IN DISBELIEF OVER UPSR RESULTS
38,344 students scored straight As in last year s exam, but only 4,896 achieved the feat this year. Across the country, teachers, parents and their children are struggling to make sense of the results. The Education D-G, however, says it is wrong to draw
comparisons as this year had seen the introduction of the ‘HOTS’ format.
UPSR: Fewer top scorers due to new format, say teachers
THE 2016 Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination results yesterday came as a big shock for schools, students and their parents who had expected more stellar results going by student performance in the past.
Under the new UPSR format, introduced for the first time this year, there is an extra paper and students were required to answer more questions using higher order thinking skills (HOTS).
But with only 4,896 pupils securing all As from a total of 440,782 candidates this year, there were scenes of anguish, despair and devastation in schools nationwide.
Last year, 38,344 pupils scored straight As in the UPSR.
Distraught parents were seen hugging their inconsolable children, many who were in a state of shock and disbelief after seeing their exam results. Some schools hastily distributed exam slips to pupils, without the pomp and fanfare of previous years.
The straight A scorers represented only 1.11 per cent of pupils — 3,174 from urban schools and 1,722 from rural schools — nationwide.
Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said, however, that it would be wrong to
compare this year’s results with last year’s.
“Since this is the first examination using the new format, we cannot weigh this year’s results against last year’s, which used the old format,” he said when announcing the 2016 UPSR results analysis yesterday.
“Based on this year’s results, we can see that students are capable of answering open-response questions.”
Khair said UPSR candidates this year were tested using various question formats, namely openquestion, limited-answer, objective and essays, compared with only objective questions and essays under the previous format.
The Examination Syndicate will hold a press conference today to further explain the results.
Teachers and parents said the significant decline in the number of As garnered this year was unacceptable and expressed concern over the impact on pupils.
A Year Six teacher said many in the teaching fraternity were worried over the “sudden” change in format this year and the results confirmed their worst fears.
“The idea behind it is to get students acclimatised with questions requiring HOTS, which is good, but the implementation was rushed. We were not amply prepared to prepare our students.
“As the new format was only suddenly implemented this year, pupils had been learning under the old format and were already used to that.
“We also did not have enough workbooks and proper guidelines. On top of that, there were tweaks to
the new format right up to a month before the UPSR. It is really not fair for the students.”
Taxi driver Rosli Abdullah, whose daughter scored two As and three Cs, said his concern was not so much on the grades, but their effect on his daughter.
“My daughter was one of many pupils the school targeted to score straight As. She was doing very well in school, and everyone, including her teachers, had high hopes for her.”
When his daughter, Sarah, showed him her results, he was very worried.
“She was disheartened and frustrated. I hope the application requirement to boarding schools will be reviewed so that these pupils will get a chance to enter. This will help restore their self-esteem.”
Rosli, however, assured his daughter that what was more important was that she gave her all.
For another parent, Farahin Anwar, the new format helped her see another side of her son’s abilities.
“My son Afdzal actually did better than expected. He surprised everyone,” he said, adding that Afdzal scored four As and two Bs.
Khair said this year’s exams saw 8,345 pupils, or 1.89 per cent, scoring maximum 1B; 35,752, or 8.11 per cent, with minimum 2Bs; 91,366 or 20.73 per cent (minimum 1C); 152,825 or 34.67 per cent (minimum 1D); 137,262 or 31.14 per cent (minimum 1E); 9,519, or 2.16 per cent, secured all Es; while 817, or 0.19 per cent, scored other combinations.
Khair said the grades for 2016 UPSR were A (excellent), B (good), C (satisfactory), D (achieved minimum level) and E (has not achieved minimum level).