Pan Asia Publications, RM36.90, ISBN 978-967-466-735-1
Education, 2023

While normally the Pure Science subject Spotlight A+1 books from Pan Asia Publication has some superior traits compared to their counterparts from Sasbadi and Pelangi Publications, Spotlight A+1: Sains doesn’t have that many standout advantages.

Also, like Sasbadi, Pan Asia Publications only publish the Bahasa Melayu version of this reference book. It makes sense, as most candidates that take Science are from the Humanities stream, and they tend to take that subject in Bahasa Melayu. So, Sains it is.

Authors

Wow, I have never seen so many authors on a front cover of an SPM reference book! Did each of them write a chapter each?

Still, some of the names are familiar, as they have been writing SPM books for quite a while now.

Design

• Very colorful in a way that makes the chapter interesting. Not too garish, although some candidates may find the abundance of bright colors too distracting.
• While the illustrations aren’t big, the number and clarity of the illustrations are good enough to help complement the text and give candidates a better understanding of things.
• Excellent use of diagrams, tables, flowcharts, and illustrations to drive home key points without creating too much of a wall of text effect.
• While the layout of the book feels cluttered at times, the spread and design of the pages still allow for enough white space to keep things easy on the eyes.

Content

The content is pretty standard for the most part, but there is one distinct stand-out here over those SPM Science or Sains reference books from other publishers: it has a dedicated KBAT (Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi; High Order Thinking Skills or HOTS in English) section in every chapter. This makes it a more KBAT-friendly option than Masterclass SPM: Sains.

Also, it offers more multiple-choice practice questions than Focus SPM: Science and the reference notes also feel more thorough and detailed.

This makes it a better investment compared to any of those two other books!

However…

What I find odd is that, despite having a dedicated KBAT section, the book approaches the infamous Question 11 in the Kertas 2 essay section — that one that asks candidates to devise an experiment based on a situation presented by the question — in a way that feels off.

It never asks the candidate to state the problem statement, and the rest of the sections in that question feel off as well.

Sure, this is a small matter, and the experiments presented in this book include problem statements, but ideally, the practice questions should reflect what shows up in the real paper as much as possible so that candidates won’t be taken too much by surprise in the exam hall.

Conclusion

• Spotlight A+1: Sains is in many ways a pretty standard reference book that can help the candidate master the fundamentals, but because most of the other SPM Science or Sains reference books in the market are lacking in one way or the other, it ends up being noteworthy anyway in a good way.
• It also makes the effort to spotlight KBAT in every chapter, which is nice, but its approach to some of the KBAT questions can feel tad off or not in sync with the latest examination format.
• Still, I prefer this book over that from Sasbadi or Pelangi Publishing. The KBAT issue can be remedied by practicing on actual past year questions or getting a relatively inexpensive workbook.