Strategy For Answering UPSR 2016 New Format Chinese Paper 1 on Pemahaman

This post is for parents who are trying to help their kids with the Chinese Paper 1 for UPSR 2016. Non-Chinese speaking parents can refer to this to inform tutors on which area to teach should they lack the focus.

Before you read this post, please refer to our previous post on the UPSR 2016 Chinese Paper Format What's New. This will give you an idea of the new format for the Chinese Pemahaman or Paper 1 of the Chinese Paper for UPSR.

In short, there is now more emphasis on Paper one. The time allotted has been increased from 50 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes while the total marks for this paper is now 50 instead of 40.

Previously the paper had 40 objective questions, 1 mark each. Now the paper is divided into two parts. The first part has 20 objective questions, 1 mark each. While the 2nd part has 5 subjective questions. Some of these questions have sub questions so there are actually 9 questions in all if you count all the sub parts. 30 marks for the 9 subjective questions.

The main difference is previously there were 2 passages. In the new format, there are 3 passages. The third passage is rather long and requires subjective answers. 

Previous Format Chinese Pemahaman Paper 1
40 Marks
Q1-Q30 - Various Multiple Choice questions
Q31-35 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Q36-40 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions

New Format Chinese Pemahaman Paper 1
Part 1 (20 marks)
Q1-Q4 - Various Multiple Choice questions
Q5-Q12 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Q13-Q20 - Ancient Chinese Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Part 2 (30 marks)
Q21 a,b,c,d - Subjective questions
Q22a,b, Q23a,b, Q24, Q25 - Long Passage (about 2 pages) followed by subjective questions (see example below)

In the recent UPSR diagnostic test, this is what happened. Students score part 1 easily obtaining 18 or 19 out of 20 marks but were pulled down by Part 2 ie the subjective part which has a higher weightage in terms of marks.

It is therefore clear, that emphasis should be given on how to answer this section ie Chinese Paper 1 (Pemahaman) Part 2. The strategy for answering UPSR 2016 New Format Chinese Paper 1 on Pemahaman is therefore to do a lot of practice exercises on this part of the paper especially questions 22-25 which comes after the long third passage. There are no shortcut methods. Lots of reading and practice required.

Subjective Questions 22-25 that comes after the long 3rd passage under the new format for Chinese Pemahaman or Chinese Paper 1 in UPSR 2016 (Sample taken from the Skor 8A book by Hup Lick Publishing (M) Sdn Bhd)

Tip for non-Chinese speaking families:

When buying workbooks, look for one that says 理解练习 This means Practice Pemahaman. Look inside the book to make sure it is the new format practice ie with subjective questions (not objective ones) and make sure sample answers are provided. 

Example of workbooks using the new format long passage followed by subjective questions
for practice pemahaman or 理解练习

 Extra Tip:

To improve on Q13-Q20 on ancient Chinese Passage, watch Chinese history cartoons like the Three Kingdoms. This is to help improve on the general knowledge to help in the understanding of such passages



Next Post: Tips For Tackling SJKC Science Paper 2 UPSR New Format

Disclaimer: The views above are authors own after consulting with teacher.