Straight 7A* for Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur
The year 2020 shall always be remembered as a turning point in world history for the major Covid-19 pandemic and calamity it caused. The imprint shall remain with us for the rest of our lives. During this period all aspects of social, commerce as well as education had to undergo a virtual reset. Schooling relied on Homebased Online teaching and learning and many levels of exams were scrapped or rescheduled. The all-important Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, SPM for our Form 5 students was postponed from the customary Nov/Dec 2020 to deep into February 2021. However, we live in a world of options and indeed many alternatives avail us. At Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur which benchmarks against the stringent and comprehensive National KBSM/KSSM Curriculum students are blessed with the option to attempt additional international assessments and examinations such as the New South Wales Examination, NSWE and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, IGCSE due to the fact that Mathematics and Science are taught in English under the Dual Language Program, DLP from primary level right up to upper secondary.
In 2020, as the SPM exam was rescheduled so was the IGCSE May/June 2020 sitting. Talk was rife that internal assessments and trial exam results would be used as an alternative if physical exam sitting was deem risky due to the pandemic. However, as there was a window of opportunity for physical sitting in Nov/Dec 2020, some of the Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur Form 5 SPM students registered and attempted the IGCSE exam. Two (2) students had achieved truly remarkable results with both scoring Straight 7A* each for identical subjects in Additional Mathematics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English as a Second Language and Foreign Language Malay. Ms Alyssa Lee Xin Yi scored total marks of 677 and Ms Elysia Ong May Wen scored 682 marks of a total of 700. Their near perfect scores giving them 7A* each is made even more meaningful as they await the start of the SPM 2020 examination beginning on 22 February 2021.
The rigors and depth of the SPM examination cannot be denied as its always referred to as the golden standard for students to pursue pre-university program across the world and the IGCSE results is a timely reflection of a student’s state of preparedness for the SPM examination. They could also now utilise the IGCSE results for admission to any pre-university program prior to the release of the SPM 2020 results.
Both our students’ excellent results are indicative of their hard work throughout the MCO lockdown as well as immense coaching and guidance provided by their highly dedicated teachers and mentors as well as support from family which are vital for such success. The lockdown is no excuse that effective teaching and learning could not be made possible. At Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur, teachers latched on various online platforms and apps to connect with their students to help guide them through the most unprecedented and extended lockdown in our history. Being able to carry out lessons, assessments, examinations and produce the report cards to the parents of their child’s progress is truly a reflection of the team of teachers, administrators and staff who collectively joined hands in ensuring quality and effective education was administered despite the many challenges faced during the Covid-19 period and the excellent results of Alyssa Lee and Elysia Ong is the silver lining for all to saviour and rejoice. All students, parents and staff at Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur would like to extend a heartfelt Congratulatory note to both of our Young High Achievers as they have done the school and her community proud.