Target achieved: Low showing the ‘A’ she scored for Additional Mathematics in SPM 2023.
MUAR: Tuition teacher Angie Low has always had one regret in her life, which was that she never took Additional Mathematics after switching streams when she was in Form Four decades ago.
Now, after more than 33 years of leaving secondary school, the 51-year-old from Sungai Abong here finally realised her dream by scoring an ‘A’ in Additional Mathematics in the Sijil Pelajran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“After completing my Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination in Form Three back then, I was placed in the Science stream, but because of peer pressure, I decided to switch to the Accounts stream where Additional Mathematics was not a core subject.
“Years passed and even after I entered the workforce, I still harboured regrets over it,” she said in an interview.
Then last year, Low got a call from one of her student’s parents, asking her to provide Additional Mathematics tuition for the student, who was on the verge of giving up on the subject.
As much as she wanted to help the student, Low felt that there were limitations because she had no foundation in the subject.
“At that point, there was a loud voice inside me telling me to take the subject in SPM and make up for lost time,” she said.
Low registered for the examination in February last year and wasted no time purchasing Form Four and Form Five Additional Mathematics textbooks, and learned the subject by herself.
She completed learning the textbooks within two months before moving on to various reference books to improve her knowledge of the subject.
“That was when I realised that I still had a long way to go as I found it tough to solve the questions in the reference books. I motivated myself by telling myself that I had 10 more months to brush up on the subject before the examination.
“Thankfully, due to the Covid-19 movement control order, there were countless online resources and YouTube videos uploaded by teachers and tutors, which helped me to understand the formulas a lot better,” said the home-based tuition teacher, who is also taking care of her elderly mother.
Low admitted that she felt nervous sitting for the exam as she was worried that she might not have enough time to finish answering the questions.
“I wanted to challenge myself and prove that I could do it... which I did, I scored an A in the subject after a year of self-study,” she said proudly.
Low said her love for Mathematics and learning were among the factors that drove her.
