MELAKA: A tuition teacher with 23 years of experience has taken the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination three times to enhance her students’ confidence and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they encounter.
Mak Chin Foong, who teaches Additional Mathematics and Mathematics, first sat for the exam in 1997.
“After becoming a tuition teacher, I saw my students’ increasing struggles with the two subjects, particularly since the introduction of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS),” she said.
Lead by example: Mak, with Lex, says she wanted to experience what her students were experiencing when taking the exam so she could better prepare them.
“Some of them were so frustrated that they tore up their revision books out of anger at not being able to answer the questions.”
The 45-year-old said she then decided to sit for both papers again in 2023, to truly gauge the difficulty and pressure students face under actual exam conditions.
“I did it again last year to experience first-hand how the questions have evolved and how current students are being tested.
“For both years, I obtained an A+ for both papers, and in 1997, I scored an A1 for the papers.”
Mak, a committee member of the Malaysia Chinese Language Council, mentioned her son, Lex Tan, also sat for his SPM exam last year.
“It was particularly meaningful for me to take the same test papers as my son,” she added.
Mak believes that by experiencing the real examination, she has gained a better understanding of the correct answering techniques, which she can now convey more effectively to her students.
Mak urged the Examination Board to review the proportion of HOTS questions in relation to the time allocated for each paper.
“If even an experienced teacher like me barely had enough time to complete the paper, how can we expect our students to manage?”
