New UPSR format sees big drop in straight A scorers

We did it: The 11 pupils from SK Bukit Rahman Putra who scored straight As posing at their school.

PUTRAJAYA: This year’s Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results which saw fewer candidates scoring straight As, cannot be compared with last year’s due to the change in format.

Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said this year’s UPSR candidates were the first batch who used the new KSSR (Primary School Standard Curriculum) and went through the PBS (School-based Assessment),” he said when announcing the UPSR 2016 results analysis here yesterday.

He said that a total of 4,896 pupils scored straight As this year or 1.1% of the 440,782 candidates who sat for the examinations, compared to 38,344 or 17.7% out of 337,384 students last year under the old format.

This year also marks the first time the English Language has been split into two grades, one each for the comprehension and writing papers.

At least 23% failed to achieve the minimum D in their English Language Writing paper while about 16% did not achieve the mini­mum D for the Comprehension paper, he said.

“The candidates have yet to achieve a level we desire for the English Language Writing paper,” he added.

Dr Khair said this revealed the candidates’ weaknesses in writing accurate and grammatically correct answers.

He said that among the other changes were more Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) questions being used in this year’s examinations.

The 2016 UPSR language comprehension papers also contained, for the first time, multiple forms of objective questions and limited response questions, he added.

Dr Khair explained that multiple forms of objective questions included fill-in-the-blanks type of questions.

He also said that this year’s UPSR results do not just take into account the academic achievements of pupils.

“Pupils who sat for the UPSR 2016 examinations can collect their results slip together with their school assessment, physical activity, sports and co-curricular assessment and psychometric assessment reports,” he added.

He said this was to provide a more comprehensive, holistic and meaningful picture of a pupil’s achievements.

Dr Khair added that all candidates would continue their studies and enrol in secondary school.

In Sungai Buloh, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said UPSR was not the end of students’ academic journey but just the beginning.

Presenting certificates to five pupils who sat for the Pentaksiran Alternatif Sekolah Rendah (PASR), which is equivalent to UPSR but designed for pupils with special needs at SK Bukit Rahman Putra, he said this year’s result was not disappointing despite the new format.

The school charted a 100% passing rate among its 225 UPSR candidates with 11 pupils achieving straight As.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has conveyed his congratulations to the pupils who achieved excellence in the UPSR.

“Don’t forget to thank your parents and teachers. If your results are less satisfactory, work harder,” he said in a post on his Twitter account.