Re-sitting exam: Waste of time?
Published on: Monday, July 22, 2019
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David (student)
David, for instance, failed his A levels. In fact he did very badly. Actually David is a very smart student.
He passed his SPM with flying colours. He didn’t really know what to do next. During an education exhibition, there was this college offering one – year A Levels.
They convinced him and his parents that he need not waste two years doing his Pre-U. He can take a short cut and save one-year.
Since he is a bright student, he can sail through his A Levels without any doubt.
With the assurance he got from the college, he enrolled for the one-year A Levels. Unfortunately, he was unable to cope.
In the Primary and secondary schools he studied everything in Bahasa Malaysia.
Most of the subjects were in Bahasa Malaysia. Suddenly, he has to do all the subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) in English. Firstly, his English was weak. Secondly all the subject terminologies were in English.
He was struggling with his studies. When the results came out, he found that he had failed miserably.
The college told him that he could study on his own and re-sit. He tried that too but he was not successful. He failed again. He lost almost RM 40,000 doing his A Levels.
Today he just locks himself in his room and wants to be left alone. He is very reserved and feels very shy.
All his friends who did Matriculation and STPM have gone into tertiary education. As for David, he is still stuck with his A Levels.
The elders in his family advised him to enroll in another college and re-sit for the A Levels. But David is hesitating to do so.
Students like David must face reality. They have been studying in the Bahasa Malaysia stream for eleven years.
Suddenly, if they want to switch to taking A Levels in the English Stream it is not going to be easy.
Firstly he must master his English. Next he has to learn the subject terminologie in English. This is going to take time.
The College should not have misled David. If he had taken the two-year A Levels, perhaps he would have coped with his studies.
What should he do next?
There are several options:
(a) He could enroll himself in a college and re-sit for his A Levels. Although his peers will be laughing at him from behind his back, but who cares. This is your life. You do what you feel is right. Ignore their remarks.
(b) He could switch to a different Pre-U such as SAME, Foundation Program, Diploma Programme, etc. There are “stiff” Pre-U programmes and “easier” programmes. Many easier Pre-U programmes are based on 60pc course work and 40pc final exam. Why not bite what you can chew?
(c) Find out about your ambition. Which career are you thinking of? Look at the various routes. There are competitive courses which requires you to have a good A Levels. There are also courses which only requires just any Pre U. You can also do a Diploma and reach your career path. Be realistic.
Re-sitting exams
When you sit for an exam many factors could influence your results. You may be sick on the examination day and you didn’t do well in your examination. You had “examination fever.”
Your spotted topics that did not come out in the exam.
You misunderstood the question and wrote out of point. The examination format was changed and you didn’t know. You were not really prepared.
Something happened on your way to the examination hall. Someone close to you passed away.
Whatever it is, please re-sit and give yourself another chance. You don’t have to worry about what your peers or people around would say. This is your life. If you want to re-sit, it is your choice.
Do you know that even students who pass their exams re-sit to better their grades? So, by all means re-sit and carry on with your life.
