MUET Test Format

Malaysian University English Test (MUET) comprises four papers. Candidates are required to sit for all the four papers.

Details of the four components are as follows.

MUET Paper 1: Listening (30 minutes)
Candidates will be required to listen to recorded texts twice and answer questions on them.

There is a total of 20 questions consisting of information transfer, short-answer questions, 3-option multiple-choice questions and 4-option multiple-choice questions.

MUET Paper 2: Speaking (30 minutes)
Candidates will be required to perform two tasks: individual presentation and group interaction.

For the individual presentation, candidates will be given 2 minutes to prepare for the given task and 2 minutes to present. Candidates will also listen to the other candidates while they are making their presentations and take down notes for the group interaction.

For the group interaction (4 to a group), candidates will be given 2 minutes to prepare points to support or oppose the other candidates’ views. After listening to everyone in the group, candidates will try to come to a consensus. The group will be given 10 minutes for the group interaction.

MUET Paper 3: Reading (90 minutes)
This paper comprises 45 multiple-choice questions based on passages from texts which may be taken from journals, newspapers, magazines, and academic and electronic sources. Questions are in the form of 3-option multiple-choice and 4-option multiple-choice questions.

MUET Paper 4: Writing (90 minutes)
This paper comprises two writing tasks: transferring information from a non-linear source to a linear text and a piece of extended writing. The stimulus may take the form of linear and/or non-linear texts.

MUET Writing Test Specifications

Candidates are assessed on their ability to write various types of text covering a range of rhetorical styles.

MUET writing test assessment will cover the following:
(i) accuracy

• using correct spelling and mechanics
• using correct grammar
• using correct sentence structures

(ii) appropriacy

• using varied vocabulary and expressions
• using clear varied sentences
• using language appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
• observing conventions appropriate to a specific situation or text type

(iii) coherence and cohesion

• developing and organising ideas
• using appropriate markers and linking devices
• using anaphora appropriately together with other cohesive devices

(iv) use of language functions

• defining, describing, explaining
• comparing and contrasting
• classifying
• giving reasons
• giving opinions
• expressing relationships
• making suggestions and recommendations
• expressing agreement and disagreement
• persuading
• interpreting information from non-linear texts
• drawing conclusions
• stating and justifying points of view
• presenting an argument

(v) task fulfillment

• presenting relevant ideas
• providing adequate content
• showing a mature treatment of topic

Possible genres
Report, article, letter, essay

MUET Reading Test Specifications

Candidates are assessed on their ability to comprehend various types of text of varying length and level of complexity (content and language).

MUET reading test assessment will cover the following:

(i) comprehension

• skimming and scanning
• extracting specific information
• identifying main ideas
• identifying supporting details
• deriving the meaning of words, phrases, sentences from the context
• understanding linear and non-linear texts
• understanding relationships
  − within a sentence
  − between sentences
• recognizing a paraphrase

(ii) application

• predicting outcomes
• applying a concept to a new situation

(iii) analysis

• understanding language functions
• interpreting linear and non-linear texts
• distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant
• distinguishing fact from opinion
• making inferences

(iv) synthesis

• relating ideas and concepts
  − within a paragraph
  − between paragraphs
• following the development of a point or an argument
• summarizing information

(v) evaluation

• appraising information
• making judgements
• drawing conclusions
• recognizing and interpreting writers’ views, attitudes or intentions

Possible genres
Articles from journals, newspapers and magazines, academic texts, electronic texts

MUET Speaking Test Specifications

Candidates are assessed on their ability to make individual presentations and to take part in group discussions on a wide range of contemporary issues.

MUET speaking test assessment will cover the following:

(i) accuracy

• using grammatically correct language
• using correct pronunciation, stress and intonation

(ii) fluency

• speaking with confidence and fluency

(iii) appropriacy

• using language appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
• using varied vocabulary and expressions
• using varied sentence structures
• observing conventions appropriate to a specific situation

(iv) coherence and cohesion

• developing and organising ideas
• using appropriate markers and linking devices
• using anaphora appropriately together with other cohesive devices

(v) use of language functions

• defining, describing, explaining
• comparing and contrasting
• classifying
• giving reasons
• giving opinions
• expressing relationships
• making suggestions and recommendations
• expressing agreement and disagreement
• seeking clarification
• asking for and giving information
• persuading
• drawing conclusions
• stating and justifying points of view
• presenting an argument

(vi) managing a discussion

• initiating
• turn-taking
• interrupting
• prompting
• negotiating
• closing

(vii) task fulfilment

• presenting relevant ideas
• providing adequate content
• showing a mature treatment of topic

Possible issues
Socio-cultural, economic, science and technology, sports, environment, education, health

MUET Listening Test Specifications

Candidates are assessed on their ability to comprehend various types of oral text of varying length and level of complexity (content and language).

MUET listening test assessment will cover the following:
(i) knowledge

• recalling information
• recognizing main ideas
• recognizing supporting details

(ii) comprehension

• deriving meaning of words, phrases, sentences from context
• paraphrasing

(iii) application

• predicting outcomes
• applying a concept to a new situation

(iv) analysis

• understanding language functions
• distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant
• distinguishing fact from opinion
• drawing inferences
• identifying roles and relationships

(v)synthesis

• following the development of a point or an argument
• summarizing information

(vi) evaluation

• appraising information
• making judgements
• drawing conclusions
• recognising and interpreting speakers’ views, attitudes or intentions

Possible genres
Lecture, briefing, talk, discussion, interview, telephone conversation, announcement, instructions, advertisement, news, meeting, documentary

Descriptive Essay: My Mother

This good English essay was submitted by Alexis. Visit her blog to read her poems and stories. You can submit your essay and get it published on this blog too!

About seventeen years ago, a beautiful young woman, named Kari, was trying to adjust and understand the purpose of her life. She was a typical adolescent, making mistakes and hoping each lesson would guide her in the right direction of life. At this time, she was living in Germany, occupied in the US Army, on and off with a boyfriend, and fighting to keep a relationship with her family, through letters. It may not seem like an ideal situation, but everything in life has a purpose, the challenge is discovering it. Unlike most adolescents, her life was put into perspective very quickly. At the age of nineteen, Kari received results from a test, which changed her life forever. She was pregnant.

In January 1995, at the age of twenty years old, Kari gave birth to a baby girl. Her life now revolved around her child, Alexis. She got out of her relationship, got a job, and found a safe place for the two of them. Now living with her mom and step dad, working as a papergirl (newspaper delivery person), and fighting for divorce, Kari was struggling. It didn’t matter though; she made the best of it.

When Alexis was two, Kari married her husband, Mike. Together, they got a town home. Now, with a home and family, it may seem like times were great, but there was still a lot of life to be learned from. Mike was constantly traveling; in fact, he was in Utah for two years after they got married. Kari was now raising Alexis, working seven days a week, and working to keep her marriage healthy. As with everything in her life, Kari took sacrifices and made it work.

Fourteen years later, looking at this 36 year old, you would never realize the struggles she has faced in life. She is a beautiful, young, and caring, mother, friend and wife. She lives in a nice house, takes care of kids, home-schools Alexis and, her husband is home almost every night. She has many great qualities, but I think the characteristic that makes her the most unique and genuine person, is her love and creativity. She was, and is, able to take anything normal and make it enjoyable.

By now you have probably realized, I am Alexis, her daughter. I have a great relationship with my mom, something many girls, my age, are lacking. In some ways, it’s like we grew up together (although twenty years apart), best friends. She has always provided the loving, but strict mother figure, which I can rely on, in my life. Her creativity brought me lots of fun times, and cherished memories, throughout my adolescents. Her strong words and lectures, many she has learned from in the past, bring me wisdom and guidance for the rest of my life. And her open and loving heart, gives me a safe place to share my emotions. I never could ask for a better person to spend my memories with, for they wouldn’t be the memories they are, without her.