SPM English by JUGDEEP KAUR GILL
Today we will take a look at Section C of the SPM 1119 paper. This section, which carries a substantial 25 marks, is divided into two parts, reading comprehension and summary writing. 10 marks are allocated for reading comprehension and 15 marks for summary writing.
Guidelines for reading comprehension
1. Read the whole passage through once to get a general idea of what the passage is about. Do not worry if you come across unfamiliar words. Sometimes, it is not necessary to understand every word you read.
2. Do read the passage a second time, if necessary. The second reading helps you take in the details and improve your understanding.
3. Read the questions carefully. Use cue words in the questions to help you answer the questions. These can be the “wh” words (what, when, where, why, who, whose, how) and action verbs (identify, find, list).
4. Questions sometimes contain words found in the passage. Use these words to help you identify the part of the passage where the answer can be found.
5. You do not have to answer questions in complete sentences (look at the sample answers given).
6. You can lift words, clauses or sentences from the passage to answer questions. You do not have to use your own words unless you are told to do so. Moreover, there is a danger in paraphrasing – you might alter/distort the meaning expressed in the passage and hence lose precious marks.
7. For questions on vocabulary, if you are asked for a word, then give only ONE word and nothing else. Make sure you spell the word correctly. If you are asked for a phrase, then give the relevant phrase. If you copy the sentence where the word or phrase are found, you must indicate the chosen word or phrase by underlining it or putting it within quotation marks.
8. Some questions require you to use your own words and you must do so.
9. Do pay attention to the tense (and sometimes pronoun) used in the questions when formulating your answers.
Pitfalls to avoid
1. Do not give more than the required information. Sometimes, students copy chunks from a passage, giving two or more sentences. This only highlights their weakness – failure to understand the question and/or text.
2. Do not give two or more answers to a question. Some students write down all the possible answers to a question just to be on the safe side.
3. Do not waste time paraphrasing answers unless you are asked to do so.
Summary writing
The question on summary writing is based on the same text used for reading comprehension. This should be a boon as you would be familiar with the text after several readings. Despite this, many students are not comfortable dealing with summary writing.Their fears stem from their inability to identify informtation relevant to the answer. Some are also worried that they may not be able to put the information together into a coherent paragraph. Weak students have an additional problem to grapple with – language. While these concerns are genuine, there is no reason to fret as these problems can be easily overcome with proper guidance and help from teachers.
Remember that summary writing in the context of this paper is largely a reading skill (as you are required to select relevant information in the text) with a bit of writing thrown in (as you have to string the points together into a unified text). The task is made easier for you as you do not need to summarise the whole text, only certain aspects (maybe one or two). Therefore, it is crucial that you read the question carefully and consider what information is relevant.
The allocation of marks for summary writing is as follows: 10 for content and 5 for language. Usually, there are more than 10 content points but you should be able to identify at least 10. I always advise students not to worry too much about paraphrasing. You should focus on getting marks for content, not language.
Guidelines for summary writing:
1. Read the question carefully. Ask yourself: “What am I required to summarise?”
2. Mark the first and last lines of the passage you are asked to refer to.
3. Then select information that is relevant to your answer. To do this, underline the relevant lines or ideas as you read the text. Always ask yourself: “Is this...” (For the summary below, you would ask: “Is this a reason tigers have become extinct? or Is this a measure that should be implemented?”
4. Look through the lines/ideas you have underlined. Sometimes an idea is repeated in another line by way of paraphrasing. Ask yourself, is this a repetition?
5. Summarise these ideas. You can combine ideas by combining phrases or sentences, or you may want to paraphrase ideas/sentences. However, make sure your sentences are complete sentences and not fractured bits and pieces.
6. If you cannot paraphrase ideas, see if there are words in the text that you can replace without affecting meaning. For example, you can use a pronoun to replace a noun.
7. If you are a weak student, do copy the complete sentence. This way, you will not lose marks for content or language.
8. Begin the summary with the 10 words given and remember that the three dots after the tenth word mean you have to complete the sentence with some relevant information from the text.
9. Organise the ideas/points in the manner in which they are found in the text. Do not waste time trying to rearrange ideas.
10. Adhere to the word limit. Writing more than the required number of words will not get you any marks. Anything far too short of the word limit means you lack content.
11. Pay attention to the tense (and sometimes pronoun) used in the given 10 words.
12. Write the summary in one paragraph. Some students are in the habit of drawing columns to facilitate counting of words. This is perfectly fine but do write your final draft in one paragraph.
Pitfalls to avoid
1. Do not include information not found in the text.
2. Do not include your own ideas or opinions.
3. Do not spend too much time paraphrasing as you might end up losing marks for content unless you can do so without altering/distorting meaning.
4. Do not repeat ideas. Sometimes, an idea is repeated in the text and you may not notice it as it may have been paraphrased.
5. Do not include material from other lines in the text.
Compliments to : The Star Online
Thursday, March 3, 2011
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
Techniques in Descriptive Writing
• Use details to make your descriptions come alive.
• Focus on evoking the senses. (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch)
• Nouns, adjectives and verbs help the reader see and feel things.
• A descriptive essay need not be boring and monotonous. Make use of a lively tone – show your own feelings, responses and reactions and let the reader feel them too.
• Describe different aspects. If you are describing a person, do not limit your description to the person’s physical appearance. Include a detailed description of the person’s character and personality and how other people react to him/her. Include a detailed paragraph of an incident which highlights one of these aspects.
Before you begin writing a descriptive essay, you need to identify what you want to describe.
Consider the following topic:
My favourite teacher
If you are going to write about a favourite teacher, you might want to include his/her physical appearance. When describing his/her physical appearance, you can provide a general description of him/her or focus on important certain aspects which define his/her character. An essay of this nature would not be complete without a description of his/her qualities and how he/she interacts with his/her students.
Look at the two extracts below.
Extract 1
Mr L was my English Literature lecturer. He was thin and of average height. He was boyish looking. He spoke with an unusual accent. He was also quite sarcastic and some of the students did not like this. He did not like students coming in late to class. Some of us loved him but others hated him.
Extract 1 is a simple description of the teacher. Although there are several adjectives, the description is somewhat dull as the structures used are simple and repetitive.
Extract 2
The first time I entered his class, I, like many of the other students, was charmed by his boyish looks. A quick calculation told us that he was in his twenties. His straight black hair fell across his forehead when it was slightly long and his clear complexion enhanced his looks. For a Chinese, he had unusually big eyes and quite a sharp nose. He was always welldressed in a rugged sort of way. He was not outrageously handsome but there was something in him which definitely made him attractive His unusual accent mesmerised some of us but his sarcasm did not
** Taken from : The Star Online
• Use details to make your descriptions come alive.
• Focus on evoking the senses. (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch)
• Nouns, adjectives and verbs help the reader see and feel things.
• A descriptive essay need not be boring and monotonous. Make use of a lively tone – show your own feelings, responses and reactions and let the reader feel them too.
• Describe different aspects. If you are describing a person, do not limit your description to the person’s physical appearance. Include a detailed description of the person’s character and personality and how other people react to him/her. Include a detailed paragraph of an incident which highlights one of these aspects.
Before you begin writing a descriptive essay, you need to identify what you want to describe.
Consider the following topic:
My favourite teacher
If you are going to write about a favourite teacher, you might want to include his/her physical appearance. When describing his/her physical appearance, you can provide a general description of him/her or focus on important certain aspects which define his/her character. An essay of this nature would not be complete without a description of his/her qualities and how he/she interacts with his/her students.
Look at the two extracts below.
Extract 1
Mr L was my English Literature lecturer. He was thin and of average height. He was boyish looking. He spoke with an unusual accent. He was also quite sarcastic and some of the students did not like this. He did not like students coming in late to class. Some of us loved him but others hated him.
Extract 1 is a simple description of the teacher. Although there are several adjectives, the description is somewhat dull as the structures used are simple and repetitive.
Extract 2
The first time I entered his class, I, like many of the other students, was charmed by his boyish looks. A quick calculation told us that he was in his twenties. His straight black hair fell across his forehead when it was slightly long and his clear complexion enhanced his looks. For a Chinese, he had unusually big eyes and quite a sharp nose. He was always welldressed in a rugged sort of way. He was not outrageously handsome but there was something in him which definitely made him attractive His unusual accent mesmerised some of us but his sarcasm did not
** Taken from : The Star Online
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