MATSEC AM Arabic case studies
MATSEC AM Arabic · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The MATSEC Advanced Matriculation (AM) Arabic examination is administered by the MATSEC Examinations Board, the examinations body of L-Università ta' Malta, and is delivered as a written examination. It is an advanced, pre-tertiary qualification in Arabic, aimed at candidates who already have a solid secondary-level grounding in the language and who need a matriculation-level qualification in Arabic - typically for admission to university programmes, for entry to Arabic- or Middle East-related degree courses, or to evidence language competence for employment and further study. The MATSEC AM Arabic case studies are 5 cases and about 3,084 words.
1The Pronoun and the Promise: Reading an Op-Ed Under Time Pressure
Lina has 18 minutes left in Paper I and five questions on a 210-word op-ed she has read twice. The passage argues that a regional dam will close for two weeks for maintenance without consulting farmers: «أعلنت الوزارة أن السدّ سيُغلق أسبوعين، لكن المزارعين قالوا إنهم لم يُستشاروا… ولمّا سُئل الناطق عن التعويضات، قال إن الوزارة وعدت بدراسة الطلبات، وهو وعدٌ سمعه المزارعون من قبل.» Question 4 asks what «هو» in «وهو وعدٌ» refers to; question 5 asks whether the author is neutral, sympathetic to the ministry, or critical.
717 words, about 4 min2Kāna, the Diptote, and the Passive: Vowellizing a Single Sentence
Omar is in the final ten minutes of the grammar section. He must vowellize and justify: «كان في المدينةِ ثلاثةُ مساجدَ لم يُبنَ منها إلا واحدٌ.» The mark scheme gives 1 mark for each case ending and 1 for the reason, 12 marks in total.
590 words, about 3 min3Fourteen Hubs and an Idiom: Translating for a Municipal Newsletter
A candidate has 30 minutes to translate a 95-word English brief into MSA for a municipal newsletter, and then one Arabic idiom into English. The brief says: ‘Since 2019 the council has rolled out 14 community hubs and appointed a liaison officer to work with families.’ The glossary gives «مجلس» for council, but not ‘rolled out’, ‘hubs’ or ‘liaison officer’.
615 words, about 3 min4From «حلو كثير» to Fuṣḥā: Rescuing an Essay Opening
Nadia has 40 minutes to write a 300-word MSA argumentative essay on «هل ينبغي تقييد العمل عن بُعد؟». Her plan has three supporting points for restriction and one counterargument.
570 words, about 3 min5«أنا والبحر»: Classifying a Poem Without a Label
A candidate is asked to comment on an eight-line poem in a 20-minute section. The poem is undated and unsigned in the exam booklet.
592 words, about 3 min