SPM

Compared to SPM results of recent years to those way back in the 70s and 80s there is a marked increase in the number of students getting 7As to 21As. Of course 21As was not heard of back then. I salute those students from rural schools, poor families and anyone coming from disadvantaged background and circumstances scoring many As. However, for those coming from residential and urban schools it's really a no big deal to me, in fact sometimes to me it has absolutely no meaning. I am just not impressed. Here are my opinions-mere conjectures, unempirically drawn-as to why there are more students getting many As nowadays:

• Yeah...probably children are smarter today. With advances in food technology, educated parents, children may be genetically more intelligent today.
• Extra classes and tuition classes. Way back then tuition centres were rare and one-to-one tutoring was only for the affluent.
• Abundance of books on how to answer SPM questions on all subjects. All they need to do is invest in a few books which could pratically cover all the possible questions that could be asked in the examination. I believe the type of questions asked have been exhaustive that the exam board just need to change the numbers and the sentence structure.

To some SPM was/is the key to a better future. Yes, with excellent results you can choose any major that you want to pursue in any universities and get the scholarship that you desire. However, scoring high in SPM does not mean that you will also get high grades in your university. The learning requirements of a college course can be different from those of a secondary school subjcet which may be a difficult for some to adapt. Also getting many As in SPM does not guarantee that you'll be successful in life. If you're a woman, you may get married, give birth to many children and you'll end up being a housewife since can't bear the thought of being leaving your children to your maids. One person from my school who currently is holding top management post of a big company came from the last science class. He was not known to be one of the smart kids in school. Yet he is successful now. Some people are just late bloomers. They may not do well in exams whether in school or at the university but they may do well in their job and businness.