How to Get A Band 6 in MUET - And a Little On Learning

Picture by Fransisco Martins

Warning: This post may not be what you expected it to be. It describes the philosophy behind how I got the band instead of being a school-ish guide. For the specific kinda guide, go here or here. If you still want to know my thoughts...read on.

Today is probably gonna be my last form-6 related study post, so I'm gonna answer the question that many people have asked me and I have yet to give a consistent answer (so far).

And I truly believe that this technique can be used to improve any other language as well, with modifications of course.

Almost a year after I got my results, now I've managed to distill my answer in a single sentence -

Don't study English, you - use it.

Which means you read it, write it, speak it, listen to it - both inside and outside class. In daily life.

Simple statement that is easier said than done...but once it's done, it's easier to grasp the nuances of the language that a mere 'studier' will not understand.

Repeat that like a mantra again and again until you got it. Okay? Okay. Just kidding on that mantra part.

I realized that technique early in life while learning the Chinese language - alas, it took 3 1/2 years for me to get it in my head. The fear of sounding wrong, which is the biggest barrier to learning in my opinion, made me an English speaker in a Chinese school (it's not something I or my teachers were proud of) until I actually, for the sake of surviving and making friends, started speaking Chinese. Even though my pronunciation was all over the place for the first few months or so, there was this time where the barrier just broke and fluency came after that.

It worked when practicing the piano with two hands.

It worked when I first learned to skip with a skipping rope.

It worked when I finally managed to play my C and D chords on the guitar properly. (That alone took an entire year, by the way.)

Using a language in real life (i.e talking to friends, writing journals etc) is harder than burning midnight lamps studying grammar books...but it's also more fun.

Picture by Brian Hathcock

When you study something, it gets in your head but if you don't make it part of your daily life, you will soon forget it the moment exams are over. That's what most adults probably mean when they say they gave back (name the subject) to their teachers years ago. To get good at something you need to have a reason for using it. In the case of learning English or any language for that matter, it is improving your communication and socialization skills in the real world, enabling you to reach out to more people. Effective communication in many language also makes stuff get done faster, better, and in a more creative matter.

Got it?

If you want a step-by-step manual on how to do well in your MUET (or any other exam), I can't put it in a single blog post nor proclaim to be an expert on it (which is why this post isn't MUET 101). After all, what worked for me (refer to this post and this post) may not work for you. For that I'd have to say, get to know yourself and how you learn, and then work from there.

As for the specific kinda questions...feel free to leave a comment here, and I'll see how I can help. (Do double check with your teacher though, I have left school for more that half a year at this time of writing and may not be acquainted with the latest exam formats.)

PS. I still have chapters 9-12 of Mikro posts unposted in my Draft folder...but since I already gave away my textbooks, I can't get a reliable source to confirm my postings, so I'll bestow that honor to the next generation of sixers (who wants to take up that challenge). This really is my last STPM-related post, since I'm moving on to a new stage in life. :)

PPS. If you know me well enough to read between the lines to realize that I'm supposed to be working now - well, I was summoned out of the office for carrying the flu bug. If a flu is what makes me blog, well...