Petition calling to lower SPM's Add Maths passing marks gain traction

PETALING JAYA: A petition calling on the Education Ministry to bring down the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia’s (SPM) Additional Mathematics passing marks is gaining traction online.

In just 19 hours, over 11,800 petitioners have signed the petition, which targets 15,000 signatures.

Calling for the passing mark to be five, and 50 for an A+, the petition was started by Joseph Tan on Wednesday (Nov 20).

According to the petition, the paper was “too hard” and it took teachers “one hour to complete two questions”.

“The batch of students that sat for the paper kindly request that the government reduce the passing marks for the paper, ” Tan wrote.

On Tuesday (Nov 19), The Star reported that questions were so tough that it left some students in tears after sitting for the paper last Thursday (Nov 14).

Responding to the concerns, Examinations Syndicate director of examinations Adzman Talib had explained that every exam question was based on the curriculum taught to all candidates.

Calling on parents not to worry, he assured them that the ministry would ensure that candidates were treated fairly in all exams.

Separately, a candidate also started a petition for the A+ mark to be set at 50 for History because the format of the paper had been changed.

Another started a petition to reduce the grades for History and Mathematics.

All petitions were posted on change.org.