article 2005 - Report on National Day Celebration (picture series & note expansion) 2006 - Informal letter - Letter to uncle (note expansion) 2007 - Story (picture series & note expansion) 2008 - Speech Safety Measures in School (picture series & note expansion) 2009 - Article - experience at an old folks' home (picture series & note expansion) 2010 - recount picture series and notes 2011 - What will come out this year???? It could be a report, a letter (formal or informal) or a story. And maybe opinion based essay that has not been tested since 2001.

Analysis on Theme for Guided Writing: 2005 People 2006 Environment 2007 Social Issues 2008 People & Social Issues 2009 People & Social Issues 2010 People & Social Issues 2011 ???? Health/ Environment. Environment could be environment at the canteen, library, during sports day or pollution and etc.

ESSAY WRITING SECTION A

CRITERIA THAT FIT AN ESSAY INTO THE A BAND

1 - IDEAS
Adequate Well - developed Well - organised Well - linked Own elaboration

When develop your ideas remember to.

Use the wh questions When time Where place Who the person / character involve How ... The process of the event What .. The event / incident

Also remember to use all the senses

Sense of touching
Sense of hearing Sense of seeing

Sense of tasting
Sense of smelling Sense of feeling

2 -VARIED STRUCTURES

Simple sentences Compound sentences Complex sentences Active / Passive Construction

PRECISE AND WIDE VOCABULARY

AVOID

Repeated words Repeated phrases Repeated sentences

4 - ERROR FREE
Correct and Consistent usage of: Tenses Articles Prepositions Subject-Verb Agreement Spellings Punctuations Modals

5 - GOOD EXPRESSIONS
Idioms
Proverbs Similes

Phrases
Phrasal verbs

Tips in writing essays Understand the task given a. Study the pictures carefully. Imagine you are one of the people in the picture. Describe what happened. Basically understand the situation stated in the question. b. Look at the task at hand. Write a speech / Write an article. Do look at the structures wanted... for example: persuade your uncle. c. Determine the tenses/ time for the task. If it is an article recount Past tense/ time

Use the rubrics in their given form. e. g. Shopping many people curious- crowd watching snake charmer saw pick pocket wallet Use all the notes given in the question. Always write in paragraphs to organize your ideas. (Main point, elaboration, examples) Use linkers to correlate one paragraph to the other. e.g. To show difference - On the other hand, In contrast, On the contrary, However, Despite, To add to point - In addition, Besides, As a result, Similarly,

Use the correct format a. formal / informal letter know where the address and signature should be. Remember: "yours faithfully" is use only for formal letter. b. Talk / speech must have title, greetings to the audience, end with thank you. c. Report must have title and the name of the person who wrote the report at the bottom. d. Article must have title and appear formal e. Giving opinion must make sure to state your opinion at the beginning

Sample Your class is unhappy with your school canteen. As the monitor of your class, you have been asked to write to your principal, to complain about the following: - food left uncovered - attract many flies - food served is stale - food too expensive - oily plates and cups - rude workers - workers not properly attired - dustbins not cleared daily -same menu daily When writing the letter, you should remember: - to set out the letter correctly - to include all the points given - to write in paragraphs. (30 marks)

Note how the points given are arranged into paragraphs and elaborated where needed.

The last paragraph states the action you want taken. To elaborate on a point, you may:
- give a reason - state one effect/outcome - give details - explain further with facts or statistics - give an opinion

Lets look at some examples from the sample essay. 1. food left uncovered - attract many flies First and foremost, the food served is left uncovered and many flies can be seen hovering over the food. This may lead to food poisoning. Since the two points are connected, group them in one sentence. It is all right if you do not wish to use the exact words given but you must stick to the original meaning when writing. The underlined sentence are elaborated by stating one possible effect of the flies.

2. same menu daily Besides that, the canteen serves the same menu daily. The students are bored with fried rice and fried mee every day. The phrase same menu is elaborated by giving a few examples. Can you identify more examples of elaboration and the methods used? Remember that you only need to give a sentence or a phrase. Do not elaborate more than three or four lines. You will be wasting your time and effort.

Pay attention to the structures in the sample essay above.

Notice how the use of First and foremost, Moreover, Apart from that, Besides that, Another complaint is and so on. These are transitional words and phrases which help to make the essay flow smoothly and to lead the reader from one point to another. You can use many other transitional words and phrases to make your essay more cohesive.

To add to what you have just said: also, similarly, furthermore, in addition, then, moreover, in other words, in the same way
To use a specific example to support what you have said: For example, especially, for instance, to illustrate, as an illustration, such as To show sequence: First and foremost, first, The second advantage is, Next, Another reason is, Lastly, Finally To indicate that you are about to contrast what has just been said: but, on the other hand, yet, nevertheless, on the contrary, however To indicate a conclusion: In conclusion, consequently, thus, therefore, in summary, therefore, as a result.

The Class Monitor, Form 3 Amanah, SMK Kayu Ara Pasong, 82010 Pontian, Johore.
Encik Juhair bin Jumaat, The Principal, SMK Kayu Ara Pasong, 82010 Pontian, Johore.

6 OCTOBER 2010

Dear Sir, Unsatisfactory School Canteen

On behalf of the students of 3 Amanah, I would like to lodge a complaint about the school canteen.

Unsatisfactory School Canteen On behalf of the students of 3 Amanah, I would like to lodge a complaint about the school canteen. 2. First and foremost, the food served is not covered and many flies can be seen hovering over the food. This may lead to food poisoning. Moreover, the canteen also serves stale food. The nasi lemak turns bad by the time the upper forms have their recess. Last week, a few of us had diarrhoea after consuming food from the canteen.

3. Apart from that, the food is also too expensive. A small plate of fried mee costs RM1.50 and many poor students cannot afford it. Besides that, the canteen serves the same menu daily. The students are bored with fried rice and fried mee every day. 4. Another complaint is that the cups and plates are oily and not washed properly. The workers are also not appropriately attired although they have been told to wear aprons and caps. Moreover, these workers are rude to students. They shout at us and use foul language whenever they get angry. They also do not clear the dustbins and rubbish daily. This is very unhygienic. As a result, there is a foul stench whenever we eat in the canteen.

5. Thus, we would like to suggest that the school authorities make stringent checks on the canteen daily or weekly. They should also ensure that the canteen serves a variety of food at a reasonable price. We would like to appeal to your sense of fairness and hope prompt action will be taken regarding these matters. Yours faithfully, (NORLISSA BT DUSUKI) 3 Amanah

events
Say what the event is about. Who ? where? When? Why?

A good Deeds
One morning, Rahim was on his way to school. As he approached his school, he caught a glimpse of a bag nestled in the bushes. Curious by this, Rahim took a closer look at the bag. He found that the bag was in fact bulging at its sides. Therefore, Rahim opened the bag and found the bag to be full of money.

Language features
Use past tense approached took found were/was

Write the events in the sequence they happened. What you did and saw

There were bundles upon bundles of cash in the bag and this befuddled Rahim as he wondered who could have possibly left this bag lying around in plain sight. Rahim then looked around, trying to find the owner of the bag, but to no avail for there was nobody in sight.

events

Language features
Being the good Samaritan that he was, Rahim knew what he had to do. Knowing that there was a police station not far from his school, Rahim headed off to said police station with the bag full of money in hand. At the police station, Rahim managed to speak with police officer who was on duty and handed the bag over to the policeman. Rahim then told the policeman about the circumstances on how he stumbled upon the bag and stated the location at which he saw the bag was nowhere to be found. The policeman took all of this down on his notebook and assured Rahim that he would have someone put up posters around the area along with advertisements in the newspapers concerning the missing bag. Use connector to signal sequence -needless to say -thereafter -first -later -then -before -finally

Use the Senses See Hear Smell Taste Touch feel

events

Language features
Remember to use: Good expression -idioms -proverbs -similes -phrases -descriptive words (adjectives/ adverbs)

Development The policeman then praised Rahim, of the story saying that his honesty and moral integrity was admirable and that Rahim was indeed a good boy. The policeman then urged Rahim to hurry on back to school so as not to be late. It was there when the policemans words dawned on Rahim and he realized that he was 15 minutes late. Thanking the policeman, Rahim rushed to school with great haste. As he arrived at his classroom, Rahim found that class had already begun. Knocking on the door to announce his presence, Rahim went into the classroom and explained to his teacher on why he was late. Once Rahims teacher had heard his story, he praised Rahim for being so honest and excused him. He then told Rahim to find a seat for he was just about to teach the class about a new topic in Mathematics.

events

Language features
During recess, Rahim was told by one of his friends that he was to go to the principals office for the principal wanted to see him. As Rahim made his way into the principals office, he found that there was another person in the office besides the principal and himself. It was the policeman that Rahim met earlier on. It turned out that the policeman had decided to come to Rahims school to tell the principal all about Rahims honest deed. Rahim was called by the principal for the principal, pleased with Rahim wanted to praise him for upholding and applying the moral virtues that Rahim had displayed Variety of sentences -simple -compound -complex -passive voice

-climax of the story

Closure

Both the policeman and the principal agreed that Rahim was to be made a role model for the students of the school. The principal then reminded Rahim to get back to class and stated once again on how happy he was with Rahim. Glowing with pride, Rahim thanked the principal and the policeman and hurried to class with glee spurring him on.

Comment Ideas well- developed Few errors Some good expressions Variety of sentences good vocabulary

THANK YOU