THE SPM LITERATURE COMPONENT

1. Beginning in 2001, the literature component has been included in the SPM English Language Paper.

2. For the Form 4 literature component, students must study six poems ('Sonnet 18,'si tenggang's homecoming, 'there's been a death in the Opposite House', 'The Road Not Taken', 'Monsoon History' and 'If') and five short stories ('The Lotus Eater', 'The Necklace', 'The Drover's Wife', 'The Sound Machine' and 'Looking for a Rain God').

3. For Form 5, students must study one of the following novels: Jungle of Hope, The Pearl and The Return.

4. Question on the literature component for SPM appear in Section A and D and Paper 1.

5. Students are required to answer all question on the component.

6. In section A, students are tested on the anthology. The questions in this section are multiple-choice questions and essentially test reading and comprehension skills at the recognition level.

7. In section D, students are tested on both the anthology and the novel. The question in this section test the students' reading and comprehension skills at the production level. 

8. The question on the anthology in Section D are open-ended short response questions.

9. The question on the novel is a free response or personal response question. Students can choose any one out of the three novels to answer this question.

10. The choice of texts, as well as the number of poems and short stories, to be used in testing may change from year to year.