I decided to pick up this book after a Facebook friend shared it amid an ongoing debate about the abolition of PT3 and UPSR exams. This came after a parliamentary speech by the Minister of Education, who stated that these standardized exams would not be reinstated, with the Ministry of Education instead focusing on holistic approaches such as inquiry-based learning. This instance in parliament is a reflection of the traditional VS progressive notion of education, which was also covered in the book. However, this is just one of the many debates that have been going on ever since UPSR and PT3's abolition in 2021 and 2022 respectively. To make things clear, examinations for Primary 6 and Form 3 are still in place but they are now decentralized, low-stakes, and school-administered instead of being administered nationwide, standardized, and formulated by LPM (Malaysia Examination Board).
The book highlights an important idea: exam results don’t fully capture a student’s background or the social and cultural dynamics they experience. It encourages readers to rethink schools as more than just places for exams. Schools are complex environments shaped by numerous factors, yet we often reduce them to academic performance. The book points out that while exam results measure what students have learned, we must also consider how they learned. Did they have time to study outside of school? Were their emotional and mental states conducive to learning? These are crucial questions, and the book approaches them from a humanizing perspective by having conversations with students which at the same time integrates student voices within the issue.
Written from the lens of a teacher, the author draws on personal experiences and conversations with students to provide a grounded, humanizing, and relatable narrative. While there’s some academic jargon, it’s minimal, making the book accessible. Each chapter connects seamlessly to the next, focusing on factors that influence students’ grades and motivation. While this structure may feel repetitive to some, I found it essential to dive deeper into these underlying issues. It’s a reminder to teachers—myself included—that we often overlook what happens outside the classroom. We only see students for a few hours each day, and we rarely consider their struggles or the challenges shaping their lives. The book also challenges the common misconception that poor performance stems from laziness, offering instead a nuanced view of how external factors impact learning.
This book is especially relevant to the current national debate about national examinations in Malaysia. Many people—some teachers and others outside of education—argue that without standardized exams, students will become lazy or unmotivated. However, although not directly, the book challenges this narrative. Even before the abolition of UPSR and PT3, there were already unmotivated students, and this wasn’t due to the presence or absence of exams. It was tied to their backgrounds, peer pressure, and family dynamics—factors that teachers often don’t see. This is a view that I already hold even before reading this book.
As educators, we’re privileged. We’ve excelled academically and pursued stable careers. Still, I think this is where our views about schooling tend to get distorted which gets compounded further by accountability systems such as rankings. We need to realize that not all students follow the same path as we did. The debate about exams often oversimplifies complex issues, reducing them to false assumptions about student laziness. This book urges us to look deeper and consider the broader realities of students’ lives. Only then can we move beyond reductive arguments and work towards meaningful educational and transformative change.
For the reviews and reflections of each chapter, go to this link: tinyurl.com/examnation
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