MUET SPEAKING (PAPER 2)

PART 1 – INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION

PART 2 – GROUP DISCUSSION
Test Part Task Type Timing
Part 1 Individual presentation based on a 2 minutes to prepare
written prompt 2 minutes to present
(Each Candidate)
Part 2 Group discussion based on a written 3 minutes to prepare
question and five prompts in the form 8 to 12 minutes to
of a mind map discuss

PREPARING FOR THE SPEAKING PRACTICE

Understanding the situation

Proper preparation hinges on proper understanding of the situation given to
the candidate(s). Remember to:
-Analyse the given situation carefully.
-Underline keywords.
-Develop your response.

Brainstorming
What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming is a very useful way to gather ideas about a particular topic. As
you brainstorm for ideas, you need to plan and organize your ideas in a
systemic way. Remember to:
-Jot down your ideas in clusters using keywords
-Avoid writing your ideas in complete sentences
-Plan and organize your ideas as you only have two/three minutes

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Part 1: Individual Presentation Part 2: Group Discussion
-Jot down three main points. -Main points have already been
-Brainstorm, reorganize and expand provided. However you still need to
ideas expand them
-Elaborate -Identify the best answer option and
-Give examples elaborate on it. Come up with
arguments for/against the other
candidates may argue for/against
your preferred answer option, so
take that into account when
preparing your argument(s).
-Give examples when necessary.

EXAM TECHNIQUES
Part 1: Individual Presentation
Preparation Presentation
1. Understand the task and underline Deliver confidently. Use linkers and
the keywords expressions to ensure a smooth flow.
2. Brainstorm your ideas. Combine
the ideas and come up with three
main points
3. Organize the points and elaborate.
Use keywords and add linkers.

Part 2: Group Discussion

Preparation Presentation
1. Understand the task and underline 1. Present your view. Use linkers and
the keywords appropriate expressions.
2. Decide on your 2. Listen to others. Support or
view/solution/answer based on the oppose their views. Be courteous
given options and use appropriate expressions.
3. Brainstorm your 3. Eliminate options by providing
ideas/argument(s). Centre it around reasons. Be sure to discuss all the
your chosen answer option. given options.
4. Come to a group decision at the
end of the discussion.

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SPEAKING TEMPLATE
Introduction Greeting (examiners + candidates)
State/Rephrase Situation given and mention your main
point given.
Introduce the main point
Body/Content Point 1 (1 Elaboration + 1 example)
Point 2 (1 Elaboration + 1 example)
Point 3 (1 Elaboration + 1 example)
* Remember to use PHRASES/LINKERS for
cohesiveness
Conclusion Summarize main points (Restate the 3 points)
Thank (Examiners + Candidates)

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 USEFUL EXPRESSION FOR SPEAKING
PART 1 INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION
To greet
Good morning everyone. Good morning examiners and all my
friends.
A very good morning to my examiners and friends.

To state the situation/task given

The situation states that … According to the situation given, ….
Based on the situation given, … The situation I have been given is ….

To express an opinion/introduce a point of view

In my opinion, … It is my view that …
I believe that … Based on my experience, my opinion
is that …

To introduce the first point

First of all, I propose ... I would like to begin by ...
For a start, I would like to suggest ... Firstly, I would highlight …
As a start, I would like to suggest …

To signal a main point

My main point is … One important reason is …
The most important factor is … We should consider …
It is important to …

To give reasons
Because … This is a result of …
The reason is … The main reason …
This is because … There are several reasons … The first
is …

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To elaborate/illustrate a point
Therefore … Then again, …
This means that … Equally important …
This is because … Moreover, …
On top of that … In addition, …
According to … Subsequently, …
Also … As well as …
Furthermore … Additionally …
More importantly, … To elaborate, …

To provide an example
For example, … Take for example …
For instance, … … such as …
One example is …

To justify
The facts suggest … There are many facts … One such fact
is …
The evidence shows … The reason I believe … is …
Because … After all, …
There is a lot of evidence to support … For example …

To start a new point

Secondly/ Thirdly, … Next, I would like to highlight …
Next, let’s look at … The next point that I would like to
make is …
My next point is … Another point that I wish to
emphasize is …
The next issue is … Next, we come to …
Another suggestion/ reason is … Moving on to my next point, which
is …

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To refer to what you have said
As I have said earlier, … I have pointed out earlier that …
I mentioned earlier that … As I have told you earlier
As I said at the beginning, …

To signal cause and effect

This … in turn can lead to … As a consequence …
For this reason … … so that …
As a result … … because of …
Due to … If … then …

To signal that you are about to move on to a possible solution

So, what can be done to solve this Let’s look at some of the possible
problem? ways …
What should we do? Now, let’s consider some possible
solutions …

To signal that you are drawing a conclusion from what has been said earlier
Thus … As a result …
Therefore … So, we can see that …
In short … Hence …
This in turn can lead to …

To summarize
To summarize … In summary, …
To sum up … In brief, …

To conclude
In conclusion, … Let me conclude by saying …
So, we can see that … Those are the suggestions …
In short, … Now that we have dealt with …
Therefore, my suggestion is … In summary, I would suggest …
As a conclusion, I would say … I would like to conclude by saying
that …
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 PART 2 GROUP DISCUSSION
INITIATING A DISCUSSION
To initiate a discussion
I would like to start the discussion by Let’s begin this/ our discussion by …
saying that …
We are here to discuss … Allow me to begin …
I would like to express my view May I begin by saying …
regarding this matter …
Let’s look at some possible solutions …

To ask for an opinion

What is your opinion? Do you agree that …?
What do you think about …? What do you think we can do to …?
What is your view on …? Would you like to share your opinion
on …?
May I know your opinion Would you like to offer your
regarding …? comments …?
What do you feel about …?

To express an opinion/state a point of view

I think … I am sure that …
I believe … As far as I am concerned …
I must say … I am of the opinion that …
In my opinion … I am convinced that …
From my point of view … It seems to me that …
I would say that … It’s clear to me that …
Personally, I feel …

To express strong agreement

I strongly agree. Exactly! I couldn’t agree with you
more.
I agree completely. You have hit the nail on the head.
That is certainly true. You’ve made your point very clear.
Yes. I am sure you are right. Absolutely!
You have made a convincing argument. I completely agree…
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To express agreement
I agree with you. I am of the same opinion.
You are right. I am glad you mentioned that.
That is true. I see your point.
I share the same view.

To express partial agreement

You could be right, but… I do not entirely agree with you.
That is true, but… I agree to a certain extent, but…
I see your point, but… That’s true to a certain extent, but…
You have a point, but… Your suggestion is good, but…
That may be so, but… It sounds like a good idea, but …
I think you are right to say that. However,…

To express strong disagreement

That can’t be true at all. That is absolutely untrue.
I beg to disagree. That’s totally out of the question.
I don’t agree with you at all. No. I don’t like this suggestion.
I must take exception to that No. I don’t think so.
comment.
I disagree with you entirely. I disagree completely.
I really can’t agree with you because …

To express disagreement
I disagree. On the contrary,…
I don’t see it that way. I would consider …as more
important…
I beg to differ. I think it would be better if…
I don’t think so. I think you are mistaken.
I am not convinced that your Well, it depends …
suggestion will work.
This will give rise to other problems. Do you really think so? I think …
I understand what you’re saying but I don’t think that’s practical / the correct
solution.

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To signal a contrasting idea
However, … On the other hand …
But … From a different point of view …
In contrast … Looking at the other side of the
argument …

MANTAINING A DISCUSSION
To make a strong suggestion
We must … There is no alternative but to …
There is no other way except … The only solution to this problem is …

To make a suggestion
I would like to suggest that … I think it is a good idea if …
My suggestion is … Don’t you think we should …
I recommend that … My recommendation is …
I think we should … In my opinion, we could …
How about …? What do you say if …?
I would like to propose that …

To ask for a suggestion

What is your suggestion? What are your views regarding this?
What would you suggest? Do you have any suggestions?
What do you think? What is your comment regarding
this?
What is your opinion? Would you like to comment on this?
Is there anything you would like to say about this?

To present solutions
One solution is to … Another solution is …
One possibility is … We could either … or …
One way is to … There are three ways to solve this
problem. Firstly, …

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To give reasons
I believe that … because … The main reason …
This is because … Because of …
I think that you are right about … because …

To elaborate
Also, … Moreover, …
Furthermore, … In addition to …
More importantly, … Additionally …
Then again, … To elaborate on my point, …
To elaborate on what you said, …

To justify
I think that you are right about … There are many facts … One such fact
because … is …
Research has shown that … so … The reason I believe … is …
Because … it means that … After all, …
There is a lot of evidence to support … For example …

To contrast and justify choices

XX has the advantage of … but ZZ … XX is a better choice because …
XX would be able to … but ZZ … The best solution is … because …
XX sounds good but YY is better While XX has some advantages, ZZ is
because … still a better choice because …

To accept ideas/opinions/suggestions
That’s a good idea. I have no objection to that.
That sounds great! Your suggestion is acceptable to me.
That’s fine with me. I am in favour of Candidate C’s
suggestion.
I can’t/couldn’t agree more. You’ve made your point very clear.
I support your suggestion. That’s a great suggestion. You’ve got
my support.

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To reject ideas/ opinions/ suggestions
I appreciate your opinion but… You have a good point there but …
I do see your point but… I am sorry, I can’t agree with you.
I understand your concern but… I am afraid we do not share the same
opinion.
That is interesting but… I beg to differ
I am sorry, I can’t accept what you have just said

To ask for clarification

What do you mean by…? Do you mean to say that…?
Could you please explain further May I know why…?
on…?
Do you mind telling me more about…?
I am sorry I missed your point. Could you please explain…?
I am afraid I am not quite sure of what you meant. Could you please clarify…
Sorry, I don’t follow you. Would you mind giving an example?
I’m not sure I understand your point. Could you please explain that to me
again?

To give clarification
What I meant was … Let me explain how …
Sure, I was trying to point out that … My point is …
Certainly, one good example would be …

To persuade
I wonder if you have thought of … Wouldn’t it be a good idea to …?
Maybe you should consider … Don’t you think …?
I can assure you that … Have you considered …?

To negotiate
I would be willing to consider that Provided that … I see no reason to
if … object to …
Would you consider …? How about if …?
What about if …? As an alternative, how about …?

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To interrupt
Allow me to interrupt … Excuse me, but isn’t it true that …?
Excuse me, can you please repeat what you have just said?
Sorry to interrupt but I have to say this …
Excuse me, could I just ask you a quick question?
I am sorry to interrupt but I think we need to get back on topic.
I am sorry, I have to stop you. Can we get back to our topic on …?

To take a turn
May I offer my viewpoint on this Please allow me to interject.
issue?
I believe that candidate A has yet to share her opinion on …

To infer
Because of … I assume that … If …, it could be due to …
This is probably because … We can deduce that …
It could be because …

To evaluate
It appears to me that … Let’s assess whether or not this is
true.
After much consideration, it seems We need to evaluate …
that …

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CLOSING A DISCUSSION
To summarize main points
In short … To sum up …
I will briefly summarize the main points
Allow me to go over the key points
Let’s sum up what has been mentioned so far

To conclude
In conclusion, … As a conclusion, …
To conclude, …

To state a group decision (total agreement)

We all agree that … We have come to the conclusion
that …
Our decision is that … We have come to an agreement
that …
We have decided that …

To state a group decision (partial agreement or total disagreement)

Most of us agree that …
Two of us agree that … while the other two of us believe that …
We could not reach a group decision because some of us strongly think
that … while the rest of us believe that …
We are unable to come to a solid decision because some of us strongly
believe that … while the others think that …

To end a discussion
It has been an interesting discussion.
If you have nothing more to add, we shall stop here.
Does anyone have anything else to say? Otherwise, we shall end this
discussion here.
Since we have come to an agreement, I guess it is time to end our discussion.
As all of you have come to an agreement, let’s bring this discussion to a
close.

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To close a discussion
Thank you for your contributions to this discussion.
Thank you for a fruitful and interesting discussion.
Thank you very much for your attention and participation

Useful expressions to close a discussion in Group Interaction (Example)

Total agreement (Example)

Now that we have presented our In conclusion, all of us agree that
points, we have decided that _______. It was a fruitful discussion.
_______. Thank you for a fruitful and Thank you everyone.
interesting discussion.
Example:
Now that we have presented our points, we have decided that behaviour is
the most important factor that can affect a family’s reputation. Thank you
for a fruitful and interesting discussion.

Scenario 1: 3 agree 1 disagrees

In conclusion, most of us agree that To conclude, most of us agree that
_______. Thank you for your _______is the best choice because
attention. _______. Thank you.
Example:
“In conclusion, most of us agree that behaviour is the most important factor
that can affect a family’s reputation. Thank you for your attention.”

Scenario 2: 2 agree 2 disagree

To conclude, we are unable to come In conclusion, we were unable to
to a group decision because some of make a solid decision because some
us believe that _______. The rest of of us strongly believe that the best
us, on the other hand, are of the choice is _______ because
opinion that _______. Thank you. _______.while the rest of us think
that giving him _______is the most
useful because _______. Thank you.

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Example:
“To conclude, we are unable to come to a group decision because some of
us believe that behaviour is the most important factor that can affect a
family’s reputation, as one bad sheep reflects badly on the whole family
from a social standpoint. The rest of us, on the other hand, are of the
opinion that income levels affect a family’s reputation most of all, because
society judges people based on how successful they are, and income is a
reflection of a family’s success. Thank you.”

Scenario 3: No one agrees with anyone

We are unable to come to an In a nutshell, we were unable to
agreement on _______. All of us come to an agreement on which of
strongly believe in our own views the four options is the best choice. It
though we agree with some of the seems all of us strongly believe in
arguments presented. Thank you for our own points so as we have run
your contributions to this out of time, we think that we should
discussion.” each buy him a gift individually.
Thank you.
Example:
“We are unable to come to an agreement on the most important factor that
can affect a family’s reputation. All of us strongly believe in our own views
though we agree with some of the arguments presented. Thank you for your
contributions to this discussion.”

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Dos and Don’ts
Do
-Practise in front of a mirror or get a friend to listen to you and give
constructive feedback
-Speak clearly and audibly; pay attention to stress, intonation and pauses
-Use connectives and appropriate expressions
-Listen attentively when others are talking
-Participate actively when others are talking
-Be courteous and diplomatic – accept better suggestions
-Read widely and keep abreast of current issues
-Underline the main ideas or keywords
-Give convincing reasons and examples to support your opinion or
suggestion
-Interrupt politely and only when necessary
-Keep within the stipulated time and allocate sufficient time for each point
-Address others appropriately – observe the correct social conventions
-Sit upright, be calm and confident, and smile
-Maintain eye contact
-Use appropriate hand gestures and body language

Don’t
-Mumble, speak softly or shout
-Use fillers like ‘um’, ‘er’ or ‘uh’
-Use peculiar speech habits like ‘lah’, ‘you know’, and ‘actually’
-Fidget, fold your arms or shake your legs
-Fiddle with your pen or tap the table with your pen or fingers
-Give sweeping statements and generalizations
-Be upset if your opinion or suggestion is not accepted
-Make personal remarks, be defensive or be overcritical
-Monopolize the discussion

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