Please understand that there are 60 Chinese Independent School (CIS) in Malaysia.
The only common thing among all 60 is "All students sit for the United Examination Certificate (UEC) exam".
CIS has 6 school year (not 5), Junior Middle 1-3. Student sit for UEC at Junior Middle 3. Senior Middle 1-3. Student sit for UEC exam at Senior Middle 3.

UEC is an independent unified exam for all CIS students. The syallbus is set independent of PPSMI. UEC in Junior Middle 3 (especially for Math, Science) is a lot tougher than PMR. UEC in Senior Middle 3 (especially for Math, Science) is a lot tougher than SPM (more akin to STPM. That's why some overseas countries / uni accept UEC as university entrance requirement).

Some CIS only prepare student for UEC. Some CIS prepare all student for both PMR/SPM and UEC. Some CIS prepare some (more gifted) student for both PMR/SPM and UEC, and some (less gifted) only for UEC (I will elaborate on this later, and you will see why). Some CIS let student / parents make the choice whether they want to sit for PMR/SPM. Different schools has different policies, you have to check the school out.

UEC - at Junior Middle 3, the exam for all subjects (other than Language subjects) are in Chinese. (Except for students in Sabah, where math and sciences are in Chinese or English).
UEC - at Senior Middle 3, the exam for all subjects (other than Language subjects; History, Geography only in Chinese) are in Chinese or English. Student have to pick the language when register for Exam.
Note once student pick a language to use for a subject, the whole paper must be answered in the same language, mixing the answer in both language will leads to 0 mark.

Once you understand the above, you should understand the language medium used in CIS.

Junior Middle 1-2 - Most (if not all) CIS conduct all subjects (except languages) in Chinese.
Junior Middle 3. If student / school go for PMR, all subjects (except languages) will be in whatever language that PPSMI dictate. This is to prepare students for PMR. Please note students still sit for UEC in Chinese.
If students sit for PMR, they would have learn all the UEC materials in Junior Middle 1-2 (I am not joking, 3 year material in 2 year). Then Junior Middle 3, they just re-learn / revise all materials in another language medium.

Senior Middle 1 - Depends on school policy. Some CIS go all Chinese (except languages). Some CIS go all English (except languages, and subjects which UEC exam in Chinese). Some CIS let student choose. Some CIS segregate the more gifted and let them go English, and less gifted stay in Chinese.
Senior Middle 2 - If school / student don't go for SPM, as per Senior Middle 1. If student / school go for SPM, then every subjects are taught as per PPSMI dictate. Some CIS only let the more gifted sit for SPM in Senior Middle 2, the less gifted sit for SPM in Senior Middle 3.
Senior Middle 3 - See Senior Middle 1.

There you have it. It depends on each CIS policy.

For students in CIS which go for PMR/SPM and UEC (which is a must), the students will end up either as fluent in all 3 languages (English, Malay, Chinese) , or half past six in all 3

UEC is accepted as entrance to universities in Singapore, Taiwan, HK. UK, Australia, NZ, Canada, US, depend on uni.

This post has been edited by nexus2238: Jan 9 2013, 03:28 PM

You are welcome. A lot of parents are looking to private schools / international schools / CIS nowadays (myself included )
For 2013, all CIS in penisular Malaysia are overwhelmed with application for Junior Middle 1. For some of the popular one, the acceptance ratio is close to 1 in 3

As I mentioned, it really depend on respective CIS policies.
For CIS that support students for SPM, the school and teachers actually will spend a whole school year helping students preparing for SPM, so it's kind of a waste for students not to try to get a SPM cert proper.
For CIS that don't support students for SPM, students / parents are on their own (you even have to register for SPM yourself, which you will soon realise is not trouble free when a student is not attached to a school).

So for parents, please keep this in mind when you consider whether CIS is suitable for your child / family. Make sure you enquire the CIS properly on its policy. It will have enormous impact on what your child will study for 6 years, and your child options for further eduction once he / she graduate from CIS.

Please read and understand my post above

Depend on CIS (reputation, facilities, location, sponsorship (how much the CIS could get from sponsor / donation, some CIS even build up its own endowment fund) ... )
You are looking at RM100 - 200+ for Junior Middle 1 (this is just school fee per month, some CIS charge other misc as well). The total outlay in the 1st month, you could be looking at paying RM800 - 2000+ to the CIS.
Fee increase for each subsequent school year.

One more thing I forgot to highlight.
Again, respective CIS has its policies. But some CIS don't allow student to move up a school year (eg. Junior Middel 1 to Junior Middle 2) unless the student attain overall passing marks in school internal assessment. In some really bad case, you see student graduate from CIS at 21 years old. This could have psychological impact on the student (to say the least).

If student don't finish Senior Middle 3, he / she don't get graduation certificate from the CIS, only a school leaving declaration.
If student / parent aims were to attain SPM qualification at Senior Middle 2 (again, this is only applicable for some CIS) and then leave to pursue other university entrance qualification without sitting for UEC, I wonder why the student go into CIS in the first place (student can devote more time to prepare for SPM in normal Sekolah Menengah).