In her article, 'How low can you go?', The Star columnist, Leanne Goh noted:
"A few months back, a DAP MP asked the Education Minister to state the passing marks for English, Math and Science subjects. He received a written reply in Parliament that it is under the OSA and cannot be revealed."
Excerpt:
"What is the passing mark for an SPM subject? Many teachers estimate it to be seriously low for some papers, way lower than the school’s benchmark.
WHEN I last wrote that more than 100,000 students, or close to a quarter of those sitting for the SPM English, were at risk of leaving school without an SPM certificate, the response was unexpected.
“Ms Goh,” I was told, “don’t worry, the marks may be lowered even further to allow many to pass.”
Update on 'How low can you go?':
Excerpt from a letter in response, 'Questionable passing marks':
"There are Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) students who never passed their Mathematics and got between 10 and 18 marks in their trial examination yet managed to pass the subject for PMR.
Then there are Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students who never passed Additional Mathematics and managed to get only 12 marks for the SPM trial exam yet managed to pass the subject for SPM.
I was told by a trusted examiner that the passing marks for Maths for SPM a few years ago was 5%!"
More:
http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Letters/2013/10/28/Questionable-passing-marks.aspx
Unbelievable? This is the problem with hiding the truth, we are unable to confirm if the above allegations were true.
Link
"A few months back, a DAP MP asked the Education Minister to state the passing marks for English, Math and Science subjects. He received a written reply in Parliament that it is under the OSA and cannot be revealed."
"What is the passing mark for an SPM subject? Many teachers estimate it to be seriously low for some papers, way lower than the school’s benchmark.
WHEN I last wrote that more than 100,000 students, or close to a quarter of those sitting for the SPM English, were at risk of leaving school without an SPM certificate, the response was unexpected.
“Ms Goh,” I was told, “don’t worry, the marks may be lowered even further to allow many to pass.”
And that view, I was surprised to learn, was shared by many.
Teachers who have been teaching upper secondary students as well as examiners who have been grading the exam scripts for many years let on that the passing marks are not all they seem to be."
"Those who have been examiners for many years see a pattern: the overall quality of the answer scripts has consistently been declining; the questions have been less challenging; and the structure easier to score. In some cases, the more difficult topics have also been removed from the syllabus.
The conclusion: It gets easier to score and harder to fail.
Is it any wonder then that we keep reading of more and more students scoring a string of As and yet the global benchmarking of our students is at the bottom third among 74 countries?"
"So what’s in store for a pass in SPM English?
Teachers are already speculating on ways to shore up the scores, considering that a pass has to be achieved in three short years when 70% of our 60,000 English teachers who sat for the English Language Cambridge Placement Test performed poorly.
Teachers are asking whether the oral test would be one avenue to help students meet the passing grade."
More:
Curious about our standard of English among students?
According to philanthropist, Koon Yew Yin:
"Since I began my educational philanthropic mission, I have received and read close to a thousand applications for financial assistance. At the beginning, I found that most of the applicants had fairly good SPM results and were able to express themselves reasonably well in English. But besides lacking the funds, they had difficulty in gaining admittance to universities which had stringent entry standards.
However, as time has gone by, I have been shocked by the low educational standard of the applicants and especially their poor command of the English language. I have been also shocked by the ease with which these students have been accepted by the various universities they have applied to. During my time and even until 10 years ago, they would not even have been considered for Fifth or Sixth Form entry, so low was their standards.
For example I received this application about two weeks ago:
Hi...let me introduce myself first...my name is X Y Z...hmm...i live in kampar...im 18 year old...chinese guy...boy...now i meeting finance problem to my further study....i hope Mr yew...can lead a hand to me...i will very thanks to you...hope i can solve the finance problem quickly caught my study...THANK A LOT..."
Rest of article:
Update on 'How low can you go?':
Excerpt from a letter in response, 'Questionable passing marks':
"There are Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) students who never passed their Mathematics and got between 10 and 18 marks in their trial examination yet managed to pass the subject for PMR.
Then there are Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students who never passed Additional Mathematics and managed to get only 12 marks for the SPM trial exam yet managed to pass the subject for SPM.
I was told by a trusted examiner that the passing marks for Maths for SPM a few years ago was 5%!"
More:
http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Letters/2013/10/28/Questionable-passing-marks.aspx
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