you cannot enter a degree with spm...you need a period of further studies, generally called pre-u....unfortunately in msia, there are multiple pre-u pathways....

stpm, matrik, asasi/foundation, a levels, sam/ausmat, canadian pre-u etc are all pre-u programmes, which allows one to enter a degree programme at uni...

ipta ONLY accept gov pre-u, ie asasi, matrik, stpm....preference in that order....only apex unis usm and um will take in a levels students....

therefore doing a levels basically cuts you off from ipta...

no...finish asasi means you have the potential opportunity to enter a degree programme, that's all...no different from finishing matrik, stpm, a levels...

yes, it's a preparation for a degree programme in uni, but not everybody will qualify....and in any case, ts, whom i believe is a non bumi, is NOT eligible to enter asasi anyway, so no point talking about it.....

you cannot apply for asasi (which is like the matrik)....but you can apply to enter a diploma course...that is if you know what you want to do to begin with...

There are no scholarships for medicine in ipts....it's the most lucrative of ipts courses and they want your money, not give you money...

4a without any stars unlikely to get into apex unis....in any case, have you done the um qualifying test?...

Um has started an aptitude test for potential medical students, similar to the Australian UMAT/ISAT and the British UKCAT/BMAT...nothing to do with your a levels....if you don't perform well in these tests, getting 4a* will not get you a place...

why don't you read up on these aptitude tests....and how difficult and long the process is, to get into medical school in uk/oz....

there is no "selection" in sitting for the test...everyone and anyone can apply to sit...including even arts stream students...the purpose of the test is NOT to select students only, but to profile non-academic skills and attributes a student process....which interestingly, is not linearly correlated with academic ability...you can be 4.0, but cannot qualitate quantitative values, for example...

as the top med school in msia, they have a huge pool of 4.0/straight a/a* students applying (all 4.0 aspiring med students want to apply to um, more than a thousand), and they only take in 150 nowadays...(side note: about half will come from their own asasi, as part of the usual affirmative action quota, reducing the open places to half)

this test help choose the right students....from the large pool of top students with the same result....