The Malaysian national exam board holds its Math and Science to a high sandard. Various online sources rank the exams to be the top 7 most difficult papers but much of it can be subjective. However, drawing on my own studies as I studied the STPM curriculum, speaking to experienced tutors and Malaysian students who have seen both curriculums, many talk about how SPM and STPM delves deeper into specific concepts whilst IGCSEs and A-Levels would instead focus on breadth instead of depth.

Nevertheless, the exam strategy is the same. Only this time, exams happen every trimester (far from referencing pregnancy here). Hence, the intensity of such a course alongside the volume to study mean that efficient use of time is fundamental. The sheer amount of co-curricular activities that SPM and STPM students undertake is not helpful either.

Point #1: Start Past Papers early

Many may wait till the last month before the semester's exam looking past papers. Although many teachers may prescribe loads of topical questions to strengthen understanding, it is still crucial attempt past papers questions. Many leae it too late to start familiarising oneself with what questions demand and gaps in knowledge and understanding.

Point #2: Start with the oldest past papers

The Malaysian curriculum esundergo less drastic changes in core content compared to international counterparts. Nevertheless, yearly, exam setters slowly evolve their pattern of testing. Therefore, the order in which one does past papers matters. Start with the oldest papers.

 "Start with the oldest past papers"

Point #3: Do one page, mark one page

"Do one page, mark one page"

-Mr Kumaraveelu (2016) 

This is especially true when doing past papers to learn concepts, not when timing oneself in the lead up to the final exam. My favourite Math tutor, Mr Kumaraveelu, made this my watchword. It is thank to his excellence and many blessings by the wise people around me that moulded my strength in tutoring today. In fact, each of the three strategy outlined here was written in Mr Kumaraveelu's wisdom. One rarely meets such intelligence and character amongst tutors. I was very blessed to. Indeed my arrogant teenage brain made me rebel much against wanting to be tutored but having him teach me fundamentally changed so much of my academic journey beyond Math.

Too often I see students marking three years of past papers they did... All at once. Although I commend their industriousness, what cause is a machine gun that scatters bullets mindlessly? By the time the student attempts the second half of even the first paper, they would have forgotten what they worked on at the start to a large extent.

Rather, placing the marking scheme next to one's answer script and marking as one goes along, "do one page, mark one page", reinforces concepts much better. Coupled with a deep mental acknoeldgement of one's mistake, bookmarking the page to clarify any doubts with one's teacher makes for a tremendous increase in learning speed.