Sasbadi, RM36.90, ISBN 978-983-77-3853-9
Education, 2024

The publication house Sasbadi always manages to project itself as the publisher of Bahasa Melayu educational resources, and Masterclass SPM: Bahasa Melayu is another reference book that reinforces that notion.

Authors

Focus SPM: Bahasa Melayu boasts three authors that have vast experiences in teaching the subject as well as training and participating in various planning and implementation of educational programs and syllabus development. Sharifah Abd Rahman is connected to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), serving also as the language consultant in the development of national textbooks.

Furthermore, this book offers QR codes to exam tips and advice videos from teachers of vast experience in both teaching and training.

In other words, the people behind this book have some pretty impressive CV and this book makes no secret of that. Marketing, baby!

Design

The design of the 2024 Masterclass SPM series is impeccable, very impressive to a degree that I have never seen before in SPM reference books from other publishers.

The use of colors aside, this book is much wider than normal. This is because every page comes with a 6.5 cm-wide colored side bar that is used for annotations as well as a box for one to put in the date when they revised a certain chapter.

This side bar is fantastic because there is more than enough space to put in one’s own notes. In this case, one can write in new words one has learned and their meanings, advice and tips from elsewhere, URLs, and other details to make this the one-stop reference book for one’s Bahasa Melayu revision needs.

The fact that one can jot down notes also makes this book the perfect vehicle for active learning, which research has found to be far more effective than just passive reading. With plenty of space to add in notes, illustrations, and even small mind maps, this book is designed for this very purpose, so much kudos to the people that did the design and layout.

Furthermore, the width of the pages and the presence of the side bar produce plenty of white space on every page. The result is uncluttered, colorful pages that are easy to read without feeling overwhelmed.

I can’t get enough of the beautiful and practical layouts of every page, so much so that it’s tempting to take this book to read and kill time when I’m in the toilet!

Content

From the get-go, it’s obvious that this book is not going to be easily digested by students with weaker proficiency in the language.

The authors share plenty of tips and advice that are already covered in similar SPM Bahasa Melayu reference books, but these tips assume that one is already halfway proficient in the language.

Just look at the sample compositions, for example. When the authors point out that one should include at least two or three “beautiful” turns of phrases in their compositions, the samples here do just that in ways that will intimidate those that are of weaker proficiency and have them scrambling for a dictionary.

For these students, there is no shame in this, but Focus SPM: Bahasa Melayu from Pelangi Publishing would be a better reference book for them, as the advice in that book is more novice friendly. This book is much better as a reference for students with medium to higher levels of proficiency to learn a few tricks and turns of phrases to improve their own composition.

I also like how this book makes good use of the 6.5 cm-wide margin space to include information on grammar beside working examples involving that aspect of grammar. Usually, in other books, the rules and laws of grammar would be presented first, only for practice exercises to follow after. Here, one can access the grammar rules and read the examples of these rules in action in a single scan of the eyes, and I find that very convenient compared to the old school way of presentation.

However, I have one quibble. Some of the sample compositions in the Karangan Respons Terhad section are way over the 150- to 200-word limit. Yes, I count the number of words just to be sure. Yet, the authors state clearly that one should keep their composition with the word limit.

So, unless there is a trick to counting the words that they do not mention (I remember during my school days ages ago that we counted names and special nouns as one word each, ditto address), the apparent contradiction between their advice and their examples can be confusing!

Other good things about this book:

• Long and solid glossary for simpulan bahasa and peribahasa.
• Detailed explanation of what happens in the exam hall before the oral exam, right down to the layout of the hall and examination room, to help candidates get a better idea of what to expect on that day.
• The karangan sections go beyond the call of duty in presenting actual working examples of various ways one can structure their introduction, main body of content, and closing paragraphs.

Conclusion

• Presentation and design – excellent.
• Content – this book is best suited for candidates with middle to higher levels of Bahasa Melayu proficiency. The high level of discourse and the ample space to enhance the existing content with one’s own notes and cross-references easily make this a near-perfect one-stop reference book for that subject.
• Just take note of the confusing fact that the authors seem to ignore their own advice on heeding the karangan word count when it comes to their own karangan!
• Students with lower proficiency levels may find the jargon and higher levels of discourse hard to understand and even intimidating. For them, I’d recommend Focus SPM: Bahasa Melayu from Pelangi Publications. The advice in both books is pretty similar, but the level of discourse in both books is very different indeed. These students would likely find Focus SPM: Bahasa Melayu more within their comfort zone while still getting important tips and advice on getting that credit in this paper!