I just started my form6 life days ago and i picked Pengajian Am(PA), mathematics T, biology and chemistry as my core subjects. For your information, i want to go for actuarial science or financial engineering after i completed my pre-u. Obviously, these subjects i took,except mathematics T is not really related to what i want to study later on. Hence, i made up my mind i take an additional subject, economics or further mathematics. I admit that i am not that kind of superior student so i give up on the exceedingly hard further mathematics and wanted to take economics as my fifth subject instead.

The questions that strike my mind is that is it advisable for me to take economics as an additional subject? Is form6 economics applicable in actuarial science or financial engineering which i wanted to study later on? Am I allowed to take this combination - PA+mathematics T+biology+chemistry+economics in stpm? Since that combination looks odd. Can i sit for school exam for my fifth subject? Or i can only take it in the actual exam? Finally, is stpm economics A or A- rate high?

Any friendly advices are welcome. Thanks in advance!

P/S: I have no foundation on economics at all, i did not study economics in form4 or form5.

totally crazy.. 4 is enough..

First of all, disagree with Mark_Zukerberg.



Secondly, let's continue to the main topic.

It's always a safer step to take fifth subject just in case one of your four subjects got poor grade and the excelled fifth subject can replace its mark to raise your CGPA marks.

I can't perfectly assure the relationship and essential between your future career and economics but taking economics in STPM is absolutely a great deal. People would very precious you if you actually scored well in it.

However, you must make sure your school do offer economics. My school is purely Science stream hence I can't take any Art-stream fifth subject except Further Mathematics and Biology (I am taking Physics).

Though, you can actually study yourself and attend tuition or tutor if needed. You still can take economics while registering for STPM. My school mate used to do so for the technical subjects which are not taught in my school.

If your school doesn't provide the subject, you can't take the school exam for the subject but you still can register for STPM as I said above. More over, the combination doesn't looks odd actually depends from which aspect you are thinking.

STPM economics scoring rate, try find online for statistics. If you don't have any foundation, better make up your mind and brush it up within these short one and a half year for 5 subjects.


Sincerely, from a newly-joined Lower 6 student after knowing such information during school's explanation.

why do you want take 5 subjects?

just wondering, why Biology in the first place? I believe physics is much more relevant if you want to go for actuarial science when compared to biology and chemistry.

If you already knew you wanted to study Financial Engineering or Actuarial Science, then Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics should have been your subjects, not Chemistry and Biology instead of some. FYI no Actuarial Science course I know of requires Further Mathematics or Economics (with the exception of MORSE/MMORSE at Warwick, which from next year would require Further Maths) and you can get accepted without either of these subjects, but they are hundreds of times more relevant than Chemistry and Biology. I don't know about Financial Engineering requirements as there are very few of these offered at the undergraduate level.

You will be studying Economics at undergraduate level as it is a significant (but not the main) part of Actuarial Science. Economics is definitely pertinent to Financial Engineering (think markets, finance, equity, debt, derivatives, foreign exchange, interest rates). The Maths and Statistics are used to apply theories into practice.

Hey Michael_Light,

You can take up Econs as your 5th subject. I'm not really sure about the relevance of Econs on the course you want to take in the future. But you can check on the website here --->http://imascu.upu.mohe.gov.my/?l1=Semak%20Syarat. Just simply spam on your details and list down the combination of you subjects and you can check whether the local uni will accept you for actuarial science or financial engineering.
I'd suggest you to experiment with the combination at the website given to find the answer that you're seeking.

And as far as I know those students who took extra subjects don't depend on school classes/school exams. They will have to find their own tuitions and study themselves.

I sat for STPM papers last year and my school only has 2 students who scored A and 5 students who scored A- in Econs paper.. Total number of students who took Econs are 75 students. Tho in my opinion, the econs papers were very easy but maybe the marking standard was very high or something.

I hope this helps.

This post has been edited by Ifrits: May 14 2011, 03:59 PM

recently i read that in chinese newspaper, STPM scholar last yr get the sholarships offer from 3 uni from HK and 2 from Sg. The value is HKD 120k above.
U c STPM has its value although gov and ppl not appreciate it.
Good luck!!!

General Knowledge and Chemistry are compulsory for Science stream. These 2 made TS 3 choices left for Maths T, [Biology/Physics - according to MOST school] and ??? (Economics?)



CGPA 4?
At least 120k HKD approx. 15444 USD approx. RM46,370.61.

of course CGPA 4 and the figure is per yr

Just choose 4 subjects that you can score 4 flat. That's all, no need to take 5 subjects lah.

If Chemistry is Compulsory why do you take Biology instead of Economics and/or Further Maths, KNOWING Financial Engineering or Actuarial Science is your goal?

For stpm science stream, we have 3 mandatory subjects which are PA, mathematics T and chemistry, the forth subject is either biology or physics. Therefore, I can only take economics or further mathematics as an additional subject and not as my core subjects. The minimum entry requirement for actuarial science and other courses i want in most IPTA requires mathematics T/S plus one science subject and thus i have to pick science stream instead of art stream which comprises economics in it. Hence, it is a situation of choosing between biology and physics and take economics/further mathematics as an additional subject. For some reason, i picked biology instead of physics although you might say that physics is more relevant to what i want to study than biology.

Actually, Physics at this level (pre-university) is not really relevant to Financial Eng/Act Sci, but neither is Biology. I would still pick Physics.

It is Physics at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels which is appreciated in those sectors (when looking for quants/analysts, firms seek knowledgeable Engineering/Physics/Mathematics graduates who are interested in Finance).

Looks like you do not have a problem with entry requirements - so you should be maximising your gains at pre-university level in a way which best matches your aspirations at the tertiary level.

Physics, being far more mathematical than Biology at this level, is infinitely more relevant than Biology (which has so little Statistics at this level that it's negligible at best). Biology is only useful if you wanted to do Science/Medicine/Dentistry, which you have already decided against. The only rationale of choosing it would be that you could do better in it (since Physics is not needed - but you better be sure you are quite as good in Maths as you are in Biology, if this was the reason).

Economics is not easy, but there are reasons why schools ignore it (when they can) at the pre-university level. Since you can, pick Further Maths over Economics. I don't think that Maths + Chemistry + Biology is a lot on its own anyway (I don't consider General Studies one standalone subject on its own, no matter that it's compulsory and that it's "counted"). You've got 2 years, haven't you, so adding something like Economics (at least) on to your 3 sciences does not seem to be an unfair onus.

Chemistry is not mandatory anyway. However, you will be narrowing your career path much without Chemistry.

For STPM, most will be taking PA, Maths T, Physics and Chemistry.
For A-level, most will be taking Thinking Skills, Maths, Physics, Economics and Further Maths (if the college provide).

Nevertheless, the most important thing is you scored a minimum 4.0 should you want to get into actuarial science course in local public uni. Even a 3.92 will put you in danger zone.

This post has been edited by macamtakada: May 15 2011, 01:31 PM

it's up to you.. is so hard to score in stpm ? lol

Seems silly to me. If you Already Know for sure you want to do Actuarial Science/Financial Mathematics/Financial Engineering/Quantitative Finance/Econometrics/Operational Research/Risk Management or similar subjects and not Medicine/Dentistry/Biology/Biotechnology/Chemistry/Chemical Engineering/Pharmacy or other Life/Health Sciences, then Economics and Further Mathematics (and Physics where possible) should be your priorities, not Chemistry and/or Biology. The only reasons to take those are to: 1) leave other options to yourself and 2) indulge your interests in these sciences (in which case, we would ask, how were you sure you wanted to take Act Sci/Financial Eng in the firt place?).