UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
SEC
ARABIC
May 2008
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
SEC Examiners’ Report – May 2008
2
SEC ARABIC
MAY 2008 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
The examination consisted of Paper 1, the core paper, and Paper IIA and IIB.
This year there were 11 candidates for the examination, of which 7 registered for Paper
IIA and 4 for Paper IIB.
Grade
Paper A
Paper B
Total
% of Total
1
0
0
0
-
2
1
0
1
3
2
0
2
9.1
18.2
4
3
0
3
27.3
5
0
1
1
9.1
6
0
1
1
9.1
7
0
2
2
18.2
U
1
0
1
9.1
ABS
0
0
0
TOTAL
7
4
11
-
100.0
Paper 1 (part 1) Listening Comprehension (10 marks)
Only two candidates managed to obtain more than half the marks allotted to this section.
One candidate was absent for this section. The candidates committed a lot of spelling and
grammatical mistakes.
Oral - Reading (5 marks) & Conversation (10 Marks)
Each candidate talked about a topic chosen from five given topics. Not all candidates read
fluently the given passage and most 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 ‫ ع‬. However about half of
them obtained good marks in both reading and conversation.
Dictation (10 marks)
In this section only one candidate obtained full marks and two of them just obtained half the
marks allotted to this section. Some candidates obtained very low marks and one was absent.
The candidates made many spelling mistakes, the most common of which was to include the alif ‫أ‬
where it should be excluded and exclude it where it should be included.
Paper 1 (Part 2) The Reading Comprehension (15 marks)
Most of the candidates faired well in this section and obtained very good marks and two of them
succeeded in obtaining full marks. Again there were many spelling mistakes and two candidates
obtained very low marks.
.
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SEC Examiners’ Report – May 2008
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Paper IIA
Section 1a&b – Translation from Arabic into English/Maltese (10 marks) & Vocalization.
Only three candidates obtained good marks while the others succeeded in obtaining more than
half the marks. However most of the candidates managed to grasp the gist of the translation
passage. Many of them did not fair well in the vocalization part indicating that their knowledge of
Arabic grammar is very low.
Section 2 – Translation from English into Arabic (10 marks)
Although most of the candidates proved that they understood the gist of the translation passage
none managed to obtain very good marks. Phrases and sentences were omitted, and many
spelling and grammatical mistakes were made. It was quite evident that candidates found this
section more difficult than the previous section.
Section 3 – Essay (25 marks)
None of the candidates obtained full marks and only three candidates obtained good marks.
Spelling and grammatical mistakes were plenty and some had very poor handwriting. Many of
the essays were void of ideas and originality. The poor 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
Section 1 – Translation from Arabic into English (10 marks)
Two candidates obtained more than half the marks allotted while the other two candidates
obtained less than half the marks; in fact one of them did not obtain any marks at all. Although
half of the candidates understood the gist of the passage they lacked accuracy and committed
many spelling mistakes.
Section 2 – Translation from English into Arabic (15 marks)
Two candidates obtained more than half the marks allotted to this passage and the other two
obtained very poor marks. Once again spelling and grammatical mistakes were plenty.
Translations lacked sentence structure and idiomatic expressions .
Section 3 – Picture Composition (25 marks)
In spite of the fact that candidates were provided with clear simple pictures only two of them
obtained more than half the allotted marks. Again the essay suffered from many spelling and
grammatical mistakes, lack of coherence and very poor sentence structure.
,
The examiners are still not quite satisfied with the standard reached by students sitting for the
Arabic SEC examination. Many candidates have failed to reach the desired level of pronunciation
and essay writing making it very clear that they must be better prepared for this examination.
Moreover the examiners suggest that candidates should be involved in more conversation
practice and intensify their reading.
Chairperson
Board of Examiners
September 2008
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