Chapter 1 - PMR Result

Tuesday, 20th December 2050

*Noisy* *Noisy*

It was a bit chaotic around Akmal. Not in the sense of danger but in a noisy and busy environment. Akmal sat on a bench at the side of the corridor while playing on his smartphone. He was there for the sole purpose of waiting and taking his PMR examination result.

Malaysia was a small country in the southeast of Asia. Asian people might know about this country but not the world. On the other side of the world, Malaysia was a fairly unpopular country.

However, Malaysia was in between three popular countries in the world. They were Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.

If asked about Singapore, 90% of adults around the world would know it. Same with Thailand and Indonesia but not Malaysia who was surrounded by these three countries.

In Malaysia, there were three big examinations for every student in the country. They were the UPSR, PMR, and SPM.

The UPSR examination was for elementary students who were kids of age seven to twelve. Every kid of age twelve needed to take this examination before they enter Form 1 of secondary school.

The PMR examination was for the Form 3 students of the secondary school in the country. Form 3 students were teens of 15 years of age. In other countries, Form 3 students were equivalent to Year 3 of middle school.

The SPM examination was then for students in Form 5 of secondary school. Form 5 students were 17 years old teens. They were equivalent to Year 2 of High School.

It was 2050 and there were a lot of changes happening to the education department of this country. The UPSR, PMR, and SPM examinations had changed a lot throughout the years.

The UPSR and PMR examinations had a few changes in the past but in the end, it became the currently improved version of the same examinations.

As for the SPM, massive changes had happened.

In the past, once students passed the Year 5 of Secondary School, they would take the SPM examination and graduate.

After that, they could choose to further their studies either in Year 6 or University. If they entered Year 6, they would need to take the STPM examination two years after study and then continue to University.

However, the government had abolished the STPM examination and made it that every student needed to take Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6 before they could take the SPM.

In other words, the SPM was now taken in Year 6 of Secondary School instead of Year 5. After this, they would continue their studies as an undergrad in any college or university they wanted.

This change was not done carelessly. To do this, there were a lot of changes happening to the Year 1 to Year 3 of secondary school's education system.

The PMR examination in the past only had 8 mandatory subjects in their syllabus. However, after the changes, there were more now.

For example, there was only Science subject during PMR but now, there were Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. Same with Mathematics which was now separated into two, Mathematics and Additional Mathematics.

Even if the students failed many subjects during PMR, it did not matter much because the PMR examination was always done to assess the students' talent for a more detailed path during SPM.

As for SPM, it was now harder and more important as it would forge the path the students would take in the future. The SPM examination was now as hard as University examinations.

This might look too much to the older generation but it was fair to the younger generation. As newer generations emerged, they would be smarter than the previous generation and thus, they would have to pass through harder examinations.

*Ping!* *Ping!*

While Akmal was immersed with his phone, he heard a sound from the speaker nearby.

[Testing! Testing!] It looked like the school staff was testing the audio.

However, immediately after that, they made an announcement.

[Attention to all students] the announcement came from the speaker.

"Hmm? Are they going to announce the results soon?" Akmal wondered as he stopped playing on his phone and focused on the announcement.

[All Form 3 students can enter the hall now. I repeat. All Form 3 students can enter the hall now. The PMR examination's result for the year 2050 will be announced about 30 minutes later]

[Please enter properly and no need to push and shove other people] the voice reminded the students.

[For the parents who are here with their children, we invited you to wait at the tent prepared outside the hall. You can see the announcement at the tent through the projector screen]

[Thank you for your attention] the announcement ended.

Akmal got up from the bench and walked towards the hall. There was only one assembly hall in the school that he attended and thus, he walked there.

While he was on his way to the assembly hall, he met with his classmates. They joined up and headed to the hall together.

"What do you think you will get?" a classmate asked the others' prediction of what their results would be.

"Nah~ I don't want to give too much hope. I don't want to be too disappointed later. If it was based on the trial examination…" a classmate answered but he did not end his sentence but shook his head. It indicated that he would not get a good result.

"Eii~ don't give up any hope. The trial examination is usually harder than the real one. So, if you did badly in the trial examination, it does not mean you will do the same in the real exam," a classmate rebuked that answer.

"Moreover, it is already an open secret that the grade's based mark would change based on everyone's performance."

"Although getting an A requires 85 marks, it may change to 80 or 75 based on everyone's performance during the real exam."

"It was like that twenty to thirty years ago but not now. The government did not do that anymore. They are strict with what was arranged. Whatever marks you get, it will follow the usual guidance provided to the public. No more getting beautiful graphs and so on."

"Ha? But my dad said that…" that classmate suddenly came to a realization. "Okay, I believe you."

"Akmal, why are you so silent? What do you think your result will be?"

"I don't want to have that much hope either," Akmal smiled.

"Boring~," Akmal stayed silent and they continued marching towards the assembly hall.