A) Title: 

Sales of Three Fast Food Outlets in the First Quarter of 2012

B) Introduction:
The stimuli present a line graph on the sales of three fast food outlets in the first quarter of 2012
and a table on their promotional activities. 

C) Overview/Trend:
In general, the sales of fast food outlets increases in direct relation with the amount of promotional
activities. 
OR
In general, Ken Burger recorded the highest amount of sales especially when they carried out
promotional acitivities.  

D) Key features:
ANALYSIS (within each stimulus)

LINE GRAPH:
* According the the line graph, among the three fast food outlets, Ken Burger is the most popular
choice followed by Mario Pizza and Ray's Fish & Chips. 
* The highest recorded sales was by Ken Burger in April as it rose sharply from RM3000 to more than
RM4000 in sales. 
* Sales for Ken Burger dipped between February and March to an all time low of below RM1900.
* Mario Pizza achieved its highest sales of RM1500 between February and March before dropping to
less than RM500 at the end of April.
* Ray's Fish & Chips was the least popular among the three fast food outlets selling less than RM500
for all four months. 

TABLE: 
* Ken Burger and Mario Pizza both carried out two promotional activities in the first quarter of
2012. 
* Ray's Fish & Chips carried out the least number of promotional activities which was to give a free
drink in March. 

SYNTHESIS (Linking between stimuli)

* Ken Burger's sales increased when they carried out promotional activities in January (free drink)
and April (gift voucher) whereas sales dipped when no promotions were carried out. 
*Similarly, Maria Pizza's sales also increased in February and March due to the two promo activities
they held during that period. 
* Ray's Fish & Chips  had poor sales throughout the first quarter as they rarely had promotional
activities. 
* Furthermore, Ray's Fish & Chips only offered a free drink in March and this resulted in only a slight
increase in sales. 
(A friend kindly explained that my synthesis examples are not accurate because it lacks data so
here are the examples given. Thanks a million to helpful people who are willing to share,
otherwise we will keep groping in the dark!) 

"As for the Synthesis, just add in the data into the sentence as u hv done for the Analysis. When u
link the visuals u have to do it with the data....For example,
1. (Among the 3 outlets), KB had the highest sales from January to April ranging from around
RM1900 when it offered a 50% discount on (the) next item in March and RM4200 in April, when it
gave away Gift Vouchers. 
2. In (the beginning of) January, Free drink by KB raked in the highest sales of RM2500 while RFC
saw its lowest sales of RM350 as it had offered nothing
3. The highest sales of MP were in mid-Feb (RM1550) when it gave 50% discount on next item
while its lowest (sales) were towards/at the end of April (RM380/RM400) when no activities were
promoted."

E) Conclusion:
In conclusion, attractive promotional activities organised by fast food outlets can positively affect
their sales. 
OR
In conclusion, fast food outlets sales are boosted when they carry out promotional activities which
are attractive to customers such as offering gift vouchers or discounts. 

Basically, as I have mentioned before, a high band answer will have more synthesis than analysis
because it is stated very clearly in the instructions/rubrics that you should ANALYSE the results of the
survey and LINK the information presented in the two visuals. You will still get marks if you analysed
the visuals correctly, but if you were to relate the data using a month to month explanation this
would not award you many marks as you are merely stating the features. Therefore, a good MUET
student would be able to identify which points ARE THE MOST OUTSTANDING ideas you can get
from LINKING the visuals rather than merely retelling the data which everyone can see for
themselves. I do hope you know the difference between FEATURES and KEY FEATURES by now.

Therefore, teachers, the challenge is for you to make students realise the difference between Key
Features vs Features and Analysis vs Synthesis. Easier said than done,right?! Hence the need for
higher critical thinking skills.

So, does anyone want to submit a sample answer for this report? Good luck!