PT3

Introduction

THE first batch of 453,413 form three students including private candidates has completed the very first Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) or Form Three Assessment .It ended with written examinations which were scheduled from October 12 to 17. The written tests are the final phase of the PT3 exams. The other two phases were case studies and oral tests which were conducted in July and August.

PT3 is a lower secondary school examination that replaces PMR (Penilaian Menengah Rendah). It has the same scope as PMR before, by using summative assessment to evaluate students overall intellectual ability at lower secondary level.

Purpose of the assessment

The Malaysian Examination Board and state education department will be the moderator to ensure the candidates validity and reliability scores. In some districts, the questions are prepared by the District Education Office (PPD) in which they provided different sets of examination questions for different schools. It is not like the previous centralized examination system.

Opinion about the issues

PT3 is open to bias and abuse, unlike PMR which is produced, administered and graded by an independent body outside the school which is the examination board .This is because for PT3, only the questions are produced by the board while the administering and grading will be done by the teachers of each individual school.

Suggestion

My suggestion is  teachers need to fully comprehend and cope themselves first and then it will be easier for the school to apply it to the next batch of candidates.  Besides that, should be given more time for training and briefings, especially on the procedures.