English for Science and Technology

[Anthony]

Many SPM students are now wondering how to get A1 for EST...
hope this would help them out.....

I am speaking upon my experience so all recommers should give more infos so that the juniors would have a better idea how to deal with EST.....the killing subject of 2004

First of all theres ntg much to say about the objective questions....
becoz the answers are preselected .
as for paper two......
'the first part.....Fill in the blanks is vry tricky and deciving....

Shud we put capital or small letters for the first letter in the answer?
My teacher didnt give me the answer becoz she didnt want 2 b the one responsible...the fact is they dont even have a marking scheme out yet ...so last year the guinea pigs were burnt badly..luckily not for me...anyway....This is what i did ......i copied exactly frm the passage......a vry safe move....but the thing is...if in the paper itself thrs a model answer for a previous question..do follow that becoz that is what rationality told me to do....

as for the essay part , the choice matters.....
me and my fren chose the ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.......in the end.....both of us got A1.....those who chose the MODERATE one got A2s and the latter chossers got B3.....or lower...
this is the pattern for my school (for the nons) i dont know about others.......as for the malays their graph was much more complex and we do not see a pattern but the better malays got A1s and those who are less superior got lower greds...that seemed fair...becoz they really deserve it...

TIp..for spm students dont take EST as a FREE A1 subject it is not!!!
not that im saying thrs sumthing to prepare yourself.....becoz doing workbook seems so useless.....its becoz if it was given to my brother of Form1...he would have got A1 easily......but the exam is not as shallow as it seems...

The key to get A1 for this EST is CAREFULNESS...well thats what i think...not good command in English or Great knowledge in Science.....its a measure for those who cares or not.....
many teachers are still figuring out what happened last year...so good luck guys!

[yen_05]

Hey, i thougt there is a same thread in "Guidance for SPM and STPM" SIG?? :?

[merry_go_round]

whoa, I thought EST is a free A1 subject...

well, maybe my teacher put a lot efforts to teach us EST.. the school administration even exchange the period which u supposed to go for pjk (in the morning) with est (late evening).. basically, no pjk because all students tend to flee home after school time..:twisted:

man, i hate staying late at school... :lol:

[PINKPIGGY]

I also took EST last year. I personally think that it's not a tough paper. We just have to think N analyse the question SCIENTIFICLY. Don't make things complicated. The EST's papers r simple.


Bout the part of filling in blanks, just copied the keyword from the passage. Just some interpreting...............It's not that tough! The Qs r straight4ward!!!

ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.

Since we r ding "EST", so it's better to do the essay base on science. So, i think that the ENvironmental-friendly one would be the most suitable. We just need to give reasonable reason on what we choose to score, by comparing the one u choose with the others. Focus on the advantages of the one u hv chosen N the disadvantages of the others.

Anyway, i think EST is a good test which can improve our english, since all the scientific terms r in eng! It's better 2 prepare in form 5 b4 it's too late........ Now, i hv to brush up my english 4 the STPM! English will affect u in STPM, especially to those who wish 2 study BIOLOGY! (That's what my teacher told me)

BE PREPARED!

[Anduril]

ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.

Since we r ding "EST", so it's better to do the essay base on science. So, i think that the ENvironmental-friendly one would be the most suitable. We just need to give reasonable reason on what we choose to score, by comparing the one u choose with the others. Focus on the advantages of the one u hv chosen N the disadvantages of the others.

I assume you are referring to the past year EST essay question, which asked us to choose one method out of three for agricultural purpose. However, I don't see anything wrong if we chose to use nitrogen fertilizer (which, it seems, is not quite environmental-friendly here).

It is always convenient enough for us to choose those environmental-friendly methods. But if we can convince the readers that our choice stands, there is no point trying to switch to those environmental-friendly choices.

I think it is our belief that matters. In this case, if you strongly oppose the use of chemical fertilizer, then go ahead and make your stand. If you don't like the idea of using conventional methods which are non-profitting, then compare them with your choice and state why yours is the best.

Different people have different opinion. In my opinion, trying to go with the flow will only make your essay look unconvincing and not true to what you believe.

[khor_albert]

as for the essay part , the choice matters.....
me and my fren chose the ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.......in the end.....both of us got A1.....those who chose the MODERATE one got A2s and the latter chossers got B3.....or lower...
this is the pattern for my school (for the nons)

What?!?! I chose MODERATE CHOICE...and got an A2. This is unfair. If I believe in what I choose and I gave GREAT examples and reasons, they should accept it. Another attempt to make SPM students robotic?

[lolilo]

as for the essay part , the choice matters.....
me and my fren chose the ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.......in the end.....both of us got A1.....those who chose the MODERATE one got A2s and the latter chossers got B3.....or lower...
this is the pattern for my school (for the nons)

What?!?! I chose MODERATE CHOICE...and got an A2. This is unfair. If I believe in what I choose and I gave GREAT examples and reasons, they should accept it. Another attempt to make SPM students robotic?

Eh!! now that i think of it, Anthony's post make sense. Seriously, it might be true though.

I chose the economic way, and i get the grade. Albert chose the Moderate one, he got another grade...... wowwee, now i know how they mark the Papers!

[yen_05]

as for the essay part , the choice matters.....
me and my fren chose the ENvironmental-friendly one......after each test all of the ""good"" students would come together and argue.....at that time both of us felt bad becoz others went for the two other choice.....the MODERATE choice.....and the ECONOMIC choice.......in the end.....both of us got A1.....those who chose the MODERATE one got A2s and the latter chossers got B3.....or lower...
this is the pattern for my school (for the nons)

What?!?! I chose MODERATE CHOICE...and got an A2. This is unfair. If I believe in what I choose and I gave GREAT examples and reasons, they should accept it. Another attempt to make SPM students robotic?

Really?? I chose the ECONOMIC choice but i got 1A.... I think it is not the choice you chose that affect your marks....I guess it is the way the explanation of your choice that matters...

[lolilo]

Really?? I chose the ECONOMIC choice but i got 1A

Aiyar.... what we are saying is ECONOMIC choice memang awarded A1.

i am not sure, but i guess this REALLY make sense.

[flibbertigibbet]

I forgot which one I chose during the exam. But I agree with yen_05 that the choices we make do not affect the marks as long as we have enough points to elaborate on in order to support and back up the choice we make.

Just choose the method you have most confidence in or the one you feel you can express your points with most comfortably and you will be okay.

There is no specific answer for such questions. There is no right or wrong for each choice. But obviously, it will be harder for you to argue with certain choices and you would not want to risk being penalised for the lack of points by choosing the less favourable choice.

[yen_05]

But...Anthony's post stated that the one who chose ECONOMIC one got 3B or worst wor.... :? :? Lar...whatever...it is over.....

[wendy]

hey guys!!!! i'm de unlucky ones....i got a big fat B3 fort it!!!
n i'm preety puzzled by de results! damn it!
i still hav no idea....how de heck did i end up wif it! I am very sure that i had used lotsa scientific terms in my essay.....can't really remember wat choice did i make....but i felt i played safe.......the insruction ask us 2 write about 250 words( if i'm not mistaken) n i wrote around there 2 b safe. n wat i got .....a big fat B3!
:? ugh.......damn EST!

[N-Guy]

aiyah...

by the way have you people received the surat penyemakan semula SPM??

[lolilo]

okay, okay.

After thinking for some time, it STILL doesn't make sense.

Dumb EST.

[cra]

i think the whole est subject is a joke. i mean, this is just stupid. it's like a primary school english subject. i think the thing that affects ur marks is the marking scheme. u'll get situations like the teacher doenst even know what she's teaching. i suppose they're going to teach us about science in english but just look at the question papers, the whole thing has nothing to do with science. like anthony said, even capital letter mistakes would bring ur marks down. who cared about capital or no capital letters? and when u start giving your own opinion, which was proven by scientist all over the world and the teacher give u a wrong, cuz she said it wasnt stated in the article and the answer sheet/scheme doesnt had that answer. and as for the last part, the one where they'll need you to make ur decision and start eloborating about it. that is just so so so absurd. in real life they think they'll ever find a site which suits everything? i thought the whole est was going to be something interesting, but fill in the blanks with est? i'm better off reading new scientist or national geographic , even the short articles in reader digest tell us more about science than est.

[masdie]

pardon my ignorance but is est a compulsory subject? our anthony said that the bumis has got a different formula for counting the marks....hmm....who told him that? is it another teacher? my teacher once told me about bumis having a lower graph curve for As and someone here argued saying malaysia is really fair....MY ASS!!!!

[aftershox]

masdie wrote

is est a compulsory subject?

est was compulsary for my school though..
dunno why they actally introduced the subject coz it didnt really serve much of it's purpose...
i say this bcoz..u dont really learn bout science and technology in english
it's just whether u can understand wat's in the text and answer an essay based on the points they have given..
i thought this was a total waste of my time...
but an easy A to get though

[HappyCat]

est was compulsary in my school too...
and i got a big B3 for it! *sob*

my est teacher said that the paper is just like english paper, we have to write the essay properly and make sure there is no grammer mistake...
i was wondering, is EST is a english paper or a science paper?
if it is a science paper, why they mark the paper like mark a english paper?
my junior told me that last year they mark the EST paper strictly!
if there is a small mistake like putting a wrong 'comma', they will give you zero marks for it directly!
i don't know whether it true or not...
anywhere, it past already.

[lolilo]

I guess 2005 will be the last year for this 'contentious' EST paper, as science and maths will be in English for the following years. Need no EST anymore....

[yen_05]

I guess 2005 will be the last year for this 'contentious' EST paper, as science and maths will be in English for the following years. Need no EST anymore....

It should be 2006.....Ours is the first year, 2004...another 2 more years to go....2006 would be the last batch and that's it...no more EST in the education system...

[HappyCat]

I guess 2005 will be the last year for this 'contentious' EST paper, as science and maths will be in English for the following years. Need no EST anymore....
It should be 2006.....Ours is the first year, 2004...another 2 more years to go....2006 would be the last batch and that's it...no more EST in the education system...
yes, yen_05 is right.

[Anduril]

I think after EST being dubbed as a silent-killer subject, those students taking up this subject for this year and the next will be very worried now... :?

[yen_05]

I think after EST being dubbed as a silent-killer subject, those students taking up this subject for this year and the next will be very worried now... :?

Yeah... better wish them good luck and God Bless Them... :D

[Anthony]

masdie...how did you know dat????

well its not unfair it is indeed vry fair amongst nons...
and vry fair amongst bumis.....

but the very funny thing is in my school....97 ppl got A1 for 1119 london paper..
but 28 ppl got A1 for EST so ill let you judge whether ESt is an easy subject to get A1.....

[wendy]

pardon my ignorance but is est a compulsory subject? our anthony said that the bumis has got a different formula for counting the marks....hmm....who told him that? is it another teacher? my teacher once told me about bumis having a lower graph curve for As and someone here argued saying malaysia is really fair....MY ASS!!!!

thats y a lil bit more of fairness would make Malaysia a better place 2 live in!

[wendy]

masdie...how did you know dat????

well its not unfair it is indeed vry fair amongst nons...
and vry fair amongst bumis.....

but the very funny thing is in my school....97 ppl got A1 for 1119 london paper..
but 28 ppl got A1 for EST so ill let you judge whether ESt is an easy subject to get A1.....

i got an A1 for my 1119 but a big fat B3 for my est!
i really really hate bein the guinea pig. when we're in form 3,our batch of students mz kick off wif sastera. luckily i pull through tat. n last year is the first year est is introduced. n i'm among the white mice which died terribly!
They giv us no guidelines,no text book,teachers wif no experience,n then they chuck us into the exam hall 2 fend for ourself! isn't that hilarious!!!!.......havta say its really cruel and unfair! 2 be honest est isn't exactly very tough,paper 1 is a piece of cake, primary sch standard lar wei!

paper 2 was the real killer!!!!!!!! dun really know how de heck did they mark the paper !!!!!!! shouldn't we be tought on how 2 answer the question,?????? guess what.....it was only the following year that my est teacher were sent 2 a briefin on how 2 mark est paper. so i've gotta say that our juniors r really really lucky!!!!! they hav escape death.

DAMN EST!

[cra]

They giv us no guidelines,no text book...yea, it's like science'll ever have guidelines or boundries, it's all about stupid format to follow and ways to answer, they emphasize more on the grammatical errors or Capital-letter errors than science itself. it's actually like answering an english paper than something to do with science, and stil, they've called it, EST....teachers wif no experience...yeah, talk about arranging an english language teacher with no science background to teach us about science in English, when they themselves doesnt really know much about the things they're dealing with everyday....n then they chuck us into the exam hall 2 fend for ourself! isn't that hilarious!!!!...yeah! it is!...havta say its really cruel and unfair!...yeah, yeah!....2 be honest est isn't exactly very tough,paper 1 is a piece of cake, primary sch standard lar wei!est never was a tough subject, the class itself was.

DAMN EST!
YEAH! yeah! Yeah! that's rite!

[N-Guy]

people wake up

Getting an 3B in darned subjects like EST won t proove that our Science is Lousy...Its just a tactic to reduce the number of straight 1A students and JPA scholarship allocation :twisted:

[Ibrahim]

Don't u ever give EST a bad name!! :P .. Well, I got B3 for 1119 but A2 for EST (the one & only in my rural school) eventhough many students scored A1 in English. I think that's why I got the b. ed. (TESL) interview overseas offer amongst straight A's students. For me, I think EST is much easier than 1119 because u dont have to read all the bulky & wasting time poems, short stories and dont need to do summary at all!! What u've to do for objective paper is read carefully the infos given and select the best answer. For paper 2 (essay), just fill in the box with what they need & do ur essay with logical answer & right formats (if they ask u to write the essay in REPORT, dont forget to write the formats!! If not, u'll lose the marks!). I'm not an english native speaker, thus, using simple english is better for me. EST isn't like ENGLISH, dont have to use bombastic words if u're not too good. The most important things for essay are u must give rational reason & make comparison with other choices.

[flyinghigh]

Don't u ever give EST a bad name!! :P .. Well, I got B3 for 1119 but A2 for EST (the one & only in my rural school) eventhough many students scored A1 in English. I think that's why I got the b. ed. (TESL) interview overseas offer amongst straight A's students. For me, I think EST is much easier than 1119 because u dont have to read all the bulky & wasting time poems, short stories and dont need to do summary at all!! What u've to do for objective paper is read carefully the infos given and select the best answer. For paper 2 (essay), just fill in the box with what they need & do ur essay with logical answer & right formats (if they ask u to write the essay in REPORT, dont forget to write the formats!! If not, u'll lose the marks!). I'm not an english native speaker, thus, using simple english is better for me. EST isn't like ENGLISH, dont have to use bombastic words if u're not too good. The most important things for essay are u must give rational reason & make comparison with other choices.

Yep! 100 % agree with Ibrahim. That's exactly what my teaher in the school told me.
N honestly, I really din think that EST is a hard paper...
Anyway, tht's just wht I think... :oops:

[jeremy3232]

my teacher said, for graphic organizer (fill in the blanks), we r not supposed to make any explainations or elaborations bcoz it's GRAPHIC ORGANIZER...only main points r needed!

for report writing, try to elaborate points of other choices besides elaborate ur choice...marks r given when u compare with the others and u mentioned the keywords/points!

*i'm sitting for SPM this year :wink:

[jeremy3232]

I guess 2005 will be the last year for this 'contentious' EST paper, as science and maths will be in English for the following years. Need no EST anymore....

nope...if my mind serves well, i remembered that my teacher mentioned earlier this year that EST will not b abolished after neither 2006 nor 2007...it will be one of the electives next time!

[Ryosuke]

A lot of my school top students screw up this year in that sub which i thought the easiest as ABC.... Its just basic english communication in science just be urself i reckon dun add some crap phrases o should i call "cool words" go straight to the point about ur watever essay i reckon .... Any way thats wat i do last year ....

[Anduril]

Don't u ever give EST a bad name!! :P .. Well, I got B3 for 1119 but A2 for EST (the one & only in my rural school) eventhough many students scored A1 in English. I think that's why I got the b. ed. (TESL) interview overseas offer amongst straight A's students. For me, I think EST is much easier than 1119 because u dont have to read all the bulky & wasting time poems, short stories and dont need to do summary at all!! What u've to do for objective paper is read carefully the infos given and select the best answer. For paper 2 (essay), just fill in the box with what they need & do ur essay with logical answer & right formats (if they ask u to write the essay in REPORT, dont forget to write the formats!! If not, u'll lose the marks!). I'm not an english native speaker, thus, using simple english is better for me. EST isn't like ENGLISH, dont have to use bombastic words if u're not too good. The most important things for essay are u must give rational reason & make comparison with other choices.

Yep! 100 % agree with Ibrahim. That's exactly what my teaher in the school told me.
N honestly, I really din think that EST is a hard paper...
Anyway, tht's just wht I think... :oops:

Yeah, EST is an easy paper, which ironically is hard to get the score we want :wink:

[zchen]

something puzzles me.my peers and i have been consistantly scoring 1as in est over 2years.some of us even managed to maintain above the 90 marks cut throughout<in my school,not many missed the A for est during trials>...but surprisingly many of us ended up without 1as...is it due to lack of info given to state departments by the exam syndicate?or has the graph been raised due to the easiness of the paper?i dont understand...90marks for an 1a in est?

for those who signed up for the paper..dont be discouraged.ur set to benefit from our experience...i would like to think of this thread as one for us to vent our frustrations though.

[zchen]

pardon my ignorance but is est a compulsory subject? our anthony said that the bumis has got a different formula for counting the marks....hmm....who told him that? is it another teacher? my teacher once told me about bumis having a lower graph curve for As and someone here argued saying malaysia is really fair....MY ASS!!!!

ya..this is something questionable.i wonder why must the exam syndicate know whos malay,chinese,indian,or pribumi...im sure its not meant for statistics only..i don't see a breakdown of scores according to races reported in the papers.

[zchen]

my teacher said, for graphic organizer (fill in the blanks), we r not supposed to make any explainations or elaborations bcoz it's GRAPHIC ORGANIZER...only main points r needed!

for report writing, try to elaborate points of other choices besides elaborate ur choice...marks r given when u compare with the others and u mentioned the keywords/points!

*i'm sitting for SPM this year :wink:

good luck.u'll need it.

[Lody]

i score a2 for est and all of my friends did too, we were some kind of shock only 2 managed to score a1 in my class, i thought the paper was quite ok, but no, it just make us full of false hope, or whatever it is.

[wendy]

i dont understand...90marks for an 1a in est?
.

act, i heard from my friend that u'll only get an A1 if u score 95% n above.

[yen_05]

i dont understand...90marks for an 1a in est?
.

act, i heard from my friend that u'll only get an A1 if u score 95% n above.

8O 8O
95% and above??? Duh.... it is all rumours right?? Did your friend went to see the real marks?? :roll:

[HappyCat]

i dont understand...90marks for an 1a in est?
act, i heard from my friend that u'll only get an A1 if u score 95% n above.
8O 8O
95% and above??? Duh.... it is all rumours right?? Did your friend went to see the real marks?? :roll:
so unbelieveable...
i think it is impossible. 95%??!! 8O

[aftershox]

i think 95% impossible .... too high dont you'll think....
maybe its 85% or 90% at most...
the est paper wasn't that easy for an A1 to be at 95% i feel

[flyinghigh]

i dont understand...90marks for an 1a in est?
.

act, i heard from my friend that u'll only get an A1 if u score 95% n above.

95% . No . Never..
If it's really 95% n above, i gonna say byebye to my A1 already... :)

[PINKPIGGY]

I think 95% for a 1A is just a rumours.... My schl hs lots of students who score 1A, not like the chinese paper..

I think it's far more difficult 2 score in BC compare to EST, i do think EST is an easy paper. Anyway, good luck 2 those who take EST this year!

[chwk87]

i also think tat EST is an easy subject. When i sat the exam, i found out tat EST is the easiet language subject n i was sure tat i would score A1. BUT.....i got an A2, it is quite sad. same wif my BC.

[lolilo]

Yea, i can't help but to agree that EST is an easy paper, it's easier than Mandarin at my point of view. All you need to prepare youself for that paper is the ability to be good at reasoning (for the essay and report thingy) and analytic(for the graphic organization, coz you need to transfer the data into the charts) then you're good to go.

I feel guilty after reading how you guys prepared for EST. The model tests, the discussions, the teachers, the classes after school......

Honestly speaking, in my school, we read newspaper in class, read magazines ( Scentific Americans or those old issues of NG) and we watched NG and Discovery Channel on TV. *gasp* yeah i am guilty.In short, we use EST as a reason to do all of those. it was fun.

We started to learn up the format a few weeks before out trials and no one do those essay homeworks. SPM gave us all a shock, like all of you went through.

What i would like to convey is that EST doesn't serve its purpose and will never do if we are taught only to scrutinize every capital letters, those spellings, memorise reports' formats, and copy from text, and trying to figure out whether A,B,c or D will be the closest answer and getting really happy when we get 30/30.

I am glad my wonderful teacher did not waste so much time on another junk exam, instead let us do our own learning during class. I loved how she taught EST, it was quite fun and a whole new approach to what classes should be like

I just hope that this EST teaching would not be so dull in schools, the whole thing is crap, really, but teachers can make it better by using different approaches in class. And don't mind the exam, its nothing, just prepare to mug the formats 2 hours before exam, you'll be fine. seriously.

Form 4's students, don't be afraid of those EST talk. EST is erratic. might as well don't take it. less tense.

[JROTC_pw]

i also think tat EST is an easy subject. When i sat the exam, i found out tat EST is the easiet language subject n i was sure tat i would score A1. BUT.....i got an A2, it is quite sad. same wif my BC.
I agree with you...ESt is easy, but since it's a new subject, we are not taught the 'right way' to get the points (like in moral) especially in the essay part. Futhermore, no teacher have ever marked EST SPM paper during our time, so most of us rely completely on exercise books like sasbadi for the marking scheme.

[wendy]

i think 95% impossible .... too high dont you'll think....
maybe its 85% or 90% at most...
the est paper wasn't that easy for an A1 to be at 95% i feel

It might be just a rumour, told in a very convincing way by my friend!