Moral paper tweaked to make it ‘hot’

A spokesperson for the Malaysian Examination Board says a new system called the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) was introduced this year to compel students to think out of the box

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Examination Board today rubbished claims that it made a sudden change in the format of the Moral Studies SPM examination paper for this year.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official said that they only introduced a system called Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), which requires students to think critically before answering questions.

Yesterday, many SPM students voiced their frustration on the new format on Facebook, saying that they were taken aback by the questions posed in the Moral Studies paper.

They said neither students nor teachers were made aware of the changes. One student even claimed that the government made the last minute changes as the students taking Moral Studies ‘are non-Malays.’

The National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) has since expressed shock on the matter and vowed to get to the bottom of the matter.

Dismissing claims made by the students, the examination board official said that they just rephrased certain questions in the Moral paper, to compel students to think out of the box.

“Most students just memorise the 16 ‘nilai murni’ for Moral Studies. So when we ask a slightly tricky question, they panicked.

“We have some criteria in setting an exam paper. So certain question we set in such a way that it will require some critical thinking,” said the official.

The official added that for this year, 10% of the question are formatted under the HOTS system as the board wanted students to understand the subject matter rather then memorising it.

Under the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that SPM exams will have 50% questions on critical thinking skills by 2016.