By KAREN CHAPMAN
PETALING JAYA: All Year Six pupils will have to sit for an Aptitude Test on the last day of their Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR) beginning next month.
The one-and-a-half hour IQ test would have 60 multiple choice (objective) questions based on three areas — thinking skills, problem solving and decision-making, and interests.
“The Aptitude Test grade will be listed in the UPSR slip but will not count towards the final result,” Education Department director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom told The Star.
“There is no need for pupils to attend any additional classes or tuition for the Aptitude Test as this is based on what they already know,” he said, adding that a letter on the test had already been sent to schools.
The test this year would be held at 2.15pm on the last day of the examination; UPSR will be held from Sept 8 to Sept 10.
Alimuddin said the test would be graded according to bands, similar to that of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET).
Under MUET, students are classified according to six bands or levels of achievement from Very Good User (Band Six) to Extremely Limited User (Band One).)
Alimuddin said pupils in national schools would sit for the test in Bahasa Malaysia while those in vernacular schools would have theirs in Chinese and Tamil respectively.
“This test is not for streaming into secondary schools but will let parents know their children’s skills in decision-making and problem solving.”
The ministry, he said, was steering away from an examination-oriented system, which emphasised academic achievements, to one that was holistic.
He said a pilot project on the Aptitude Test was held in 600 primary schools last year.
Credit to The Star Online, Sunday, 2nd August 2009.
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