UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
SEC
ARABIC
May 2009
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
SEC Examiners’ Report – May 2009
SEC ARABIC
MAY 2009 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
The examination consisted of Paper 1, the core paper, and Paper IIA and IIB.
This year there were 8 candidates who sat for the examination, of which 6 registered for Paper
IIA and 2 for Paper IIB.
Grade
IIA
%
IIB
%
Total
%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
U
Abs
Total
0
1
2
0
1
0
0
2
0
6
-
-
-
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
2
0
1
0
0
3
1
8
Paper 1 (part 1) Listening Comprehension (10 marks)
Only one candidate failed to obtain half or more than half the marks allotted to this section.
One candidate succeeded in obtaining full marks. However answers did not lack spelling and
grammatical mistakes.
Oral - Reading (5 marks) & Conversation (10 Marks)
All candidates who sat for this section were successful, nevertheless not all of them were fluent
readers and some of them had poor pronunciation. In fact many of them could not distinguish
between sad ‫ ص‬and sin ‫ س‬, dad ‫ ض‬and dal ‫د‬, ta ‫ ت‬and tha ‫ ث‬etc.; and they could not
pronounce well certain letters such as the ghain ‫ ع‬and ‫ غ‬ghain .
Dictation (10 marks)
In this section half of the candidates obtained the pass mark allotted to this section. The
candidates committed many spelling mistakes. Dictation exercises are of crucial importance.
Paper 1 (Part 2) The Reading Comprehension (15 marks)
Most of the candidates faired well in this section and obtained very good marks and one of them
succeeded in obtaining full marks. Spelling mistakes were abundant and one candidate obtained
a very low mark.
Paper IIA
Section 1a&b – Translation from Arabic into English/Maltese (10 marks) & Vocalization.
Only three candidates obtained satisfactory marks while the others obtained less than half the
marks. Some candidates failed to grasp the gist of the translation passage. Three candidates did
not manage to obtain a single mark in the vocalization part indicating that their knowledge of
Arabic grammar is poor.
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SEC Examiners’ Report – May 2009
Section 2 – Translation from English into Arabic (10 marks)
Most of the candidates proved that they understood the gist of the translation passage and three
of them obtained good marks. As usual, phrases and sentences were omitted, and many
spelling and grammatical mistakes were committed.
Section 3 – Essay (25 marks)
All candidates who tackled this part of the examination succeeded in obtaining more than half of
the allotted marks and one of them obtained a very good mark. Spelling and grammatical
mistakes were plenty and some had very poor handwriting. Many of the essays were void of
ideas and originality. The performance of the candidates in this section reflects the lack of
reading among students sitting for this examination. As usually happens candidates who find
difficulty in expressing themselves in Arabic resort to writing Maltese phrases or sentences in the
Arabic alphabet.
Paper IIB
The two candidates who opted for this paper were absent.
The examiners reckon that the standard reached by students sitting for the Arabic SEC
examination is far from satisfactory. Many candidates have failed to reach the desired level of
pronunciation, grammar and essay writing. Moreover the examiners suggest that candidates
should be involved in more conversation practice, master the basic grammatical rules and
intensify their reading.
Chairperson
Board of Examiners
June 2009
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