As the first batch of students face the new Form Three Assessment or Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (PT3) examination this month, the short preparation period has given rise to confusion among students, parents and teachers.

The Ministry of Education first rolled out the PT3 exam via a surprise announcement on 31 March this year, giving students barely three months to prepare for it. Teachers too were taken aback by the sudden decision which left them scrambling to prepare themselves and their students to face the major examination.

“Students are given two years to understand the format of UPSR. They are given two years to prepare for SPM and 1.5 years for STPM. But they only have two weeks to get used to the PT3 format. Before they learn to crawl, they are asked to run,” commented facebook user Sarala Poobalan.

It is understood that the move will affect around 500,000 Form 3 students and 63,000 Ministry of Education teachers in 2,376 secondary schools.

Students are irked that details of the examination format were not released earlier, giving them scant time to understand the PT3 requirements. Many students were unable to purchase reference books for the exam since many publishers discontinued the books after the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination was abolished last year.

Under the new PT3 exam, students have to sit for oral, listening and written (subjective) tests for Bahasa Malaysia and English papers. Other subjects will be tested by a written examination, while some subjects like History and Geography will require students to perform case studies.

MP for Serdang Ong Kian Ming criticised the haphazard implementation of the PT3 implementation, saying that feedback from the public has reflected the shortcomings and failure of the Ministry of Education in handling it.

Ong said he received complaints from members of the public who were frustrated with the messy implementation of the system, as details of the format were not clearly communicated.

“Students who are starting their case studies or ‘kes kajian’ for History and Geography from 1 to 18 July may need a lot of luck given that the implementation of PT3 has been disgraceful.”

For instance, a concerned parent complained that her daughter’s geography teacher had earlier asked the students to get at least 20 residents from a 5km radius to fill in survey forms regarding pollution.

However, after spending six hours knocking on doors to complete the project, the students were then told that their survey preparation could not be used as the scope for the project would only be on air pollution.

Ong expressed disappointment with the Ministry of Education in treating the Form 3 students as guinea pigs.

“The failure of the Ministry of Education to properly implement PT3 raises serious doubts as to whether it is able to raise our ranking in the Trends International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as per the Malaysian Education Blueprint.

“If MoE cannot implement PT3 well this year, how can they execute the 12 year Malaysian Education Blueprint? ” Ong said.

Ong suggested that to avoid further problems in the implementation of PT3, the Ministry should set up a special committee to ensure that this year’s mistakes are not repeated. Meanwhile, he called on the Ministry to set up a dedicated hotline immediately to answer questions and complains from teachers, students and parents who are facing the exam for the first time this year. -The Rocket