Three best friends complete brilliant double, scoring straight As in SPM and PT3

PETALING JAYA: "Birds of a feather flock together".
That was what three best friends – Sophie Tay Jia Hui, K. Jaishiree and Olivia Bong Kah Wai – had to say after finding out they scored straight A's for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), repeating the same feat they did for their Form Three Assessment (PT3) two years ago.
They were among 33 students from SMK (P) Sri Aman to score straight A's in last year's examinations.
"Some might say it's a coincidence, but I guess it's fated.
"Being in an environment where everybody is so competitive, it helped that we pushed and motivated each other a lot throughout," Sophie told theSun after the school's results announcement, here, today.
The three, unsurprisingly, are now pursuing their Australian Matriculation Programme in Sunway College together.
Sophie said her parents were also very supportive and had never pushed her in her education, adding that they consistently reminded her that achieving straight A's was not everything.
For Jaishiree, besides her friends, it was the pressure of growing up with an elder brother who has always been a high achiever himself that motivated her to push herself, and that she had not expected such results having not completed some of her papers.
Olivia said she had less than five hours of sleep each day, especially in the weeks leading up to the exams, as the competition amongst the students in the school was very tight, albeit a friendly one.
SMK (P) Sri Aman principal Misliah Kulop, 58, when announcing the results, also revealed that two students – Aina Inarah Anwar Syahrin and Nor Ashika binti Nasirudeen – scored straight A+, making them the top students in the school.
Aina said she was overwhelmed with emotions when her name was announced, having only scored 4A+ for her SPM trials, saying it had come as an absolute surprise.
Meanwhile, Misliah disclosed that the school recorded a National Grade Point Average (NGPA) of 2.18, compared to 2.29 the previous year, and much lower than the national average of 4.90.
A smaller NGPA indicates that candidates did better in the examinations.