NEWS: Ace SPM Sciences and Maths

FREAKING out because the SPM examination is around the corner and you’ve been spending more time on Facebook and World of Warcraft than your textbooks?

Despair not, because experts Sunny Yee (Physics and Additional Maths) and A. Alagesan (Chemistry), together with other Science and Math specialists, have pooled their extensive experience and knowledge to come up with a special six-edition SPM series. The other writers contributing to this must-have pullout are Mallika Vasugi, Alicia Tan and Felicia Puri.

Unlike previous years, these invaluable revision materials will not be published in StarEducation. Instead, starting July 14 till Oct 13, there will be 16 extra pages dedicated specifically to SPM revision in F4F5 — The Star’s Maths and Science guide for upper secondary students.

Published every second and fourth Monday of the month, F4F5 has been bumped up to 56 pages to include Physics, Biology, Modern Mathematics, Chemistry, General Science and Additional Mathematics ‘hot’ exam questions and sample answers.

Learn techniques to score full marks for structured questions. Find out common traps sneaky examiners throw into exam papers to trick students. Find out which topics are “hot” this year. And reap the benefits of in-depth analyses of frequent mistakes by our five specialist writers in the field.

Here’s a sneak peek of how a student can miss the full two marks for this Chemistry question, which appears in July 14’s F4F5:

The diagram below shows two bell jars, A and B.

Bell jar A is filled with bromine vapour while bell jar B is filled with air.

Both the jars are separated by a lid.

State your initial observations. [2 marks]

Frequent mistake:

It looks brown in colour.

Tutor’s comment:

The answer is too vague. Which of the jars, A or B, is brown? This is not specified.

In cases of two or more items being given or questioned in an exam, students should take extra effort to specifically identify the items referred to.

Correct answer:

The content of bell jar A appears dark brown while the content of bell jar B is colourless.

With sample answers and tutor’s simple and direct comments, students will obtain a better grasp of the topic and improve the odds of not repeating the mistakes!

The Star launched F123 and F4F5 this year to cater to students in all secondary levels after the success of its F1F4 pullout in 2006 and 2007. Published during the school term, F4F5 offers syllabus-based Physics, Biology and Modern Mathematics on the second Monday of the month and Chemistry, General Science and Additional Mathematics on the fourth Monday.

Also included are learning tips, enrichment exercises, pertinent notes, activities related to real-life phenomena as well as informative and interesting topics for general knowledge.

The 40-page F123 pullout, published every first and third Monday of the month, contains Science and Maths topics for Form One, Two and Three students in every issue. F123 and F4F5 are included free for schools that buy The Star at a special discounted price. Orders are by school subscription only. Meaning, you’ve got to place your orders through your schools. Students and parents, do talk to your child’s teachers, principal or even the Parent-Teacher Association committee members.

For details and orders of F123 and F4F5, call Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd’s Customer Care Unit at 03-7967 1777 (direct line) or 03-7967 1388, ext 1152 or 1160 from 9am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays.