KUALA LUMPUR – The school-based assessment (PBS) assesses students holistically with a centralised examination system no longer a single form of assessment to measure their achievements.
With the abolition of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and Form 3 Assessment (PT3), schools will focus on three components involving classroom-based assessments, physical activity, sports and co-curriculum assessments, and psychometric assessments.
Examinations Syndicate principal assistant director Rohesan Muhamad said through PBS, students at level two of primary and lower secondary school will be assessed based on their level of performance in academic and non-academic fields.
“This assessment means that the process of obtaining information on student development (is) by not placing exams as the main thing to obtain it, but it is one of the methods used.
“Previously, in the official reporting of student achievement in primary schools, for example, we looked at the UPSR, but with the empowerment of PBS, we will see the progress of students every year,” he said during a briefing on PBS here recently.
Rohesan said that previously, central assessment was managed by the syndicate, but with the empowerment of PBS, the Education Ministry gave autonomy to teachers in schools to make assessments, thereby determining the performance of students under their supervision.
In addition, according to him, the ministry will prepare questions of the same standard for the final exam of the academic session, and student achievement will be measured according to the current year’s curriculum.
“For example, for Form 1 students, only subjects taught in Form 1 will be tested; the same as other levels. Before this, the measures of subjects in Form 1 to 3 were combined and tested in PT3,” he said.
He said that a question bank would be prepared by the ministry for primary schools (level two), involving five subjects namely Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mathematics, Science, and History, while for other subjects, questions would be prepared by the school.
For the lower secondary level, the ministry will prepare questions for 20 subjects according to the subjects offered at school.
“With the empowerment of PBS, we do not compare students against students or schools with other schools, but we want to see the abilities of the students themselves through the level of mastery; not that we want to see the weaknesses of the students,” he said.
In the meantime, Rohesan said that central assessment is still being carried out for upper secondary students, which are Forms 4, 5, and 6, involving coursework, oral, and practical tests.
Regarding admission to boarding schools, according to him, students need to take the Special School Admission Assessment and not rely solely on PBS.
Meanwhile, the syndicate’s senior deputy director, Ibrahim Mohamed Zin, explained that there are two aspects to PBS, namely formative and summative assessments.
According to him, the formative aspect is an assessment for learning involving daily exercises, weekly assignments, and questions and answers during teaching and learning sessions.
The summative aspect is an assessment of learning involving quizzes, monthly tests, mid-year tests, and end-of-year tests, which will be improved through the empowerment of PBS and academic session final exams. – Bernama, October 14, 2022
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