I am studying in a national-type school.
All SPM candidates in my school were to take Chinese subject because
that's the policy set by our school. But I'm not interested in Chinese therefore
I'm not good at it. And I know I won't get an A+ in Chinese.

So, my friend asked me to take English Literature in SPM which means
I will be taking 11 subjects (10+1). My first questions is :-

1) Am I allowed to take English Literature in SPM assuming I'm the only one who will be
taking this subject because my school doesn't offer this subject so I will have to
look for tutors outside myself. Is it possible they set up a classroom or whatever when
SPM comes and I'm the only one being invigilated ?

2) English Literature and Chinese, which comes first when the SPM cert shows?
I'm worried if I took English Literature, my 10+1 will show +1 English Literature but not
Chinese. I'm trying to substitute away Chinese.

P.S. please don't ask me to switch school because I'm not going to do it. It's very troublesome.
My parents surely won't allow me to do it. Thanks alot.

For your 1st question, since you are the only one, then you are going to prepare for the exam alone, the school will not provide any assistance for the subject and depends on the school approval for you to take the subject.........Of course, you can consult teachers who are good in English literature.....

<I'm worried if I took English Literature, my 10+1 will show +1 English Literature but not
Chinese. I'm trying to substitute away Chinese.> If you take the subjects then it will show up in the cert....unless you dont take.....Chinese always be last subject listed in the cert.....

I understand I will have to prepare for the exam myself.

Err you didn't precisely answered my questions...
Let me get this straight again. The Education Minister has announced
every students can only take 10 official subjects in SPM, whereas 2 other extra elective subjects can also
be taken but not taken account as an official subject when your certificate shows.
Your cert will show something like this if u take 11 subjects : 10+1 ; when take 12 subjects it shows 10+2.

Therefore I'm taking 11 subjects which are
BM
BI
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Maths
Add maths
Pendidikan Moral
Sejarah
Bahasa Cina
English Literature

My question is, what will the +1 shows in my forthcoming SPM certificate ?
Will it be Bahasa Cina or English Literature?

This post has been edited by Stuffi: Nov 17 2011, 02:02 PM

If your english good you should take EST.
Requires minimum to no effort needed to get A+.
Basically is free A

Forgive me if I have not understand your situation properly, but does it really matter in the certificate if it shows 10+1 where the "+1" is your English Literature?

From my perspective, as long as you did well in English Literature regardless of that additional "+1", it does not matter. Besides, taking up additional subject might be an advantage in your case. I suggest you need not to worry too much about this. What you should be worrying now is to find someone appropriate to tutor you correct? And getting yourself listed as an official English Literature candidate in your school.

In answering your first question, there should be no difficulties for you to take English Literature in your school if your English is good and a teacher that is willing to say a few words which can then help you in being listed as a candidate.

This does not necessarily mean that they will have to set-up an empty classroom just for you to sit for the test. It depends on the SPM timetable as well. If there are other subjects taking place at the same time as English Literature, then you will most likely be in the same classroom with other candidates.

A student is allowed to take any subjects they want as long as they are capable of doing it. And of course, the huge advantage will be a teacher recommending you to do it. You'll most likely go through a small interview if needed with your teachers to see if your prepared for it. Nothing hard, if you really want to do it and think you can do well in it, then by all means, go for it.

This post has been edited by huyified: Nov 17 2011, 02:23 PM

Hey there, we meet again .
I suggest that you drop Chinese . Nobody can stop you from doing that .
When filling up the form for SPM subjects , you can always leave out Chinese .
10+1 , Chinese will be your last subject , so no worries there . L.I.E will be a part of your main subs .

I considered taking L.I.E too , but the subject isn't easy , that's for sure . And I'll be the only person taking L.I.E in my school so I decided to drop that idea .

I want to try Accounts first , or Economics . See how it goes . If I'm happy with Acc , then I'll stick to it . I'll be taking 10 subs without Chinese .

By the way , how's your holiday coming along ? And do you know when will we get our PMR results ?

Dis year there's only one person in ny school who takes eng lit, so it's alright for u to take it alone..
N regarding the +1 prob, the school will ask u to make the choice of putting wat sub as ur extra sub, so u can juz take Chinese out n put eng lit in.

Both of them are additional subjects which are not compulsory.........According to the system, Chinese students who take Chinese throughout UPSR and PMR must take again during SPM......In my opinion, +1 should be English Literature....

I dont know why are you so confused with this +1 thing, can show all As there is more useful......

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Added on November 17, 2011, 3:56 pmMake sure there is no crash between the subjects before taking it.........My friend last time took Perdagangan alone in science stream....So, during exam he was sitting in the exam hall for science students alone........They will put TS in the exam hall that TS suppose to be.....

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Added on November 17, 2011, 3:57 pmWhy do you suggest TS to drop Chinese???? No confidence in mother tongue???

This post has been edited by Makira: Nov 17 2011, 03:57 PM

It's like this. My teacher says when apply any scholarships, they only look at your 10 Official subjects,
they don't care the +1 elective subjects. So I'm trying not to 'pollute' my certificate
just because of Chinese. That's why I'm trying to get rid of Chinese.

Oh, thanks for answering my first question. You really illustrate it very precisely.

Hey, we meet again.

I can't drop Chinese, because that's my school policy. Every students must take Chinese. It's mandatory.
Are you really sure Chinese will be in the +1 list but not in the 10 official subjects list?
I don't want my efforts wasted just like that if Chinese is shortlisted in the 10 official subjects .
I can't cope with Acc. I get confused by it often haha. Anyway at the same time I have interest in
English Literature rather than other subjects.

Envy of you, I wanna get rid of Chinese.
My holiday's fine, scheduled with alot of trips
I don't know the precise date PMR results will come but I guess it will be around Christmas Eve.

I have friends taking 11 subjects in school this year but the school didn't ask what subject he wants
to put it in the official lists and the extra subjects list.

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Added on November 17, 2011, 4:13 pmThat's a bad news to hear.

According to my teacher, when you apply for scholarships. They only inspect your official subjects lists,
whereas the +1, +2 won't be taken account into... I'm trying to compete for a scholarship...

Yes I don't have confidence in my mother tongue.

This post has been edited by Stuffi: Nov 17 2011, 04:13 PM

Why do I suggest him to drop it ?

Well firstly , he's having trouble with Chinese , as most of my friends do , seniors and juniors , and even top students . I've seen too many cases of students getting 10 A+ and 1 B for Chinese .

And if you know how Chinese in SPM is like , then you'll understand . It's the toughest subject in SPM and STPM , even tougher than Further Mathematics T .

Students are required to understand classical Chinese texts from ancient China , works by Confucius , Lao Tze , Sun Tzu etc ... It's not an easy task to be able to understand them all .

When it comes to SPM , students are supposed to narrow down their choices of subjects based on their capability ( whether they can cope with a particular subject or not ) , future career options and most importantly , their interest .

If TS dislikes a particular subject , and it has no benefit to him or whatsoever in the future , and cannot cope or excel in the subject , then why bother taking the subject if he can drop it ?

Having confidence in your mother tongue is something , but having confidence in your mother tongue in a major examination ( Chinese in SPM ) is another thing .

He has a solid foundation in Chinese, reading and writing , what comes next in SPM ( interpreting classical antiquities and texts from ancient China ) will not be much of a benefit in the future .

This post has been edited by maximR: Nov 17 2011, 04:36 PM

Definitely nothing to worry about when applying for scholarships. An elective +1 subject doesn't mean it is not worthy to be looked at. It is still counted as a tertiary subject. Your teacher wants you to do best in both subjects I believe.

Plus, it depends on what type of scholarship your going for, in terms of science,business,etc. Although Chinese might be difficult for you as you've suggested, but they'll definitely look at other grades for example, Science and Math if your pursuing a course in uni/college which is related to the science field.

Don't lose hope on Chinese. Being able to do Eng.Lit for SPM doesn't suggest you could not care much about Chinese right?

I know it's hard to do Chinese as I've done it before, still, do your best, definitely nothing to regret for if you've done the best rather than just giving up on one because you have another. Good luck in your decision

This post has been edited by huyified: Nov 17 2011, 04:46 PM

You remind me of when I was in Form 5.

My school didn't allow me to drop Chinese either and I had no interest in Chinese, just that I wasn't so bothered about how my cert will look like. I got a 7D for SPM in Chinese. And yes I took English Literature as well, but due to me ignoring it until the last minute, I got horrible results for that subject as well.

I don't know about the education system now with the 10+1 and all that, but in the past (SPM year 2007), my official cert had English Lit listed as the 6th subject and Chinese as the second last subject. EST was the last subject. Took 12 subjects in total. It didn't really say which is the official subjects or what, just a list of subjects.

The school will definitely let you sit for the paper even though you are the only one taking. When I took, only me and my friend were taking the paper. So it was only two of us in the class sitting for the paper out of 18 classes of Form 5 in the whole school.

Chinese is not an easy SPM paper, especially if we don't have the interest in it. I was sent to that school because my parents know if I ever stop learning Chinese, I'll stop speaking it too. My Chinese now is quite bad already since I seldom speak after entering uni.

Like someone else has mention, get a good and dedicated teacher to go thru with you the syllabus of English Lit. Don't be like me leaving it till the last minute and reading synopses of the literatures and crapping my brain out during exam.

<And if you know how Chinese in SPM is like , then you'll understand . It's the toughest subject in SPM and STPM , even tougher than Further Mathematics T . > You take STPM FM before?????

You know SPM Chinese has a very high marks to score A, right??? It is above 80 compared to BM and BI.......Why this can happen???? Think and tell me.........However, in university, Malays choose to learn Chinese as extra foreign language....

<If TS dislikes a particular subject , and it has no benefit to him or whatsoever in the future , and cannot cope or excel in the subject , then why bother taking the subject if he can drop it ?> You go any course or any jobs, you will find there are so many tough things and impossible things to do.........Then that time you choose to forget about it, is this a right attitude??? Flying is impossible for human, but yet we have aeroplanes today......If Wright brothers choose not to fly, then we are swimming over the ocean, just because of <then why bother taking the subject if he can drop it ?> attitude.....

This post has been edited by Makira: Nov 17 2011, 05:10 PM

Thank you both maximR and Makira but I wish the discussion retains to what this thread is opened for.

What I can say is dont worried too much about the cert either the add subject is English Literature or Chinese.....Since you cant drop it, then prepare for it........both English Literature and Chinese........Reading is a must for language subjects.....

This post has been edited by Makira: Nov 17 2011, 05:13 PM

Zzz. I'm being too paranoid then...
I was afraid they won't consider my other minor subjects I've taken. lol.

Yes I won't put my hopes too much on English Literature. I'm just trying to pick all sorts of chances
to get good results. I'm certain A+ is almost divine to get with Chinese.

Thanks.

Haha I was looking for someone like I and here you are lol.
I see so I don't have to worry about the school won't allow me to take Literature in English.

I went to my current school because it was said the top school in my district but the only condition
is all students must take Chinese. I was not known for this when I was primary 6. Haha yea.

I've found someone who could teach Literature in English, for is she a good tutor, I can't be sure of it.
Thanks for your advice I will battle for my future

Yea, I won't put all my hopes on Literature in English. THanks

if dis is the case, u need 2 consult ur school, coz in my school we have the right to choose which is the extra subject and it'll be stated clearly in the exam slip.

DO NOT DROP CHINESE!
So wat if u cant get an A? at least u've tried hard..PLS, if everyone acts like dis, one day the government will juz say okay since only such a small amount of ppl take chinese, we'll juz abolish it! tiada permintaan..

Btw, the only student who takes eng lit at 1st planned to put chinese as her extra sub..
n u noe wat she got for her trials for Chinese? the 2nd highest mark in the whole form!!
u never noe wat u can achieve untill u've work for it!
it's not as hard as u think..

just take as many as you can brp

Human are good at complaining but very lazy to improve.......For TS case, try to read a poem and answer the questions everyday....Write a paragraph with 6 lines everyday, you will get an essay after 5 days.........200 days in a year, you can produce 40 essays and finish 200 questions on Chinese literature......Dont play so much games and facebook, read some news at sinchew.com can help you too.....

If Chinese stops to take BC, then this subjects will disappear one day...They want to make it where Malaysian students take only BM and BI......The most funny thing is government sends Malay students to Beijing to learn Chinese, but Malaysian Chinese doesnt take Chinese.....maybe one day Malay teacher is teaching the Chinese, they no longer need Chinese to teach Chinese language....

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Added on November 17, 2011, 6:33 pmDo you know what is your direction after SPM???? if you have some ideas about your future, then things may get easier.....

Example, you MUST secure a scholarship after SPM, then you cant afford any mistake in SPM.......If you want Form 6 or privately funded tertiary education, then forget about those SPM things, a B in Chinese doesnt make sense......

This post has been edited by Makira: Nov 17 2011, 06:33 PM

YOU SIR, should not say things so care-freely. EST was NEVER an easy subject. What you're telling everyone here now is what my teacher told my class last year when my class was forced to take EST and stay back extra 3 periods in school every week. It really depends on the person's ability to write scientifically, proficiency in English is not the golden ticket to scoring A+, even my fren noob in english also managed to get slightly below it. I admit I suck in EST, but so do the others, maybe not you. But don't you ever tell people it takes no effort to get A+, you're gonna make them take the subject for granted.