The word “materialistic” carries a morally negative impression in the public eye. So, it is not surprising that most students tend to condemn this sort of behavior in writing. However, in a highly materialistic society particularly in the urban areas, people want all the power, comfort, and wealth they can get out of a hectic life.

In fact, a question like this requires the students to write a well-informed evaluation and arguments. It may be negative (what materialistic is), positive (what materialistic is not), or a bit of both (what materialistic is in between), that qualify for three long paragraphs in the Body section.

To do that, students need to determine how materialism works by considering the significance or meaning of the elements they have identified (i.e., materialistic, make more, money, can buy), and draw inferences about what may be below the surface of the underlined texts. The students should list a number of philosophy-like questions about the topic that they might answer in the essay. For example,

• What is materialism?
• What makes us materialistic?
• How much money is enough?
• Why are humans so materialistic, even though it doesn't buy us happiness?
• Why are monks so un-materialistic?
• How to escape materialism and find happiness?

As you develop your ideas, you have responsibility, to your readers and to yourself, to make rhetorical appeals that your readers will find appropriate and persuasive. The ancient Greeks called these rhetorical appeals logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos refers to evidence that is rational and consistent and it appeals to readers by engaging their logical powers. Establishing a credible ethos—good character, sound knowledge, or good reputation—encourage readers to have confidence in what you say. The Band 6 student was smart to quote Jane Austen and J. K. Rowling. But I'd quote one of the world's wealthiest philanthropists, Warren Buffett and the 14th Dalai Lama spiritual leader, Tenzin Gyatso. Using pathos to support a claim means stirring the reader's emotions in an effort to elicit sympathy and, thus, agreement.

This post has been edited by Critical_Fallacy: Sep 1 2014, 11:28 AM

Oh bless your soul my good man! Thanks for the samples

They just didn't exist when I was around. So people had to go to great lengths to study the subject, especially those who had no background.

Needless to say, there was an overwhelming demand for private tutors, who are mostly very unqualified and only made matters worse by confusing their students by sharing their 'tips' and teaching unnecessary topics.

It wasn't so surprising anymore since most of the SPM/STPM students that I know usually regard tuition as a must-have, regardless of whether they are exceptionally good or poor in a particular subject. Yes, tuition can be a life saviour too for some students, but not necessarily every students needs them.

Even some of the parents coerced their children to go to tuition, supposedly because it will further enhance and bolster their academic level to some extent.

This post has been edited by RED-HAIR-SHANKS: Sep 1 2014, 04:09 PM

Can't help that much too. I got A- for SPM Chemistry and could only score 2.33 for my STPM (I was the first batch for the semester system). As usual, work smart, not hard. Try to understand the topic. Memorizing doesn't actually help if you don't understand the concept. Don't go for the easy topic. A lot of us targetting on topics-that's-obviously-would-be-exam-question, in the end, those that came out are the one that was least expected.

YES! If you study by spoon feeding, tuition is definitely a MUST! We had a F5 teacher to teach us Chemistry and it was seriously -- devastating. Class was nothing but slides that she found from the internet or sometimes she just teached briefly and the rest of the topic she would go and said, 'okay class. The rest of the sub-topics are EASY, you can learn on your own' . The teacher has no experience in F6 although she is a Degree holder. When students tried to tell her the concept was wrong, she was really stubborn to deny it saying she was right. Well, she couldn't even differentiate which is cathode or anode when we were conducting experiment...

Anyway, go for tuition. Find a tuition teacher who could understand really well F6 syllabus. There are some tuition teachers that could teach you in-depth of the subjects and not just the surface. I regretted not going for tuition when I was in my first semester. At first, I thought study on my own is okay since I didn't go for tuition during F4 & F5 and still score pretty well. As everyone said, F6 is a whole different level.

This post has been edited by moonnightsilver: Sep 1 2014, 05:45 PM

I also had such a teacher for Biology..

She never had any experience in F6 as she was a F5 Chemistry and Biology teacher but she was "forced" to teach us Biology as the only F6 Bio teacher who taught my class last year has retired! She was also masters degree holder as well.

Worse still, like your teacher, she was also stubborn. She showed us the wrong diagram for one of the practicals, so we all drew the wrong diagram. During the next day when she would show us the other diagrams, she denied her mistake when one of my classmates pointed out to her that she showed the wrong diagram to us.

Same situation here! xD That's why my class was all plug-in earphone during her class. I know it sounds rude as a student but well. Couldn't help it. Class was too noisy and the Chem teacher sometimes just sit there; do nothing. I think I remember having a bad incident in Biology class. We were all pointing out the teacher mistakes and she just went berserk. I was just asking a question very nicely and she scolded me for asking such 'stupid' question.


Anyway. Also, if you plan to take tuition, you can just take subjects that you find hard to cope with. I didn't take Biology and Pengajian Am for my STPM. Not that my results are extremely good either. Just an A- for Pengajian Am. B- for Maths and Bio. C+ for Chem. I was too late for my Chem... T.T Well, I was really late to understand the basic in F5 too. Few months before SPM? I think so. Didn't take Chem tuition for SPM.



This post has been edited by moonnightsilver: Sep 1 2014, 05:56 PM

Wow. Reading this thread makes me sad because my studies was f***ed up recently I'm very lucky that my teachers didn't give me much homework. Right now, I'm recovering so it's still alright

By the way, How do you guys study MUET? Reading the textbook? Writing essay? or do the exercise? Aside from few exercise and speaking lesson, my MUET's teacher didn't really seem to help me much.

Same here. Teacher didn't help that much. She could go 2 weeks without attending class and only to come when MUET exam was around the corner. Under her teaching, we had only done not more than 10 essays or is it 5? She loves to emphasize on Listening and Reading. We were only taught a few basics to write essays and as for Speaking? I'd only done twice under her teaching.

So, I came out with only Band 4. The only part that I am very satisfied is Reading since I score around 90? Reading paper need a lot of understanding the text. You have to read the text over and over again just to get what it means. If it said refer to Paragrah 4, just make sure you focus only on P4. To save time, go through the question once and see which ask you to refer to lines/paragraph since reading the whole text is very time consuming. And oh yeah, while doing exercise, have a dictionary by your side. Adding a few vocabularies as knowledge does help to improve your English. Somehow.

It's hard to explain what to do to get improve because I gone through MUET with pretty much just Form 5 level (with a very little from my teacher's lesson). I only read English novels, watch English movie/TV with BM subtitle and yeah, that's all I've done. Not that my English is pro and my grammar is so sucks. xD

If you are aiming for Band 6... I can't help much because I am not a Band 6.

This post has been edited by moonnightsilver: Sep 2 2014, 01:49 PM

Anyone here have done their math coursework..need a little help here,i'm so clueless on where to start
Mind sharing with me sharing is caring hehe

Pitching is Leeching.

I found out today that my first term trials fall on 22nd till 25th September.

22 Sept.(Monday)-Math T
23 Sept.(Tuesday)-Chemistry
24 Sept.(Wednesday)-Physics/Biology
25 Sept.(Thursday)-Pengajian Am

There ain't got much time left to cover up the whole syllabus for every subjects other than Math T before the forthcoming holidays. It's gonna be a one heck of a ride indeed. So, are the dates for your trials same as ours?

What are the examination coverage and exclusions?

I mean wow . And you just found out today? Tough luck. All the best though, no pain no gain
Mine is exactly next month from today, 3rd Oct. Let's prepare sufficiently before the battle

I'm exactly taking tuition for the subjects that I find difficult(Maths and Chemistry).

Never took PA tuition but I got an A- for Term 1, A for Term 2. For Biology, I got A- for Term 1, C- for Term 2.

I have always never understood why there are some students who can score so easily for STPM Maths T.. while I find myself struggling really hard.

By the way, I only went for Chem tuition during form 4, as the tuition teacher was having some sort of illness until he couldn't teach anymore. I relied on doing a lot of past year SPM trials for Chemistry, ended up getting only a B+.

But I got a B for Term 1 and B- for Term 2 Chem.

This is offtopic but, may I know where's your avatar from?

How the f*** that teacher didn't get fired?
Also, thanks for the tip. From your experience, I think I'm gonna be fine in reading exam. But man, my MUET's teacher only give me one essay so far and my trial is in October Do you any tips on writing, btw?

From Persona 4 The Animation. No need to thank me

This post has been edited by WanHuz: Sep 3 2014, 05:28 PM

Are you expecting all degree holders must have teaching experiences? Should your future employer expect the same things from you when you graduate?

The reason is because inexperienced students lack soft skills and patience in persuasive communication. No one likes to hear they’re “wrong”. If your teacher showed you the wrong concept, and her students took the wrong way to approach her, then it became a difficult conversation. Try asking your Mom to take a selfie and send to your phone via bluetooth. If you fail to receive and your Mom claims that she touched the correct buttons, would you call her “stubborn”?

Can you distinguish them before and after the experiment?

Are you expecting all master holders must have teaching experiences?

These are the consequence of spoon-feeding education. In the working world, you won't “live long” if you blame your boss gave you the wrong instructions that result in disaster. Learn to protect yourself!

1. But she claimed that she has already been teaching for years and kept on bragging about how she has masters(she's already in her 50s)... If she hadn't had bragged so much about her qualifications then I wouldn't have complained here.

What does this have to do with career anyway. Totally two different things.

2. Again, totally two different things. In your case, there could be many things that went "wrong".

3. Refer to 1.

4. I've already learnt how to rely on myself ever since I was in Lower 6 as my Biology teacher last year also doesn't bother teaching anyways. No need for you to point it out to me.

I definitely prefer spoon feeding education(pretty sure most of us M'sians do anyway as our education system encourages it), but in my situation, I would have no choice but to self study.

Is there anything wrong with confessing my feelings here? I'm just voicing out my opinion here..

To be specific, F5 teaching experience and F6 teaching experience are two different experiences. Of course, bragging is an annoying thing to me as well. However, are you generalizing that all master holders must have the teaching experiences from Primary 1 to Form 6?

The point I'm trying to make is that different approaches lead to different outcomes. Should the students take a thought-provoking subtle approach, the teacher's feedback would be constructive. “Everyone makes silly mistakes in life, but that doesn’t mean we have to kill their careers.” -- My Boss

The lesson learned in this case is that if we know the risks of spoon-feeding, we'll cautiously do the checking and rechecking to get things right before getting things done.

Thanks for sharing your story. There is no right or wrong in this matter. Like I said, different approaches lead to different outcomes. If the conversation is built on “I am right, you are wrong”, it will cause endless grief.

This post has been edited by Critical_Fallacy: Sep 3 2014, 08:20 PM

I expected more of you. When I read that statement, I was disappointed.

I would never call spoon-feeding education 'education'.

This post has been edited by maximR: Sep 3 2014, 08:36 PM