Catch Us If You Can - Synopsis

Catch Us If You Can is a novel written by Catherine MacPhail. It is a warm and interesting novel which revolves around the theme of love and care among people. This novel is one of the necessary components in SPM 1119 English. It is to be answered in Section D: SPM Paper 2 and allocates a generous amount of 15 marks.

Here's a synopsis of the novel Catch Us If You Can by Catherine MacPhail.

The story is about Rory and his grandfather, Granda. They live and take care of each other since Rory's father ran away from the family. They live in a small flat. Rory is a filial grandson. He sacrifices a lot to take care of his Granda. He gives up football to spend time with Granda and always buy lunch for him after school too. This is all because Granda is getting old and forgetful! One time, Granda accidentally sets fire to himself after forgetting to put off his pipe. In another instance, Granda sets fire to his and Mrs Foley's coats during Parents Night at school. This may seem funny, but not to Rory as it shows that Granda's memory is becoming worse.

One day, the unwanted thing happens. Granda set fire to their flat while trying to cook. This changes their lives as Rory is sent to Castle Street and Granda to Rachnadar. When this happen, Rory and Granda become very sad. He can see Granda's life falling apart. So, he plans the Great Escape with Granda.

First, Rory breaks Granda out of Rachnadar and together they run away to hide in Darren's mother's caravan. Darren is Rory's best friend. The police starts searching for them and they appear on national news! From then onward, Rory and Granda starts running away and meet many good and kind-hearted people who help them. During the escape, Rory learns many new things about Granda and they go through adventurous journey together.

Rory learns that his father is currently in Liverpool but he knows Granda will not want to meet him. Granda is still angry at his father for leaving them. Thus, with the help of Rab, a friend Rory meets on the Great Escape, he quietly plans their journey to Liverpool. One night, Rory and Granda has to run away because the police is coming after them. They run in the cold night and sleep at a bus shelter. When Rory wakes up, he tries to wake Granda up but fail. He is afraid Granda might be dead. So, Rory runs around looking for help.

Luckily, help arrives for Granda and amazingly, Rory's father comes too! The truth is, he has been searching for Rory and Granda since the first time he heard about them on national news. After that incident, Granda is sent to the hospital and recovers with good health. Rory and Granda then live with Rory's father in Liverpool. At last, their Great Escape has led them to a new and better life as a family.

Easy SPM Reading Comprehension Steps (SPM 2008)

Aloha!

It feels great to write another entry on how to easily answer SPM Reading Comprehension questions! As we know, comprehension questions in Section C - Paper 2 of SPM gives a total of 10 marks. Many students may find the text intimidating or worry they lack enough time to really understand the text.

Well, for students with limited language skills, here's how you should tackle the comprehension questions. If you do it correctly, you may find it easy to locate the answers. Why? Simply because the answers are all in the text! (Maybe only 1 or 2 questions which may ask for your opinion, in this kind of question, you have to give your own answer)

Easy SPM Reading Comprehension Steps

1. Read the question first! And identify the key words in the question.
2. Match the question with the paragraph. 
3. Locate similar key words in the paragraph, the answer is normally in the same sentence, next to or before it.

Let's give it a try on the same text which we did our summary earlier (<--- click to read awesome SPM summary tips!) taken from SPM Examination Paper 2008 - Paper 2 - Section C (Reading Comprehension) and observe how we find the answer from similar key words.

FIRST: Read the question first! And identify the key words in the question.

My advice for students who find it difficult to read quickly and understand the whole text is to not attempt to read the entire text before reading the questions. Instead, you can try reading the question first and identify the key words in the text. For example (We will use some questions from real SPM Examination Paper 2008):

26. From paragraph 1, where does the writer hunt? [1 mark]

In the question above, I have highlighted the key words I found which are 'where' and 'hunt'. The part highlighted in green is very important as it shows which area of the text you need to focus on to get the answer.

SECOND: Match the question with the paragraph.

The question says 'From paragraph 1', so to find answer to this question, look at paragraph 1. Pretty straight forward, right?

THIRD: Locate similar key words in the paragraph, the answer is normally in the same sentence, next to or before it.

We have identified the key words 'where' and 'hunt'. Now look at 'paragraph 1' and locate similar key words. Here's the text in paragraph 1:

I have spent 20 years hunting wild animals in the Sarawak jungles. The leopard is one of the most unpredictable animals I have ever come across. A cunning animal, it will change its direction for no obvious reason. Although I had faced numerous encounters with ferocious creatures, none scared me the way the leopard did, the day it attacked me. (Paragraph 1)

It is quite a lengthy paragraph for weak students. Yet, fret not! Since we have identified the key words in the question which is 'where' and 'hunt'. Look for similar key words in the paragraph as highlighted above. From the text you can find the word 'hunt' in the first sentence and the answer to 'where' is also in the same sentence which is Sarawak.

Let's try to answer all the other questions in this Reading Comprehension paper too, aite?

27. From paragraph 2,
(a) what had happened to the farmers' livestock? [1 mark]
(b) "... that was the worst mistake of my life." (Line 9)
(i) What was the mistake? [1 mark]
(ii) Why was it a mistake? [1 mark]

Paragraph 2
On January 24, a goat was killed at a nearby farm. Two weeks earlier, farmers had reported missing livestock. A leopard had been seen around the area at dusk. On that very day, fifteen experienced men volunteered to track it. Before the hunting party arrived, I went out to look for the tracks. Without a thought, I left my rifle in the car and that was the worst mistake of my life. Unarmed, I was exposed to danger. (Paragraph 2)

In paragraph 2, you can obviously find the word 'livestock', the answer to it is 'missing livestock'. Then the answer to 'what' and 'why' was it a mistake can be found in the same sentence and in the next sentence as highlighted above according to the colours.

28. From paragraph 4,
(a) what threw the writer off the balance? [1 mark]
(b) which word means fell? [1 mark]

Then it happened. The leopard leapt onto my back. I heard nothing when it hit me as it happened very fast. The impact was enough to set me off balance. For a moment I felt dizzy, as it the surroundings were spinning. I could not make sense of the things around me. They seemed to be blurring. Before I realised it, I slumped onto the ground with the leopard clawing at my back. I could faintly hear the grunting from the leopard. Although I could feel sharp pain all over my back, I still managed to gather enough strength to roll over. My sudden action took the creature by surprise - I had caused it to let go of me and I was free for a short time. (Paragraph 4)

The key word off balance help us to find the answer which is the impact. Students can also copy the entire sentence as answer (provided the sentence is not too long) Meanwhile, 28(b), you will need vocabulary knowledge or try to guess which is the most suitable word. The answer here is 'slumped', with the phrase 'onto the ground' indicates something falling on the ground.

29. From paragraph 7,
(a) what made the young man rush to the scene? [ 1 mark]
(b) why did the young man hesitate to shoot? [1 mark]

A young man, who was a member of the hunting group, was scouting the area. Suddenly, he heard a loud growl. Sensing someone in danger, he rushed towards the scene. He stood hesitatingly about three metres away from the leopard, not knowing whether he could shoot accurately. Frantically, I yelled at him to move nearer. Bang! The first shot went off target. Then the second shot hit the leopard in the spine. This time he did it. There was a loud growl before it went limp. Seeing the lifeless animal next tome me, I was overcome with relief. (Paragraph 7) 

The key words 'rush to the scene' help students find the answer 'sensing someone in danger' which is in the same sentence. The key word 'hesitate' is changed to 'hesitatingly' but it still help students find the answer 'not knowing whether he could shoot accurately' for the question.

30. In your own words, give two reasons why do you think the writer felt sorry for the leopard. [ 2 marks]

For questions like number 30, it asks for your own opinion, basically, any relevant and suitable answer will be accepted here. So, do not leave this empty instead try to write suitable answers such as 'the leopard is also a living thing', 'the leopard is hungry', 'the writer is kind-hearted' and so on based on the key words from the question.

In conclusion, this reading comprehension leads us to few important notes!

1. The key words in the question is usually mentioned in the paragraph either using the same word, or with different grammatical structure or synonymous word. (livestock - livestock/ hunt - hunting/ off the balance - off balance/ hesitate - hesitatingly)
2. Do not leave any question unanswered. The answer is kind of explicit once you know how to identify suitable key words.
3. The answer is normally in the same sentence with the key word found in the paragraph.
4. If you are not sure which part of the sentence to choose as the answer, copy the whole sentence as answer (Provided the sentence is not too long - Do not copy more than 1 sentence!)

Let's count using this question as example, even if the students simply identify key words and copy the sentence with key words as answer, they will get these questions correct:

• 26
• 27 (a)
• 27 (b) (i) 
• 28 (a) 
• 29 (a)
• 29 (b)

Add all together, this section will give the student (who only find key words and copy the sentence with the key words as answer) a total of 6 out of 10. A better student will have no problem to score at least 8.

One more thing, if you notice in this article, we only look at 4 paragraphs (para 1, para 2, para 4 and para 7) but we can still find answers to all the questions. There are actually 8 paragraphs altogether. Therefore, it is also a good way to save time by using these Easy SPM Reading Comprehension Steps, read questions first - identify key words in questions - match key words in paragraph - find the answer. 

Until then, Man Jadda Wajada, practice, practice and practice!

Footnote:

• This text is taken from SPM Examination Paper 2008
• This is not the real answer scheme.
• This is just answering technique. Those who want to master reading in English still need to read a lot of English materials to be proficient.

Easy SPM Summary Writing Steps - Story Passage (SPM 2008)

Hi kind folks!

In SPM English Examination Paper, summary writing gives a total of 15 marks. 10 of the marks go for contents while 5 for language. It is actually fairly easy to score at least 10 marks in summary writing provided you know the tips and techniques. Don't worry, I'll share with you 5 simple steps.

Before that, bear in mind, although the question gives 10 marks for content, there are usually more than 10 points given in the text suitable for your summary. So, you can actually have more than 10 points in your summary but the full mark for content will still be 10.

Easy SPM Summary Writing Steps

1. Read and understand the question. Identify the key words in the question.
2. Cross out the unnecessary texts of the passage given.
3. Identify the key points in the text related to the keyword and underline them.
4. Read and understand the key points. Choose the best points related to the summary question.
5. Write down your summary. Use linkers and complex sentences to score marks in language.

Okay, the points may seem quite general (like who don't know that you need to identify the key words, right?) So, we will go through a few types of passage and try to summarise the passage using the Easy SPM Summary Writing Steps.

The first one, A story passage. 

If you get a story passage then it is pretty much easier for you, yay! That's because a story will have characters and usually the summary is about the characters' action. Thus, here's what we should do to tackle a story passage summary writing.

The story is about a professional hunter of wild animals being attacked by a leopard.

FIRST: Read and understand the question. Identify the key words in the question.

Picture 1

As you can see in Picture 1, the question has 2 Points. The first is how the leopard attacked the writer and the second is what he (the writer) did to save himself. 

Since this is a story passage, as I mentioned earlier, we need to identify the characters. As highlighted in orange, there are 2 characters being 1- the writer and 2- the leopard.

The one highlighted in yellow are the points required by the question while the green colour is the necessary parts. For now let us take a look at Green and Orange. 

SECOND: Cross out the unnecessary texts of the passage given.

Okay, read the information in Green. It says use materials from lines 13 to 37. (For those who don't know, the numbers on your right are the lines and on your left are for paragraphs) So what we have to do is draw a line under line 13 and above line 37. Then we cross out what is not needed. The result will look like this.

Picture 2

There you go. From a long passage, you are now left with a shorter version to focus on and summarise. Psychologically, this will help us tend to the task better as there are less words and it looks so much easier.

THIRD: Identify the key points in the text related to the keyword and underline them.

After we know which part to focus on, the next step is to identify the characters (the orange key words in the question). I have done this as well but instead of underlining, I highlighted the characters. Here comes the knowledge of pronouns to be tested.

For the writer. We can highlight the word 'I' in the text. (Since the text uses 'I'. If the text uses He or She then go for that)

For the leopard. There are a few choices in the text such as 'The leopard', 'the creature', 'the animal' and 'it'.

For beginners, I tell them to just underline all the characters-related words you can find. After that only we filter them. So, here is the highlighted version of the text.

Picture 3

From Picture 3 you can see that there are PLENTY OF CHOICES! for students to choose as content for their summary. I did this purposely to show that no students should hand in empty paper because identifying the key words is actually very easy!

FOURTH: Read and understand the key points. Choose the best points related to the summary question.

Here comes the more challenging part of summary writing. We have identified ALL the key words in the text (in this case, the characters). Now, we need to read the questions again and identify the key points. As highlighted in yellow in Picture 1, the 2 key points are: 1- How the leopard attacked and 2- What the writer did to save himself.

Reading from these points in the question can help us understand that the points involve actions. Actions by the leopard to attack and actions by the writer to save himself. Hence, the fourth step for us is to identify, from ALL the key words we have highlighted in orange, which are suitable to be used as content points for the question. How to know? First is by understanding the text or if it's too hard, just select the key words that comes together with a suitable action verb. How? Like this following example.

Picture 4

Allright, in Picture 4 you can see I have highlighted the points. The ones in yellow are the points related to the leopard's attack and those in green are the actions of the writer to save himself. Here the knowledge of vocabulary and identifying verbs are tested.

If you count, there are 13 points suitable to be used as content. You can choose to use all 13 or select 10. It's up to you but don't forget, never go beyond 130 words including the 10 words given.

FIFTH: Write down your summary. Use linkers and complex sentences to score marks in language.

The last step is to write down your summary. Don't forget to use the 10 words given in the question. And use linkers to score at least 3 marks for language. Linkers like secondly, thirdly, then, next, furthermore, moreover, after that and so on. However, please do not forget to change the word 'I' for the writer with 'He' when you write the summary.

Let's take the first few points and write a simple 'copy paste' summary using suitable linkers.

Example: He realised he was being attacked by a leopard when the leopard leapt onto its back. Secondly, the leopard claws at his back. Then, he still managed to gather enough strength to roll over. Next, the creature had grabbed his right shoulder and became more aggressive. Furthermore, it started shaking me vigorously... (and so on)

Reading the example, I actually copy and pasted most of the words from the text but I join them using linkers. This should be easy for students with limited language skills because they can just copy and paste the points identified. If they score more than 8 correct content points, they may get at least a 3 for language. Add that up it becomes 11 out of 15. Not too bad huh?

For those who want to score perfect marks, we will cover it up in another article, okay? Until then, Man Jadda Wajada, practice, practice and practice. :)

Footnote:

• This summary question is taken from SPM Examination Paper 2008.
• This is not the real answer scheme so it may differ from the official answer scheme.