If every exam you study for is tough and there is very few English media around you, how well do you think you will learn English in their environment? Some YouTuber from UK has explained it before, it's not that they don't know English, it's just that they lack speaking practice and the confidence to speak it because they had a hard time learning it.

Just be considerate. Not every country is like Malaysia.

P.S. I have met Korean with fluent English so let's not generalize.

People should really stop pronouncing today as thudayyy, thodayyyyy, tudayyyy.

Get the real expert, the IELTS 8 point 65 holypredator to comment lah... I don't have such a unique score for IELTS.

No, I didn't have to apply for any local universities - because (and I will remember this for as long as I live - or at least until dementia decimates my hippocampal synapses) my Colombo Plan Commonwealth Scholarship award came in a thick A4 sized brown envelope on the eve of my final Biology (essay) paper of my STPM. To be honest, I almost didn't turn up for that paper because, well, I didn't need to - I was going to University to study medicine. But, being the stoic son of an Asian tiger mom, I turned up anyway, did what I had to do, and stepped out of the school hall like it was just another walk in the park.

And no, I didn't fumble on the last paper:

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So, no I didn't apply ... but, if I had, I would have applied for UM.

Whether I'd get in or not, well, that's a question I'll never know the answer.

Back in my days, that was the max you could take for the STPM. I'm a dinosaur, mate. That certificate is like more than 30 years old!

The offer was conditional on me securing the scholarship - what and how I did for the STPM was irrelevant to them, perhaps also because of this:

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