GEORGE TOWN: Despite scoring 9A+, Bryan Cheong felt a little down because there was no chance to go to school to meet his buddies to get their results.
“I watched my seniors go to school and collect their results over the years. I wanted to do the same. Then I could thank my teachers in person.
“It is not the same checking my results online, ” said the student from St Xavier’s Institution, Penang.
Cheong, 18, said it was a difficult year studying at home for SPM.
He said he had to put in a lot of extra effort and felt dejected when the exams were postponed.
“Online classes are harder than being physically present at school. It was difficult to stare at the computer screen for hours.
“Online classes are shorter and we could not interact with teachers and ask questions like in the classroom, ” he added.
Despite it all, Cheong was grateful to his teachers for making the online lessons interesting and keeping them motivated.
Krisada Ooi, 18, who scored 8A+ and 2As, was anxious as he checked his SPM results online while his family looked on through a Zoom call.“As I am studying in Kuala Lumpur now, we set up a group call to see my results together.
“I am happy with my results, although I did aim for 10A+, ” said the Penang Free School student.
Ooi, who is now pursuing his A-levels, said although studying online was difficult, it was not impossible.
“With self-determination, it is possible to learn through online classes. You become more reliant on your own capabilities and not so much on your teachers, ” he said.
Chung Ling High School student Chen Tzi Xuen, 18, who scored 8A+ and 3As, was sad he could not be with his schoolmates to collect the results.
“It was a bit of an anti-climax as I could not share my happiness with my friends and we only checked our results online.
“I am happy as I managed to score well in Moral and Bahasa Melayu, two subjects that I thought I would fare badly in.
“I did not expect these results as it was different studying online.
“It was not the same as having teachers with you in person to guide you through the syllabus.
“The teachers had less time so they concentrate on finishing the syllabus, giving us less time to interact, ” he said.
Aakshay Singh Deo, 18, the eldest son of state exco member Jagdeep Singh Deo, scored 8As.
He said it was not easy coping with the exam postponements and was happy to be done with SPM.
“What stressed me out were the delays due to the pandemic but I was consistent with my revision, ” he said.
This was the first time in Malaysia’s history that SPM candidates got their results online instead of gathering at school to collect their result slips.
Due to the latest movement control order, students could only access their exam results online or via SMS.
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