SPM students distressed over ‘muffled’ playback during oral exams

KUALA LUMPUR – SPM students and their parents have expressed anxiety over the fate of their recently concluded Bahasa Malaysia (BM) and English oral examinations, which they say were affected by faulty audio facilities.

They are particularly distressed as the low-quality recordings used during the examinations allegedly caused them to not properly hear the muffled questions and made them unable to answer appropriately.

Another aspect which has upset many students and parents is that questions for the second BM examination session held last month were allegedly reused after they had already appeared in earlier sessions.

Concerned parents said that the Education Ministry (MoE) should rightfully have arranged for different sets of exam papers, each with their own questions, in view of candidates being away from school due to floods, Covid-19 and other natural disasters this year.

Parents also feel that the issue is of urgency as the MoE had informed them during the briefing prior to the SPM exams that the marks of the oral exams would be considered in the calculation of the final BM and English grades.

According to parents, SPM 2021 was the first batch where this new ruling applied.

Muffled sound recordings

Student Navenish (not his real name) said that the compact discs (CDs) that contained the BM and English questions were sent by the MoE to all SPM centres.

“We were informed during the pre-SPM exam briefings that the CDs would be used for both the BM and English oral exams.

“During the examinations, however, we noticed that laptops were used for the playback of the oral exam recordings,” he said.

“The sounds were muffled and unclear to the exam candidates in the hall and classrooms, especially at the back of the hall,” he said, questioning whether the right equipment had been used.

“Many of us in the large hall had to strain our ears and, even then, we could not hear the questions clearly and as a result, I felt disappointed with my answers,” said Navenish.

‘Complaints gone unheeded by MoE’

He also said that the other aspect which affected the ability of students to pay attention to the oral recordings was the constant ringing of the school bell, which is timed to mark the end of each subject period during school hours.

“I could not properly pay attention to the recording due to the constant ringing of the school bell,” he said, adding that he was distracted by the high-pitched sound.

According to Navenish, many students and parents made complaints on the poor quality of the recordings and the distractions, but to date, the principal had not come back to them with a response.

Parent Kamini (not her real name) felt that the months of hard work by her child had gone to waste as not only was the recording badly played, but students also had to contend with the pandemic, which meant that her son could only attend school for one to two months.

This SPM 2021 has not been smooth-sailing for the students and the MoE’s refusal to answer our questions on the poor quality of the audio recordings has made it worse,” said Kamini, who stressed that more could have been done by the ministry.

‘Recycling’ of questions show poor preparation

The Pakatan Harapan Education Committee highlighted that those students who sat for the second session of the SPM 2021 oral examinations found the questions in the BM (listening) examination to be the same as in the first session held in February this year.

The second session held in early April was to accommodate students who missed the earlier session due to Covid-19 or floods, or had been granted special exemption for various reasons by the exam director.

Kamini said she was shocked by the “recycling” of papers in the second session, as it caused unhappiness among both students and parents.

“MoE should have been ready with several sets, given the uncertainties,” she said.

Mohammed Zaki Samsudin, a parent-teacher association president, stressed that the marks from the oral exams contribute to the overall grade for BM and English subjects.

MoE should have been better prepared with multiple recordings or versions in light of the marks going towards the final exams in BM and English,” he said.

Also, the poor quality of the audio recording meant many students could not hear the questions and answer to the best of their ability, resulting in distress and unhappiness, which affected their ability in the overall exams.

“The Education Ministry has to take this into account and do better the next time around,” added Zaki.

He stressed that previously under the old Integrated Curriculum for Secondary Schools, the marks for the listening test were not included in the BM and English exam grading.

The Vibes has contacted the Malaysian Examinations Board by phone as well as by email for comment on the alleged reuse of examination questions, but there has been no response at the time of writing.

On the issue of poor sound quality, a staff member said over the phone that they had no comment on the matter. – The Vibes, April 19, 2022