Transcript Interviewee 2 (Lelaki/L)

Interviewee 2, Please define what you know about STEM

So just for my own understanding as an overview as a student I see them as a modern

methods of teaching it's not the traditional conventional way of teaching but instead is
teaching as in the teacher's they don't just speak to students about information they dont
just give students information and expect the students to accept everything and apply in
exam papers but instead STEM is a way of teaching in which the teacher act as facilitator or
Mentors to help students bit by bit and actually allowed to students to explore themselves
especially in terms of science and technology engineering and mathematics so I think is very
important to it's very important as it helps the students to learn for themselves not just fully
dependent on the teachers and students can also improve themselves in terms of the
communication skills when in terms of researching skills how to find information on the
internet and so on and not only that I I think STEM is also important because nowadays is it
is very very much highly required for graduate especially to have a skill doesn't mean that
they are studying in the Arts stream they shouldn't have the stem skills because even
though they are in the art streams it is important for them to have these STEM skills to
apply when they're finding for jobs and stuff like that so yeah I think STEM is very important
overall in helping to develop not only oneself not only to community family but also the
nation as a whole L1-01

2. Please list out examples of STEM-related subjects that you learn in your
previous school

Ya so ehhh i study in st michael penampang so some of the STEM related subjects that i
took from the SPM includes the three subjects ehh which are biology, chemistry, and physic
and also of course i took maths also in my spm and additional mathematics and i actually
added one subjects for my SPM which is English English for science and technology and
though English for science and technology is more to English I generally but for me studying
the subject itself as a student I think it also really helps me and increasing my knowledge
and skills parts of that not only that I get to improve my English fluency but at the same
time as I get to know but general information regarding science and technology L1-02

3. What inspired you to choose and study Add Maths ?

Honestly speaking I wasn't actually that interested in add maths in the first place because
when I first entered my class which is the first class in Saint Michael it was already decided
that I would have to take add maths in the class so not knowing anything about add Maths
so when I first started it I actually find it quite hard like most students but throughout the
progress I was actually very interested in add maths especially in terms of how it is not only
applicable during exam period but also it is also something that you can learn and be late
today realise for example when calculating a statistic or finding the average marks to read
exam paper especially SPM papers but I think it's really amazing to learn how impact full at
additional mathematics can be in our daily lives and i think thats one of the many reasons
why I am truely inspired and i was are very interested to study add maths L1-03
4. Please share with me the obstacles and challenges u face while learning
Additional Mathematics

Okay so as someone who didnt actually choose the subject and wasn't actually interested in
it in the first place in the beginning I find it very difficult and hard especially for me to
understand the theories and concepts of additonal maths so one of the obstacles and
challenges that i face throughout the studying period is definitely the understanding of just
what a few topics about especially i especially have trouble understanding progression
arithmetic and geometric progression for those there are few topics that I find very hard and
some that are not really that hard but overall I think additional mathematics require
someone to really be really have a critical way of thinking and honestly speaking I don't
think I'm the kind of person so that is one of the challenges that I faced in terms of critical
thinking I need to get out of my comfort zone anything that not in the conventional way but
i have to think in a bigger way and see the questions and the situation from different
perspectives so that definitely challenge me and then the second thing is definitely the fact
that I have to juggle additional mathematics together with another subject as I think it's
very hard for me especially because in saint Michael is a very active school so be the
students especially where we are really required is to join different activities inside and
outside of school and being someone who have always been interested in joining different
clubs getting different activities I find myself voluntarily joining those activities and so I
having to manage my time to study add maths but then other subjects and at the same
time contributing to the school that is one of the challenges that I'm just gonna have to face
so in term of how I emmm tackle these problems firstly I tried to make my own study
timetable ehhh I manage my time when how many hours should I study for each subject
then i would also allocate time to spend my family and my friends and to spend some
quality time for myself just staying in bed played my phone I even sleep and the second
thing that I did to face the problems i faced while learning additional mathematics is
definitely I tried to tell myself that it's definitely ok to not be as good as everyone else so I
tried to accept the floss that I have the imperfections are not especially knowing that I'm
not someone with critical mind are compared to some of my friends in class I tried to just
tell myself that it's ok not to be as great as other people just try to your best and
throughout the period I actually find myself like enjoying the subject so I did not release
stress about oh my god i am not as good as other people I couldn't think as critical as other
people but just accepting the fact that it's ok to be not as great as other people definitely
help me in facing the challenges L1-04

6. In your opinion, what elements practices contributed to the good grade of

the subject?

I think not i think I'm definitely 100% sure that in order that I was able to score well in stem
subjects especially additional mathematics of course because of the teachers that i have to
depend in st michael penampang so the teachers they're also one of the reasons why i did
not give up though i felt at some point like i think things were just too hard for me to handle
and the burden is to have it for me to carry but the teachers in st michaels they have been
very supporting not only towards me but with all the other students as well they have been
truly dedicated they would spend time with us hours and hours during weekends and
Saturdays and Sundays to come to school and help us and they would also answer our
messages the whatsapp messages especially some of us would stay up at 1 a.m 2 a.m and
the teachers still wake up at that time as well because they really want to help us especially
when you have questions to ask them during that time so I think that's definitely one of the
reason why I was able to excel in those subjects and the second thing is definitely the
environment that i put myself in and because growing up it's definitely an experience for me
to have some toxicity in my life especially the toxicity that comes from the people that arent
friends with so going up and throughout the period of studying for my SPM examination I
realise that it's important for me to get rid of those toxic as especially those toxic people so I
just tried to pull myself away from the toxicity of life and I tried to fill myself with positivities
surround myself with people who supports me not people that tries to drag me down so i
think yah the environment as a whole that definitely helps me excel in those subjects L1-05-
01

Ahh... I think i have just always stick up with my school motto which is pray and work hard
so i think those are the two very important elements on helping me and not only me but all
the other students in st michael as well so i try i always remind myself to work hard and to
always remember to pray because i believe that ahhh no matter what religion someone is in
as long as you believe in faith as long as you have faith and as long as you keep on working
hard then in the process of it God will always be with you and successful will eventually
come. So thats is definitely somethings that i will always remember for the rest of my life.
L1-05-02

Besides all that one of the factors are also definitely my parents my parents they have
always been very supportive of me they're not the kind of parents would push me and push
me to get A plus or whatever great to the point near some parents want to have but my
parents are kind and they just tell me that whatever my result is going to be it's ok because
as long as I have given my very best and so I'm pretty good for my parents understanding
especially my situation sometimes I could really put too much focus on my study there
sometimes not have enough time to spend with them but being the best friends that they
are they understand that and they try not to push me so I'm grateful for that not only that I
am really also and pushed to excel in the subject because of my interest as I wish to
become an engineer, so one of my ambition is to become an engineer so in order for me to
become an engineer it is very important for me to excel in subjects that are related
especially the subject subjects that are stimulated so I try my best to remind myself that
every day that I need to excel in those subjects so that I can get good grades and I can pop
in to scholarships and further my studies in my parents and lastly one of the things that
definitely contributed to my success and experimental subjects as definitely not to brag or
anything but it is definitely from within from myself it's for myself because I think no matter
what other people say I can have so many people around me telling me that I can do it I
can do it I can do it and we don't have to worry this as i am going to excel anyways but if I
don't believe in myself then none of those words good attacked me in anyway so I think the
motivation comes from within and I tried to remind myself that you know just push yourself
because the sky's doesnt have the limit remind myself over the limit and I am just so open
to any possibility is many many opportunities and many surprises in life honestly so i think
those are the things that definitely contributed to my success and excel in all those
subjects... thank you that's all... L1-05-03
Transcript Interviewee 2 (Lelaki/L) (second interview)

Hello Intervieww 2, this is the recorded text we had in the conversation last
week, have a look and let me know if theres any amendment needed to be made.

Ok thanks

Interviewee 2, mind share about how you excel in your additional mathematics
in your SPM exam?

There are several factors that lead to my success. First, I think the support that I have from
both my teachers and parents made the core factor which contributed on my success. My
teachers oftenly have extra session in tutorials and extra after-school classes to help me
learn and solve exercises enquiries. Then, my parents undeniable love on me for supporting
my tuition classes fees so that I could attend tuitions for extra content knowledge and
subject learning skills. The materialistic supports beside tuitions, extra classes that I
received were digital learning gadgets such as laptop with internet accessibility service.
These all does motivate me to excel in my subject. Additionally, good learner attitudes like
high self discipline and self esteem, self confident which oriented by efficient timetable
allocation and management, positive and aggressive learning passion and self love toward
the subject are indeed important too in helping a student to score high grade in addmaths.
Next, pray and work hard. Always be a positive person. Sometime things wont resulted as
we expected therefore, theres a need to remind ourselves not to lose ourselves either by
critics or comments especially the negative one. Self motivation is important, I always tell
myself to ignore negative saying and bad comments as those would deplete our good aura
and drain our positive charges and thus deteriorate the good mindset. This would affect our
study and lead us away from our focuses. Sometime when you have worked so hard you
need to recompense and guerdon yourself no matter what is the result of the effort. Good
grades should be complimented and so as bad marks should be brighten with cheers and
courage. Always stick and mingle with positive and right people such as teacher and good
close friends as they know you well. I felt gratitude enough as I have a good AddMath
Teacher, Mr Ma and also a class of good friends. We all indeed had heathy competition of all
our subjects taken. L1-06

Please explain further on good learner attitude.

As a student, we really need to set up our minds to have diligent personalities. We need to
craft out positive behavior and attitude. For example, always make up mind to finish tasks
on time, which is be punctual. Always bear in mind if we keep on procrastinate things, we
are further behind from our target and goal set. If we wish to achieve our goals, we need to
be discipline and how do we do it, we must be wise in deciding which matter comes first
and then latter. Like study and playing video games. Always study first then rewarded
ourselves with entertainment and games. Do not turn things the other way. Hinder oneself
from laziness. If we set up timetable we must follow it and only adjust it according to
unevaded situation or urgent cases. Proper actions derived from pre plan schedule. Saying
followed by action. Once we set up our minds to do revision, finish it then we go for fun.
Good Behavior , great attitude, then generates productive actions which bear fruitful result.
L1-07
Great saying. Interviewee 2. I remembered you told me that you werent actually
interested in add maths in the first place and why you still managed to excel in
this subject?

Well as I mentioned earlier last time nowadays we need to have STEM based acquaintance
knowledge acquisition when we step into the society. Like if I will be pursuing engineer in
future, one of the requirement is to excel in Additional Mathematics. Therefore I would work
hard on it in order for me to achieve my future dream. If you have the desire you will start
to deal with it seriously, and sooner you might inherit your love towards it indirectly as time
passed. I believe enthusiasm can be cultivated throughout time and patience as long as we
have desire. L1-08

You talked about motivation. Could you please share about it? Like giving
examples on how you recompense and guerdon yourself?

i would allocate time to spend with my family and my friends and to spend some quality
time for myself. For examples, to have adequate and enough sleep, to have enjoyable fun
like staying in bed played my phone, playing video games alone or with siblings. I tried to
tell myself that it's ok to not be as good as everyone else and also I have imperfections.
Everyone isn’t perfect in all things. That’s why I will release stress and tension and make
myself busy with things I love and like. Besides, chatting makes me feel better. In fact it's
ok to be not as great as other people definitely help me in facing the challenges and
motivated me a lot. Of course compliments from teachers and friends are important but I
always keep in mind that we only takes good things and leave the bad ones behind. Never
torture yourself with people’s harsh words and sayings. Stay focused and stay beside
positive people.Takes the positive sayings and ignore the bad sayings. Get rid of the toxic
people and love yourself more. Sometimes eating sweet and ice cream make me feel good
after long hours of studying. Always reward ourselves with something and don’t be over-
pushed about the learning progress. L1-09

What can you say about the conclusion of your excellent achievement in
AddMaths?

In order to excel, we must really have good attitude and discipline ourselves. Make your
time accordingly and use it wisely. Keep ourselves and people we care and love for our
words and carry out the promise as saying must be followed by action. That is truly
important. Motivation is another factor that keep me on track. Last but not least, pray and
work hard. L1-10

Thank you, Interviewee 2 for spending time with me and thanks for the help.

Oh you are most welcome.