Sasbadi, RM23.90, ISBN 978-983-77-3868-3
Education, 2024

Authors

I am going to switch things and start with the authors first time around, just to get it out of the way before the good stuff.

The authors’ credentials are prominently displayed on the cover because Sasbadi will always Sasbadi. There is a textbook evaluator among the ranks, Dr Mohd Sokki Othman, so this gives the book some credibility.

Now, the Subject Itself

The SPM Pendidikan Islam — or Islamic Education — is on the whole a moderately difficult paper if one has been paying attention to the subject since early secondary school or, better still, earlier and their parents had sent them to some basic Arabic language classes as well when they were younger.

This is because, for the most part, it’s a tolerable paper based on facts… until Kertas 2.

There are some Arabic texts in Kertas 1 in the form of certain suwar outlined as “must memorize” in the syllable, but one can answer in Bahasa Melayu.

In Kertas 2, it’s basically an Arabic language fluency test. If one is like me, spending my primary school in a Chinese SRJK, and Arabic language tuition classes weren’t a big thing back then unless you lived in a more rural area, then Kertas 2 can be a cause of major anxiety.

Kertas 2 in a nutshell, if we take away the theological jargon:

• Parts A and B: the “recording the muezzin” test or the “sing-song” test. (I hope my old ustazah isn’t reading this! She will not be amused.)
  • Part A requires one do the sing-song of an ayat from a surah and if they forget something, no worries. The full ayat is given, in Jawi naturally.
  • Part B is the same except for how, this time, there is no peeking; it’s a test of how well one can recite ayat surah from memory.
• Part C is the “let’s see how well you preach at the pulpit” test.
  • One is given a hadis to recite.

Everything is in Arabic, and one is tested not just on whether they can read Arabic correctly (bacaan), but also on how well they do sing-song (fasih) and pronunciation (tajwid). The last one can be subtle and hard to discern to people not fully familiar with that language.

This is why many SPM Pendidikan Islam reference books tend to take a backseat to the ustaz’s teaching in classrooms, tuitions, or YouTube videos because… ugh, Kertas 2.

That, and the KBAT, which can seem deceptively easy.

The KBAT Part

Somewhat new-ish in the sense that things were more straightforward before Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT; Higher Order Thinking Skills or HOTS) had to be shoehorned into at least 3 of the 5 compulsory questions in Kertas 1.

Each usually carries 4 marks, so the total marks can add up to be a frightening anything from 25% to 33% of the total marks of that paper.

At first, it doesn’t seem not so hard, as these KBAT questions typically ask basic “common sense” questions like how you would tell a female friend that it’s still essential to jaga aurat in public.

The tricky part is that one is expected to back up their answers with a relevant ayat or hadis so yes, memorizing those revision notes without stopping to look at the big picture may still leave the candidate ill-equipped to handle this part.

So, How Useful Is This Book?

Design-wise, it’s the same as other Masterclass SPM books — lots of free space for notes, the usual, and here’s the reason why this book stands head and shoulders over most of its counterparts from other publishers.

It has QR codes to videos of an ustaz reciting all the “must learn” suwah and hadis. 

Sure, one can look up YouTube videos, but the presence of these QR codes makes this book a handy one-for-all.

It also allows for easy cross-checking between the content and how one does the sing-song correctly.

How It Is Not So Useful

This book desperately needs a content overhaul because the revision questions at the end of each chapter feel like they belong to a book written based on an older syllabus.

It is only in the single mock SPM paper at the back that the questions finally feel like they are based on the latest trends and syllabus.

This means that a candidate with limited exposure to the current style and feel of the paper, one that relies solely on this book as a source of reference, may end up being taken aback in the exam hall.

Conclusion

• Pretty standard content that covers the fundamentals.
• However, one is on their own when it comes to KBAT.
• On the other hand, if one needs help with Kertas 2, this is a convenient one-stop reference book that lets them play the video on their device while they study the squiggles and lines of the ayat at the same time. This would be a helpful way to prepare for the Al-Quran and Hadis parts of Kertas 1 as well as Kertas 2 in one go.

PS: Don’t be scared of Kertas 2 that much. I was told firsthand by an examiner a while back that the marking isn’t so stringent — no one expects an ustaz-level performance. As long as one doesn’t mangle things up to the point of blasphemy, one usually would still be fine. They may not get an A, but if their Arabic language is “barely hanging on” like mine was and still is, hey, aim for realistic goals like a credit. I wish someone had told me all these before I had to sit for my exam!