I was dismayed by the article, 'Relief for students: 10-year series out in July' (May24).

As a secondary school English teacher, I would prefer that past examinations not be made available for public consumption as I feel this creates a culture of 'teaching to the test' and fosters a narrow vision, particularly in language assessment.

There is no denying that past examination papers do serve a useful purpose. In Britain, past exam papers are normally confined to schools and educational establishments, where they are used as valid instruments of assessment for 'mock' examinations (preliminary examinations in Singapore).

As every British school relies on past papers for internal examinations, as far as I know, there has never been an issue of copyright.

However, it seems that teachers in Singapore are under further pressure to come up with original source materials for their preliminary exams, and in doing so, may set exam papers which are in some ways problematic.

How much easier and more reliable it would be to have past papers available for internal exams, instead of having teachers set examinations and mark schemes with the same specifications and accuracy as the Cambridge exams.

As for students, too much focus on past exam questions (particularly in English) may lead to a dependency on drilling and rote learning at the expense of wider reading.

I have no doubt the 10-year series books will be flying off the shelves at bookstores come next month, much to the delight of local publishers.

Students may feel more secure and confident knowing that they have a decade of past exam papers to study, and teachers may feel reassured that self-study resources are at hand for their students. But I would prefer that such resources be kept for teachers, to be used periodically as internal assessment materials, and not be considered essential reading for public examinations.

Christine Richman (Ms)

This article was first published in The Straits Times.