Hey everyone , I need a little help here because it's already April and I'm still ''lost''.

So , I always thought I'd be going for Form 6 after I finished SPM since it's free, open doors to local uni and recognized worldwide , but recently I've heard that STPM is extremely hard even for straight A students (hardest pre-u course?No life? and a waste of time? ) and even if you get good results, there's no guarantee you'll get the uni / course you want + hard to get scholarship / study abroad if results not good

FYI , my school offers 4 different combinations/classes for form 6 which are

1. Accounting, Economics, Chinese, Pengajian Am (Art)
2. Maths (T), Biology, Chemistry, Pengajian Am (Science)
3. Maths (T), Physics, Chemistry, Pengajian Am (Science)
4. Maths (T), Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Pengajian Am ( Science)

My SPM results is not really good, I think my basic for science and maths is kinda bad, in fact, I missed like 50% Form 4 schooldays and all the exams due to some family problems.. here's my results :



Okay so here's my question,
1) Should I go for form 6? Do yall think I'm able to cope with it? And if not , what are the choices I have?
2) If I go for it , which combination should I choose ? Should I jump to Art class? (no idea bout future career)
3) Do you think I will need tuition if I go for it? (I never really had any tuition in my life before .. except a few months before SPM for Physics , explained my A lol )

I got 3 A(much worse than you) in Spm, and none of it except for ICT is A. I'm not one to comment regarding STPM since I'm a matriculation and to add to that I didn't get 1 yr but 2 yrs matriculation programme instead. Though i still managed to get 3.5CGPA with 1 more sem remaining.

The point is although one is average intelligent if he work hard enough he still can get good result. In your case, judging from your excellent SPM result alone you are most likely to do well in STPM as well, depending on your effort.

First of all, what is your career path that you wish to pursue in the near future or you are still unsure at the moment? In my opinion, STPM really moulded me and it's all about working smart not hard, though.

Arts student here, i took all the subject u stated above except B.C cause I had Maths M.
I did not go to any tuition for STPM and got 2.5 ( not good but better than the one who goes for tuition). I had no accounting background and manage to pull a B in total. It depends on you and also u need to see which teacher is teaching u

1. STPM are not meant for those who are not prepared to face difficulties and failures. One must be determined and hardworking in order to ace STPM. Your SPM results gives a very small impact on what you will achieve in STPM. In the end, it all depends on your effort toward it, regardless of what subjects that you have taken.
2. If you have totally no idea on your future career, I will recommend you to go for science stream. Harder to score, but future pathways are more wide open.
3. If your teachers are good enough, then tuition is not necessary. Still in the end you still have to strive hard in order to score.

ps: If you have $$, A-levels are more suitable for you. It's more fair in grading and also recognized internationally too. And you have more freedom in choosing your subjects (No General Paper=Pengajian Am)

But doing A level means you have a lower chance in enrolling into public universities if you cant get a scholarship to fund your studies abroad. So, isnt doing STPM a better choice if you dont want to limit yourself to getting into Universities abroad and locally?

There will be NO chance to enter IPTAs (Public Universities) if you are a Malaysian with A-levels applying via UPU.
Certain Universities such as USM however do accept Malaysians with A-levels/equivalent qualification....

https://pohon.usm.my/default.asp?s=1

1) If you are not sure about what you wan 2b in future, go for Form 6, as it's d most economical & safest choice. It's d cheapest pre-u course around & provides many options towards pursuing a degree, either locally or abroad, private or public.

2) If u intend to study STPM Science, you'll be able to select a course from a wide range of choices. STPM Science students can choose either Science or Arts courses in universities. For example, STPM Sc. students can apply for Sc. courses like B. Eng or Arts courses like Bachelor of Management. STPM Sc. students are oso given preference during d university admission selection process. Many university courses are Sc. related courses, so Sc. students stand a better chance of entering public universities. However, STPM Science subjects are vry challenging & if you dont have a strong foundation in Maths & Sc, you'll have to work extremely hard to get decent results in yr STPM.

On the other hand, if you hate doing maths and calculating using those scientific formulas, Arts stream is for you. STPM Arts stream is mostly about reading your textbooks and memorising its contents. 80% of exam questions come from textbooks. STPM exam questions for Sc. stream like Chemistry, Physics, Maths T cant be answered just by reading textbooks. You'll nid 2 understand d concepts and calculations inside textbooks before you can answer d exam questions correctly.

3) Attend tuition classes if your teacher teaches you answering techniques or if yr teacher marks STPM papers. You'll be able to tackle d exam questions effectively & avoid making common mistakes STPM candidates make.


Go for Science if you:
-Just want to enter university, like many of my friends who dont know what they want. (lots of choices if u r frm STPM Science when u apply to public universities via UPU)
-Love Math & Sc., as it involves lots of calculations & formulas.
-Want to challenge yourself, because STPM Science can be very taxing.


Go for Arts if you:
-Dont want to be involved in Science related fields, like medicine, engineering, etc.
-Think you can scored a better CGPA by studying Arts.
-Want more free time to relax or have less stress.

Your SPM results are quite decent.
Well, I recommending you join other programs that STPM.
In Selangor, my prev. school wise, Form 6 teachers aren't dedicated in their teaching, most student went for tuition and even skip classes.
Joining Diploma, SAM, AUSMAT or A-Level will do you better.

Because Pengajian Am is a bitch.
You go to Private Colleges will lead you into a better path even though some have bad lecturers along the way you might face.

Well , I've always wanted to be lawyer or something but somehow things changed and I'm not really sure anymore.

How was Math M? Did you get into any IPTAs?

I don't like Math , I always try to avoid it lol But I'm not sure if I'm going to like Accounting and Econs stuff since I have no background.

Agreed.

IMO, private colleges will prepare you to face the society sooner.

There are cases of success in my school for Accounting students in form six even though they had no accounting background at all. If you realised that you want to score in Accounting subjects, then you have to put it much more effort as compared to those who have background because you are starting from zero.

But Accounting is not easy to score, just like Maths T/M.

Not here to guide you on whether or not STPM is for you as many people here have already contributed good advice. However, as someone who has taught for STPM, I can assure you that it's all about hard work. I've seen SPM C/D students turn their grades around and score an A in their STPM examinations. If you do decide to go down the STPM route, I urge you to forget your previous results and just focus. Don't let your previous disappointment haunt you.

And don't let your past glory stumbles you. In STPM, everyone is the same, regardless of your past results.

Well stpm can be hard but on the good side you won't be expose to society cruelty too soon, if you choose f6, good luck and enjoy your last 1.5 years of schooling life. Enjoy it to the last bit because you ain't going to live that simple life anymore after f6. I miss my simple f6 life tho, when everything was simple and fun.

another this kind of thread... zzz...

Wow. Your school offers 5 subjects option... but don't even thinking about challenging yourself... STPM very much is your ONLY lifeline if you go down this road...
*kind of surprised no ICT option is offered*

Tuition? What's your area? This really depends on your teachers' dedications, your efforts, time, and a whole lot of factors which are specific to different subjects...

I have written an article about the pros and cons of Form 6 in my facebook before, so I shall copy and paste it here(and let you decide whether Form 6 is for you).

Hi everyone! With the abundant of choices of pre-u programmes that you can choose from, Form 6 is one of the great options out there.
I would like to share my experiences about Form 6/STPM.

Hmm.. where should I start?

Pros:
1) Well accepted in most countries. I've heard that Singaporean unis favour STPM more than A levels, but I dunno whether is this still the case for now.

2) One of the most affordable and high quality pre-u you get to study in M'sia. A normal pre-u like A levels would cost you around RM30k. That's almost the tuition fees for 1 semester worth of Pharmacy course in a local private university!
(Even if you do go for tuitions, it would still be cheaper than attending A levels if I'm not mistaken.)

3) Trains you at time management, especially with the introduction of the new Modular/Semester based system. There would be tons of coursework/assignments for you to complete.

4) Gives you a pretty good foundation especially for those critical courses.
In STPM Chemistry, you learn about Equilibria in the first semester, whereas Equilibria isn't included in A levels Chemistry syllabus.
(In fact, I have even read from somewhere that Equilibria is taught in the first year of Pharmacy course)

5) If you do well in it, you would surely feel a sense of achievement, hehe. (Since most people that I know around me say that STPM is tough)

Cons:
1) You need to be academically above average to "survive" in STPM(which means getting at least 4Bs/CGPA 3.00 and above, not just merely passing or scraping through).

2) Teachers most likely would not have time to finish the syllabus. Even if they do, it would be in a haste. You might not even understand what are your teachers teaching at all when they teach too fast. Well, that was the case for me.

3) Coursework is seriously a waste of time when there are a lot of ridiculous rules for you to follow when doing them.

4) Everyone says that Form 6 is harder than A levels. I guess it's true since everyone else says so..?

5) You might not be able to get the course you want if you're aiming for government uni especially for those "hot" courses, since majority of the seats in those courses are given to Matriculation/Asasi(public uni's foundation course) students.

6) Wearing school uniform may not be for everyone.

7) Know your own capabilities before choosing to study Form 6/STPM.

To be honest, Form 6 was my first choice ever since I was in Form 4 after doing some research on the net, despite the sudden change in system(from terminal to modular/semester system)

I'm pretty sure most people here would have heard of others saying that "Form 6 is a waste of time".
My opinion is, those people don't even know anything about Form 6. So how can they make such a sneering remark without even experiencing it beforehand(like me)?

If you are in the same situation as me, just ignore those naysayers.

Afterall, graduating later isn't a bad thing at all to me, since it's not like you'll get a better salary if you graduate earlier anyway(that's what my dad told me and I agree with him ).

30k for A-levels is slightly above average. You can find colleges which charge lower tuition fees and offer waivers based on your SPM results.
Equilibria is actually in AS-level Chemistry.
To TS, consider all possible options and do thorough research for jumping into anything. Anyone can give advice but the choice is still up to you.