The Home Stretch

My students are still playful and taking it easy even though their PMR is just 52 days away. I tried to mobilise them into action by illustrating how Oct 5 is fast approaching.



-They have just completed their Ala PMR 1 exam (Aug 2-6).
-Their PMR Trial is next (Aug 16-20).
-Followed by Ala PMR 2 (Sept 20-24)

In between the Trial and Ala PMR 2, they'll have a 2-week holiday for their mid-sem and Eid-ul-Fitr break.

PMR will commence on Oct 5.

But the tactic only worked on some students. For most of them, the reality and sense of urgency still haven't sunk in yet.

Since I teach five Form 3 classes, these past (and following) weeks have been (and will be) very hectic. For each exam I have to mark 186 exam scripts which always drive me to the edge of insanity... haha. I would groan/moan; "Weren't they listening to what I had been teaching in class?!" and other soliloquies teachers usually indulge in.

Is having a lot of exams a boon for students? In an exam-oriented system like ours, the answer is a resounding YES. But as a teacher, I disagree. Students cheat all the time. Not just those from the weak classes but those from the front classes as well. I guess they share the same goal: "I have to do well at any cost".

And some tried to cheat AFTER the exam as well. They doctored their exam papers and claimed that teachers had overlooked their "correct" answers.

When such things happened, I just couldn't help but support the decision to abolish PMR. What's the use of producing straight 'A' students if no meaningful learning has taken place or when their integrity has been compromised?

Plus, scheduling exams so close to one another made it hard for teachers to provide good feedback and for the students to learn from their mistakes. Are we having exams just for the sake of having exams?

I don't aim for all 186 students of mine to achieve A in PMR. What's more important is that they become highly-competent English-language users in the future. I mean if they can use the language with ease, then the 'A's will come automatically. So I try not to teach to the test.

I also hope that my students will stop cheating. Yes, very few got caught. But "it is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law". Your good result would mean very little if you had gained it dishonestly.

I guess the point of this whole entry is to nag at my students because I don't do it very well in real life... haha