Examinations should be more discriminating

I read with interest the continuing debate about allocation of scholarships, and wish to refer to the exam system.

How can so many students obtain As? I’m an academic lecturing in a private university, and last semester, one third of my class had obtained eight to 10 As in SPM.

How did they fare in my class? Not all those who had obtained As managed to score the As. I did get a small percentage of As as per the normal distribution and only one student got an A+ in a class of 49.

I got the same feedback from my co-lecturers who were teaching the same class. What does this mean? Maybe, all those students are not A material.

Examinations need to be more discriminating and harder. A good test should be able to do that. Also, students are coached extensively. They spend more than half the year doing past years’ exam papers. That should not be allowed.

They need to study the information and be able to apply it. Here, they are being taught to study by rote and they may not be able to apply the knowledge that they have acquired.

The allocation of scholarships also needs to be fair and transparent, and shouldn’t be given out too freely.