I APPLAUD the Malaysian Examination Board, especially the panel that set this year’s Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia’s (SPM) Physics Paper 1. They were certainly up to the expected higher order thinking skills approach.
Some questions no longer required a simple “read-and-tick-then-shade” style.
They required deep thought, repeated reading plus watchfulness for trickery.
However, there was one technical error in Question 38, a question involving a Form 5 Electromagnet topic, where Fleming’s Left Hand Rule is needed. The diagram itself had an error, where the direction of current or direction force shown was wrong. This then affected the choice of answers. If the direction of current is correct, force is supposed to go right, hence the answer is D.
Unfortunately, if the direction of force is correct as stated in the words above the diagram, then the answer is A.
This is a technicality, yes, but it is still an error. I hope the Education Ministry will check this and do the needful, and maintain the confidence level of the standards set thus far.
n
Boo Soon Yew,
George Town, Penang