Tips for SPM Sejarah

For my SPM in year 2012, I got A+ for Sejarah. Here, I am sharing the tips for SPM Sejarah. These tips are intended for Form 4 and Form 5 students. Starting from SPM 2021, there are some changes to the examination format for Sejarah, but the tips here are still applicable.

Tips for other SPM subjects can be found here:

http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2013/06/complete-tips-for-spm-examination-first.html

SPM SEJARAH

1. Studying tips

- Both the Form 4 and Form 5 textbooks are 100% complete. If you are in Form 5 and you do not have the Form 4 textbook, I would recommend you to buy one from the bookshop or borrow one from your friends and photostat it. However, studying using the textbooks can be boring, difficult and slow because they contain too much text in essay form. Therefore, you should also get a reference book. I recommend you to use the MasterClass SPM Sejarah reference book by Sasbadi. However, the reference book is only about 95% complete.

- When studying a topic for the first time, read though the facts and explanations in the reference book. If possible, you should read it as a story to help you remember it and also make it more interesting to study. Try to understand every sentence that you read because this can help you to remember them. However, it may not be possible to understand some facts because there is no explanation for them. You should have an idea on what you have read and understood.

- Then, you have to remember everything that you have read. Do not memorise exactly all sentences because it is almost impossible to do so since there are so many sentences in the book. Instead, you should memorise the keywords for every sentence which can give you the idea on what that sentence is about. You can then use those keywords to create your own sentence. Make sure that you can remember what every sentence is about.

- For events or incidents, the sentences are often related to each other by 'cause-and-effect', where the event in one sentence is caused by another event in the previous sentence, and will cause another event in the following sentence. Try to find out that relationship because it can help you remember the events. You should also try to remember it as a story that you have read. For facts, you should remember it based on your understanding if there is explanation for them. If there are too many facts for a particular subtopic, you can try to group two or more similar facts together and remember them as one.

- You need to do revision for every topics regularly in order to ensure that you remember everything for a long time. The more revision you do, the more you can remember. Revise as many times as you can until you are sure that you have remembered everything. When doing revision, go through all the facts and explanations in the reference book. You should find out what you still remember and what you have forgotten. For anything that you have forgotten, you must memorise it again.

- Since the reference book is only about 95% complete, after you have understood and remembered everything in the reference book, you should go through the textbooks as well. Look for facts in the textbook that are not found in the reference book. You should read though and understand them, then remember them.

- You also have to do exercises. Buy exercise books from the bookshop. You can start by doing topical questions topic by topic. When you have understood all topics, proceed with doing SPM model test papers, past year SPM trial questions and past year actual SPM questions. They should be available from bookshops. After doing the exercises, refer to the suggested answer or mark scheme and do self marking.

- You should sometimes refer to the mark scheme of past year SPM trial papers to find out how every question is marked and which points need to be included in the answers for every question. Usually, the same types of questions will have similar mark scheme, so this can help you when answering exam questions.

- When doing revision before exam, you should first go through the subtopics that you think you may have forgotten. Then, go through other topics as well if possible.

- Every year, there are predictions made by teachers on the subtopics that will be tested in the SPM Sejarah Paper 2. Usually, only some but not all of the predictions are true. You should not rely on those predictions and you should prepare for all topics if possible. Besides that, subtopics that have been tested in the previous year Paper 2 are usually not tested again in the following year Paper 2, but this is not always true. You can skip those topics if you do not have time, but avoid doing so if possible.

- One months before the exam, a general topic will be released for Sejarah Paper 3. You should look for materials that are relevant to the topic in books, newspapers, magazines, the internet and other sources. You should also discuss with your teacher and friends about that topic.

2. Paper 1

- Read the question and all the options carefully. Cancel off the options that you consider as definitely wrong. Then, choose the most suitable answer among the 4 options.

3. Paper 2 Bahagian A

- Bahagian A consists of 4 structured questions where you must answer all questions.

- You need not answer in complete sentences. You are allowed to write extra answers for all questions. Marks will only be given for the correct answers, and marks will not be deducted for wrong or unacceptable answers. There is no limit on how many answers you are allowed to write.

4. Paper 2 Bahagian B

- From SPM 2021 onwards, Bahagian B consists of 5 essay questions and you can choose any 3 of them.

- You must answer in continuous writing form. You are not allowed to answer in point form, table form, mind map, flow chart or any other forms. If you do so, half of the marks you scored for that question will be deducted. (For example, if you get 6 marks, 3 marks will be deducted.) You should also answer in complete sentences so that your answer can be easily understood.

- If the question says 'Nyatakan', 'Berikan', 'Namakan', 'Tuliskan' or something similar, you only need to write facts without elaboration. If the question says 'Jelaskan', 'Terangkan', 'Huraikan', 'Bincangkan' or something similar, you should give facts and elaborations. The number of marks allocated for the question usually shows the number of points needed in your answer. 1 mark is given for each correct point. Do not miss out any important points in your answer. You are allowed to write extra points in your answer. Marks will only be given for the correct points, and marks will not be deducted for wrong or unacceptable points. There is no limit on how many points you are allowed to write.

5. Paper 2 both Bahagian A & B

- When answering, read the question carefully. Make sure that you know what the question is asking for. For questions on facts, answer based on your knowledge and understanding on the relevant topic in Sejarah. You can use the same or similar words or sentences as those in the textbook. You can also answer in your own sentences that have the same meaning. You are not advised to give facts that are not found in the textbooks. For questions on your own opinion, you have to give your own ideas, based on your knowledge in Sejarah or your general knowledge. Your ideas must be logical and relevant. You can also give facts from the textbook or revision books if they are relevant. For all questions, your answer must be specific and not too general.

- Avoid making spelling errors in your answers. For minor spelling errors, marks is usually not deducted, but for major spelling errors, marks may be deducted. If your make grammatical errors in your answer, marks will not be deducted as long as the examiner can understand what you are writing. Avoid using any short forms in your answer, especially short forms that are not found in the textbook. If you use short forms that are found in the textbook, marks is usually not deducted, but if you use short forms that are not found in the textbook, marks may be deducted.

Paper 3 is abolished from SPM 2021 onwards.

Tips for other SPM subjects can be found here:

http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2013/06/complete-tips-for-spm-examination-first.html