Monday, September 26, 2005

Matriculation vs STPM?

The debate over the use of matriculation examinations as entry requirements into local universities as opposed to the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) will continue to plague our higher education system unless the educational authorities are able to be transparent about the entire process.

The officials at both the Ministry of Education, as well as that of Higher Education have continued to almost "robotically" deny and dispute any differences in the relative standards between the matriculation and STPM examinations.

In response to a letter from a reader at the Star who requested for a single examination to determine entry into the university, Pn Rubaayah Osman, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Higher Education responded on 28th August that:
Although there are two entry examinations – Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) and Matriculation – used for entrance to public universities, both are on par in terms of standards, curriculum and credit hours. It is not true that one is tougher than the other. This is a matter of perception.
At the same time, the Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Mahadzir Mohd Khir responded to public feedback that the assessment for matriculation should be made transparent, like that of STPM by arguing that:
[The] assessment of matriculation exams should not be questioned as the papers are marked by local university academicians.

“I dispute those who say the matriculation programme is substandard. The process may be different from STPM but the students’ achievements are the same.”
The key problem why the public are clearly unconvinced by both the above arguments are strictly because they are not "arguments" at all. The statements were in effect saying that "if I said that A is equivalent to B, then A must therefore be equivalent to B, how can it be otherwise?"

Both parties in their statements will try the age old tactic of incorporating irrelevant analogies or arguments to digress and detract from the main issues.

Pn Rubaayah argued that "if every one is convinced about the fairness and effectiveness of one system, then it should be applied to all including having a single type of school rather than National, Chinese and Tamil schools."

Datuk Mahadzir on the other hand, said that "many people continued to be negative about matriculation programmes even though many moves had been made to improve them, including opening the programmes to non-bumiputras."

How is it that a single and fair entry examination into the local public universities analogous to "a single type of school"; or how "opening the [matriculation] programmes to non bumiputras" is an improvement on the assessment system is absolutely beyond me - and I'm sure it's beyond many of you readers out there as well.

The Malaysian education system do not require strictly, a single type of entry examination. However, it is critical that the various entry examinations are of transparent standards and equally accessible to all. The fact that matriculation assessments are "marked by local university academicians" does not give any confidence nor justification that the markings are fair, or are of high standards or are equivalent to STPM.

To ensure transparency, the easiest process is really to conduct a study by a reputable international institute on the various entry examinations in Malaysia and identify the differences in standard, if any. It shouldn't be very difficult to compare between the assessment papers of the students in the matriculation program versus that of STPM students.

In addition, the real telling point with regards to potential differences in standards between the two is by studying the effects of the two different pre-university streams on the results of the students in the public universities. I will have happy to contribute my expertise on statistics to help the authorities come up with the necessary regressive studies on the impact of matriculation studies versus that of STPM for Malaysian students. Should there be a wide disparity in standards between the two groups of students, there clearly something should be done. If there isn't, then publish these results and I'm certain the public will then be appeased.

It is my belief that in the interest of promoting the academic abilities of Malay students in the fastest possible manner, it is critical that they be exposed to the highest standard of academic competition (and not be protected from it). If a comparative study of the 2 systems do show a result whereby the matriculation students are significantly weaker, then my argument will be to abolish the matriculation colleges so that the Malays will be able to achieve better results in the universities through better preparation in the STPM courses. The faster the authorities recognises this, the better it will be for the bumiputeras.

For those interested in reading further with regards to my take on matriculation colleges, click here.

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

while i agree with you fully on this issue, i do not think the government is ever going to compromise on a matter which will cost them politically now, no matter what future damage it will cause to themselves.

what they are doing is best described by the chinese proverb 拔苗助长 which means 'to pull up the plant's shoot to help it to grow'.

clk said...

My sympathy to those who continue to be hoodwinked or believe by this charade that both are of the same standards.

If so why not allow all students to choose either one?

My 2sen advice, look at admissions requirements of renown universities out there. Don't get shortchanged.

If you just look at the minimum entry requirement to a University of London External program (which lists very basic entry requirement, being an external prog), you can't find our Matriculation prog listed on it.

Anonymous said...

Most of you who posted here have your biases against the matriculation program. I beg to differ. Most of those who studied under the matriculation program have become very successful people. Some have even made a name out of themselves in the world arena. Please check this link for an example:
http://www.ums.edu.my/sst/jed/index.html
But of course, these people prefer to remain quite and not get too caught up in the hype of this issue. The most significant benefit that I think came out of the matriculation program is the increase in the number of bumiputera occupying professional jobs and competing fairly in the industry.
I admit that the matriculation program is not perfect. I say this because I have been through the system. To say that all those that came through matriculation are no good is a gross generalization. The system is not perfect but the quality of students that came in are on par or better than those in the STPM batch. Only the rigour of the curriculum should be revised and improved. I disagree that these matriculation colleges be abolished. Please remember, STPM in itself is not a fair system. Those having access to better facilities, equipments, and teaching materials and teachers have a distinct advantage to do well in their STPM. What about STPM students in the rural areas? They cant compete because the ground is not level! The matriculation program acts as a bridge for these bright students to shine and excel and do well in life.

j o e l said...

I could only stare aghast at the reply posted in the star by the ministry. STPM is clearly not on par with the matriculation syllabus.

What matriculation students learn only skims the surface of what we form 6 students study (I am in upper six this year).

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

1. The level playing field argument is a tired old cliche used and reused by people who are just unwilling to work harder and smarter. Even in the game of golf, the handicap system only applies to amateur games and is abandoned when professional tournaments are played. In the international arena, who is ever going to give you a level playing field?

2. I think nobody disputes that there are good graduates from the matriculation colleges who have made good; question is are the numbers significant enough to attribute their success to the system or are they just naturally good.

3. The unusually large number of graduates from matriculation colleges with brilliant results in itself casts doubt on their quality. Hence a number of these graduates enter universities taking courses which they might not be equiped to handle or they might struggle and scrap through with the bare minimum. The end product - large number of unemployable graduates who blame not they own incompetence but the lack of so-called soft skills for their predicament.

4. Since you claim that the STPM students in rural areas are disadvantaged by a lack of proper facilities, teachers, etc, and matriculation colleges offers a bridge presumably by giving better facilities and environment, it follows that these students are now on a level field and hence should be able to do fairly well in the STPM. Why then, the need for a different examination?

Anonymous said...

Haiyah, why the long argument. Look at private universities, they even have different Pre-U programs. Some claim that the Canadian Pre U prog is the easiest blablabla...A Levels is the hardest..blablabla...at the end of the day we have different levels of entry requirements based on the different levels of difficulties of each programs. The same applies on Matriks and STPM lah. Why the big fuss.

Anonymous said...

I can also claim that I studied more than what some SAM students who got into private business schools right because A Levels subjects covers deeper into the core of a subject compared to other Pre-U programs. So what if those students got into uni because they only studied the surface of what STPM students are studying in their first year? At the end of the day, you're lucky you don't really need to work as hard as they do in uni because you've been exposed deeper into the subject than they were.

Dangerous Variable said...

It is not the systems of admissions but the content in the examinations. I am a product of the matriculations program and it was a walk in the park for me.

It is not about the distinction of race and ethinicity but more of the quality and standards of the exams. Due to curiosity, I compared the syllabus of Maticulations and the STPM, which the former was lacking in a lot of topics and the later was a lot more difficult. I pitied my friend who took STPM and they get stressed very easily.

I have seen people who did very badly in the Matriculations get a place in the university because it allows for second chances.

A-levels, SAM, American Pre-U Programs and etc are means of enrolment in universities, however we need to question the content and the quality of the courses.

Because of national interest, we compare STPM and Matriculations because the ideals of academia detates and promtes equality and fairness for all, we shouldn't have double standards and the oversight in quality in the system.

Golf Afflicted said...

Hey Rosalind (S-Kay),

I think the point of contention is not so much the acceptance of different examinations into universities. As rightly pointed out by Daniel and others :

- Different routes to the local public universities may be acceptable if the routes are open to all. Currently, with the exception of the rare few, the matriculation route is limited to bumiputeras.

- The issue becomes more critical (and hence this post seems to attract plenty of traffic!) when matriculation is compared alongside STPM for the purposes on entry into the local universities under the disputed meritocracy system. It is argued fervently by most parties that the current "meritocracy" system is unfairly favouring the matriculation students, to the disadvantage of STPM students who tends to be non-bumiputeras.

Note to "dangerous variable" - agree with your comments, except that I don't think it's necessarily a good thing having a less stressful time at the matriculation college. And I think on hindsight, it's actually to the STPM students' advantage for having undergone STPM despite the "stress" element.

Hence my argument in one of the earlier articles that bumiputeras should actually not go to matriculation colleges as they will actually be better off doing STPM.

It's only because the course is more challenging, therefore we can become better. (ewww... sounds so paternalistic!)

:) Tony P

Anonymous said...

Yeah, true on your second point.

And it is definitely and advantage for students who have gone through STPM. People always ask me, "Haiyoh, I bet you regret taking A Levels" and I would go, "No, I don't because I learnt more than what you guys learnt". And seriously speaking, it served as a huge advantage for my first year at uni. While everyone was busy coping with all the crazy theories of a subject, I was merely revising the theories which I have actually studied during my A Levels. I saved more time because I didn't have to spend time understanding something which I had already understood during my A Levels.

Anonymous said...

STPM is definitely tougher and higher standards than matriculation programs.

That's why you can find "superfresh" (skip 1st year) from a STPM students with good results but not students from matriculation programs. Students from matriculation program are required to go through the 1st year of degree course. See!

Anonymous said...

If it is a matter of choice and if the bumi can have the choice why not the non-bumi. Simple as that. Why can't they warn those taking Matriculation that they have to slough when they are in UNI? If certain group are not giving the choice, where is the HUMAN rights and not practising discrimination?

Anonymous said...

It is okay to have both Matriculation and STPM as long as the quality is maintained. Even if Matriculation students and STPM students sits for same examination, there is still a way to manipulate the end result if the authority is not sincere about education.

If you been to local U, you know that certain group of students attend Class Bimbingan(not sure if this is still going on), while others are not given a chance to join.

I was told that a lot of Chinese School pupils prefer to sit for SK UPSR BM paper because it is easier to score A. My kid sat for SK BM paper for his UPSR although he was studying in SRJKC school.

Anonymous said...

Former Matriculation Student :

Here is the gist from a former matriculation student and will be graduating from Uni on September.

The gist:
Yes matriculation is "weak" (the correct term is shortened) compare to STPM because it crams and snips syllabus from 1 and a half years (STPM) to one-year.
Here is the basic, matriculation students are divided into 3 category, physical science, bio science (or sains hayat) and art stream (couldn’t remember the precise name/term). Physical science enables you to get into engineering, technical courses while bio science enables you to take medical, forestry courses. The art category is the usually reserve for the most part accountant courses and maybe management. Therefore, what science stream STPM students are learning is actually physical science and bio science together. And they learn more. But what matriculation students is taking have to coincide with their future Uni courses. Therefore, matriculation is more specific.

Results:
STPM prepares you for further/higher education or directly become a member of the working society.
Matriculation prepares you for higher education only.
Students should consider the two statements above and decide whether to go straight to work or further your education. It is as simple as that.

Downside for Both:
But when you get into university, both STPM and matriculation students (back then when students can apply to Uni using SPM results and those students who got into Uni are 1st
Year students) are automatically 2nd year students (STPM & matriculation). And they have to take certain subject that was not learned in STPM and matriculation but was learned by SPM(1st year) students. STPM students have more subjects to take than matriculation students because STPM is more general (as the example above have shown)

About the bumi and non-bumi rule:
Well there is actually a hole in the system for Sarawak and Sabah people. The only gist I will give you is the term “Mix blood”. And it has been active long before the 10% non-bumi rule.

About STPM student better than Matriculation students:
Well, I saw a lot of situation and all I can tell you is that it depends on individuals. (Plus I SOMETIMES score higher than students that got in using either SPM or STPM results, yes I am bragging)

Discipline between the two:
Well, I certainly remembered that every Friday morning (matriculation) I have to learn how to march. Discipline in terms of studying and acquiring knowledge still depends on the individual.

What about the quality of student between STPM and Matriculation?
I don’t know. Ask me again when I am successful.

PS-Just wanted to share what I know (and I didn’t read all the comments and feel free to disagree)

Anonymous said...

Obviously matriculation is not on par with STPM
any overseas university in the world does not recognize matriculation.
even our neighbour down south..
however as for STPM, it is widely recognized and acclaimed and heard from sources that it is touted as the 3rd hardest examination in the world...to compare Cambridge A-Level and STPM , IMO the latter is harder, i am not sure about Singapore A-Level, perhaps SG 1 is harder than both(bear in mind Singapore A-level exam is tweaked from the Cambridge 1 because they want a much tougher exam to cater to their industrial needs and producing outstanding students)after all i sat for the SG a-level exam...and i can proudly pronounced that the content for their a-level engages a much more thorough thinking requirements
lets just say i revise a Cambridge a-level chemistry book for the exam ,guarantee cant get B or A. back to the main topic, if matric is really comparable to STPM why wont the overseas university admit matric students? Why would 4A's STPM students obtain scholarships from them but not matric students.
Then i heard from 2 of my friends who went through the matric stream, they told me that STPM students did learn much more than them and frequently top the class..and was 1 yr ahead of them..
just for some digestion, i applied for the Pre-U scholarship to Singapore and despite me getting 9A1's (not proud of it because many others out there can obtain such results..no of straight A1's in our country every year is increasing leaps and bounds. Even Finland which has the highest score for reading of science and mathemathics wouldnt have such significant improvementla), they require us to sit for selection test assessing our english and mathemathics..this only portrays their distrust of spm certs..while for stpm cert holders they do not need to sit for such test because they acknowledge its standard.

Anonymous said...

Joel, did you really 100% sure about what you've said? Have you thoroughly checked the full syllabus for the Matriculation programme? I'm not sure about ones BEFORE 2002/2003 session, but anything goes below is about Matrix students after that session's intake. That's a bit of Disclaimer from me.

Did you know that if you lose in UPS I (the first 6 month), you can win the UPS II (the last 6 months), and then awarded a cool place in the University? And in contrary to that, did you know that a Matrix student with CGPA 4.00 in UPS I could fail to get a good place in a University if they 'alpa' or careless (maybe too proud of his or her results in UPS I) in UPS II? STPM students only got one big exam of which will determine their destination later, right?

However, ALL Matrix students must take UPS I & II, and that they'll need to apply twice into any KPM IPTA, and the end result would be coming from the average of the two exams. It's a big challenge for a Matrix student as he or she has to maintain his or her results in both UPSes.

In summary, I would say, both STPM and Matrix have their very own quality, respectively. If a comparison is mandatory, then it supposed to be quantity. As of the 2002/2003 intake, Matrix Science students can freely choose whether they like Bio or Fizik but must take Chemistry. So, just take one of these subjects as a 6-month value. Isn't that quite fair now?... Matrix 12-months, STPM 18.

Also, if you sell something online, and you've indeed just started your business a month ago, do you think Microsoft will immediately collaborate and/or partner with your company or you? And tell me, when was STPM first introduced?

Last but not least, in what 'aliran' were you Joel? Prinsip Akaun?... Think again.

Unknown said...

Reply to Anonymous above.
Are you saying that we Form6 are not required to maintain our result? Having 2 exam to determine ur future is an advantage rather than disadvantage. Seriously, u don't know how hard is STPM. I've done Matric's paper, and pretty near to get full marks without any sweat, even though i'm a B gred student.
It's futile to restate the quality of STPM vs Matric, it's quite obvious that which is much more harder than another.

Actually, i replying this because of ur last weird sentence, it's ridiculous WTFHLOLROFLGOMG funny.

Hahaha, sorry, i had a bad day in exam hall.

To: Daniel, bigjoe99 and shag, ur comments rocks. You guys stated solid and convincing points i never thought of. If this topic ever came out in General paper, i pretty sure i'll write a essay that i can satisfied with.

Anonymous said...

matric exam is so easy. makan kacang.

Anonymous said...

STPM is easy? Please..This year, only 25 students out of 60k something got straight A's in 5 subjects in STPM (15 Science, 10 Art) and 400+ got GPA 4.0.

But how many Matriculation students passed their examinations with flying colours? Seems countless, right?

I'm a Malay, a bumiputera but I chose to take STPM. I was offered Matriculation but I refused to go. Even my mum discouraged me to go to Matriculation and encouraged me to do STPM instead.

One of the reasons why I took STPM is STPM is widely recognized. It is recognized in all the Commonwealth countries and even in the US. And if you excel in your STPM, you will surely get the course you want but things are different for Matriculation student. Not all of the Matriculation students get the courses they want even if they get pretty good CGPAs. One clear example is my cousin. She's got 3.7 something hence she applied for physiology. But, she was offered a course which I can say 'entah apa-apa' in a local uni in Perlis. See? She wasn't applying for medicine or dentistry..Physiology, man! And that's not a popular course.

Thank God I took STPM and thank God I've got good results. Sitting for one of the toughest exams in the world really makes me proud and getting good results only makes me prouder. It seems that I have made the right choice.

To say that STPM is easier than Matriculation is one of the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

Hidup STPM!

Marc Ng said...

da real argument now is not whether matriculation or stpm is easier.

da real question is y non-bumi's can't have da option 2 study matriculation but stpm instead as well as other pre-u programs?

& y da government disallowed transparency when matriculation papers r bin marked??? if wat they say dat matri & stpm r both same standard is true so y scared 2 reveal da truth by not letting outside parties 2 c how assessment of matriculation exams r conducted???

i understand if da gov ppl introduce such quota system for ipta's admission sincerely wanted 2 help da bumi's so dat they r more competitive by all means help dem but help da non-bumi's 2 bcoz there r small number of dem wich need sum 'protection', dun suppress us plz u bunch of cronies.

remember wat Mahathir said,
" if u alwiz depend on cruthes (NEP) u will end up in a wheelchair "

Anonymous said...

I TRULLY UNDESTANDF WHY IS MATRICULATION PROGRAM.
THE FIRST THING IS TO GIVE MALAYS PLACE IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY.
DOES ANYONE WONDER WHY MATRICULATION RESULT IS NOT ANNOUNCED PUBLICLY???? THINK FOR IT???

Anonymous said...

STPM is definitely harder n better than matrik..
Bt u will able too score more more more..easier than STPM. so can say 85% enter local U n choose d course u wan..
Bt Matrik cant sent u overseas coz its standard is sooo low..

lastly we wan a change!!! UMNO n his gang should had knew it...
Bdw 50 years still bumi here non-bumi there MTF!!

Bumi only counted as Malaysian?? Non-Bumi nt Malaysian??
If d answer is no then WHY non-Bumi cant share d same piece of cake?? SHIT U!!

Tats y many Malaysian ran away haha.. thx god

Anonymous said...

personally i think stpm is way much better than matriculation.cant deny that..

but this argument seems to become some racist topic issue..firmly i say here this is about matriculation and stpm not the bumis or non-bumis..

Anonymous said...

dear my fellow friends,
I had been assistance for both level. My opinion is students themselves are the important key to success. different attitude of learning give different success future. Discipline of students is secondary&primary schools and family matter not STPM and matriculation.while, one thing is STPM are the thoughest exam in Malaysia which not all people able to do that even u r 4.0 in matriculation or 10A SPM students because the questions prepared have it own standard while matriculation, i had saw their paper... repeating the example in references book... So, the standard might different and the syllabus of both levels are different. It is better for those courses should equally divide numbers to stpm students. my suggestion is lower the pointer for those STPM students for the minimum requirement of that courses. This better than keep arguing both prons and cons. Goverment give more oppurtunity to our friends-bumiputra to help and improve them, and now open for us, it is a good start. Malaysian like to be slow~ "biar lambat asalkan selamat". However, you enter matriculation or stpm also better than you enter private college....am i right?

Anonymous said...

To hiha, yes and yes. Unless you're on scholarship of course, like me. To take STPM in Tunku Abdul Rahman College.

I've read everyones' comment and I truly enjoyed it. Though this was started almost 2 years ago, it's still on going.

Well, STPM vs Matriculation is a no debate subject actually. It also depends on the individual. All STPM students know which level they are at, but you don't talk about it to a Matriculation / A-level /SAM student. It's just a matter of diplomacy.

Anyway, some question the bumi/non bumi thing. The only thing I have to share is my own experience. I (Malay) take STPM because I want to see how far I can go. Don't you get bored of getting A's all the time? Where's the challenge? Finally a B in STPM! I'm more proud of it than all the A's from SPM and the rest. I even worked harder than my whole 5 years in high school. Now that's real hardwork on my part. It put me on constant pressure and my kiasu-ness forced me to do better each day.

I can't do anything if people always say : 'Haiya, you Malay what! Sure can one lah!'
Though I know I'm not mediocre, I just keep quiet. It's true for them to think that way. With the 'invisible quota' going around.
I do hope that when our children time comes, there will be no such qualms.

Whatever you choose to study, it depends on whether you can survive thru it. The rate of dropouts from STPM classes are quite high, many gave up as the notion of even passing seems elusive. My class of 30+ shrank to 21 by the time STPM came. If you think you are prepared mentally, physically and emotionally to take STPM. I encourage you to. ^_^

hEatHeR said...

hi guys,
i'm sitting for my spm this year and i have no idea whether to go for matrix,stpm or a levels next year.can any of of you give me some advice?please and thank you :)

Loong Hui said...

I don't know if anyone will read this since it has been so long but just wanna point out something.

The discussion here is about STPM n Matriculation n i think some don't understand y those taking STPM is thinking they are treated unfairly.

1. Matriculation is more or less race based. If these 2 systems are the same, why make 1 of them only for a specific race?

2. Discussion about how hard they are is because if the examination is easier, you get higher grades n this leads to higher chance of getting a place in the unis. Eg. A is as good as B but since A is in STPM, he onlky got 3.6, but B who is in Matriculation got 3.9. Now, the unbis will surely choose B over A. How fair is that?

3. STPM is like traditional school-based exams where the whole syllabous is tested in 1 exam. Unlike STPM, most pre-u courses don't do that-A lvls: break syllabous into 2 parts. Matriculation is also the same. They the average of 2 examinations where the syllabous of both is totally different. While STPM students have to struggle to remember everything they learned from day 1, matriculation students can forget what the first chapter in the first year was. If you think logically, this makes their lifes a whole lot easier.

4. Even if STPM students managed to go into a uni, most of the time they are not given the course they applied for. There are cases where some are given the courses not 1% related to what they applied for. Even someone with 3.9 wont get into UM Medic, instead, they are given forestry, perikanan and courses not many students are keen to further their studies on.

Please do not misunderstands what i'm writing is of racist content. This issue isn't bout race, it's about giving every Malaysian a fair chance to excel in their life and as we all know, tertiary education is the best way.

Anonymous said...

Whether it's STPM or matrix, it is up to the individual to be the best they can be in lfe.

Anonymous said...

Geez, I think STPM is a lot harder than matriculation but it seems that uni favors those who r in matriculation when offering places to pursue degree. .

Lil K said...

Talk About Matric And STPM..From My Experience STPM Is The Harder Than Matric..I Have Been a Matriculation Student For 3 Month..But Because Of My Health Problem I Was Send Back To Take My Form 6 In Sarawak..And That Is The biggest Topic And Shock In The School..Yeah..What The F..As Long There Is Way Of Study I Take It..By The Way..When I Was A Child I Always Wanted To Take Form 6..That The Road God Give To Me..Okay..While I Was In Matric..It Is The Easiest Part I Take The Physical Stream At Matric..I Got Atleast 3.7 point in my test..But When I Taking My Form 6 test(Same Physics Stream)..For The first time I Fail My Paper..The First Time I Broke My History..But That Is The Way Of Learning..DARE TO FAIL..Yeah..Now Im Taking My STPM test..Good Luck For Me..The Syllybus In Matric Is Easy..It Just Like You Revise Back You SPM..But Form 6..It Is Different..In Form 6 You Learn All The Sub Topic In One Topic..But In Matric It Just Take One Small Tiny Topic That Is Easier Just Like SPM..So There Is A Lot Of Different..You Learn A In STPM..In Matric You Just Learn B..Si The Point Is..You Must Stick In You Interest Way Of Learning..Don't Try To Play With It..And Believe In Yourself..STPM Is The Best For Me..Yeah..By The Way..I Still Mad At The MATRCULATION WAY OF LEARNING AND MANAGEMENT It Sucks..Yeah..HIDUP STPM

aizat71 said...

i think that goverment make a rule.like this,for matric gets CGPA 4.OO,their marks is like CGPA 3.75 on stpm....because their level is difference.

Anonymous said...

well, i'm a matriculation student and i'm craving to go for stpm. you know what, matriculation is not as easy as what u guys have said.what i can say here is dat, every exams have their own standard. and to say one's exam is better than another is not true. my lecturer's one said dat stpm have a better foundation than matrix does.i envy those who have stpm certificate because they can pursue their study better than matrix students can. you guys have better qualification. this matriculation stuff is only recognised in malaysia. to go oversea, there's other foundation that we need to follow,thus it's a waste of time. so, arguing which one is better is something not be done, because every exams have their own specialities. there's something i want to share, when this ipta guys come to our centre to give information for 1st phase university application, he said dat most uni wants the stpm students to study in their uni, because thery are a bit prepared and can do better in uni compared to matrix. he said dat matrix students are said to be proud of their results soo much.

so, don't argue. everything have their own standard. even i'm studying for matriculation, i would really go for stpm. i'm here because of my family pressure.

no need to argue, just accept the good and the bad side of both exams. no matter what exams we took, it's us that determine our goals.

sorry for my comments if its offense u guys

Japheth Lim Gene-Harn said...

It wasn't my intention to post a comment, but what's the dogs and cats about these worthless argument? Btw, im a matric student currently in Malacca, Few stuffs i need to bold for you guys to be reminded of.
Firstly, many people said this and it's true. BOTH HAVE THEIR OWN GOOD. you cant compare them, NEVER, not that obviously matric is the downside, but both things are as different as cheese and chalk. TOTALLY.
.
FIrst point. Matric and STPM students, It's obviously that Matric has much more advantage than STPM, firstly allowance of 250 per month, free accomodation, even whatever fees, and the most being argued about, easier admission to Local Uni, or shall i say, prioritise to Matric students first. That's the bright side for Matric. Now, The bright side for STPM, world wide recognition. So you see, both have their own pros and corns.
.
When you talk about syllabus, we definitely can't measure it by just saying which one is easier, it all DEPENDS on each individual. You might never know people scored 4 flat in Matric can do the same in STPM, im saying U MIGHT not know. The hard part about Matric is about RUSHING the syllabus. The reason why many students cannot cope was that. and ended up results were bad. But for mostly chinese* im not bragging, we manage to cope up everytime with 70% of us getting 4 flat. It all depends you see..

Anonymous said...

i just get a good getaway result for this(10A and 1B) and i can choose either 2 of them. I am a bumiputra and iam getting tired of this. Almost all my teacher force me to go to matric and even my close relative. It just so annoying although i appreciate their concern. However, i hear what they say, clearly i found that:

'matric 1 year, STPM 1 1/2 year, save your time, it is a waste....ur ar a bright person...'

'change ur environtment...u ar qualified for that...'

'matric person more succesful than STPM person'

SO WHAT?!

Who are going to learn, them? U ar the one. If u work hard, success!. Remember, who learn through a hard way, their achievements is better. Look, Einstein is a fool before.

For all Malaysian, if u want to stay in malaysia only. Take matric and stay in it forever. If u want to see the world, take STPM.

'Jangan jadi katak dalam tempurung',even in Islam, our prophet Muhammad saw said that, 'u should go study to China'. When we are young, we can go to overseas easier without our kids(if ur ar a little bit 'gatal')

I am still searching for light(ow...metaphor..) but i think i know what i want.

Good luck for who is still searching.

Anonymous said...

Since there are two pre-u entries to local universities and cannot be a single exam into local universities as we have a flexible education systems, then Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman's (TAR College) Certificates or Diploma courses should be taken into consideration as the third entry to local universities as the exams standards are equally tough. TAR College's standards are recognised by worldwide univerities why not local public universities?

Anonymous said...

well, i have taught both the matriculation and stpm students for a particular subject. believe me, from my point of view an A student of matriculation is not even as good as a B student from stpm. of course wat i'm comparing here is from the content point of view and not the individuals capability.

as i was going thru the comments, i noticed few of you commented that matriculation students need to sit for two separate exam but stpm is only one go. come on guys.....be realistic. even though you need to sit two times but each time you sit for it, different contents are tested. whatever you studied in sem I will not be tested again in sem II. But it is not the same for the stpm students. They will be tested on all the chapters together and the amount of the content is even more and harder than you matrics guys.

secondly, the standard of matrics questions are much more lower/easier than stpm students.the questions are just simply direct...

Just think about this..... a 4.0 matrics student place for medic or engineering is confirmed(even lower than 4.0 can get ) but a place for 4.0 stpm student is not confirmed. where is the transperancy?

Jacqueleem said...

Frankly, if Malays are given easy entry to universities, poor university graduates might get a doctor career without a firm knowledge of it. The education ministry must think that this may lead to deaths if doctors wrongly heal a patient. I really don't mind if you want to give Malays a billion chances to work in professional careers. Just advice that you should think forward, about their careers and how well they do it can affect everyone. One day someone dies because a doctor passed an examination too easily. Think about it. Though I don't expect the ministry to be reading this site.

khairul said...

all of above mainly based on anger of u guys (may) didn't have the chance to join matriculation program.

sabrine said...

it not the which is best or bettar but our acchievement are important....

Anonymous said...

matriculation is like learning how to spell a-p-p-l-e while stpm is like writing a book about it.

Anonymous said...

Well...the STPM system have changed this year!! Its seems quite the same as Matriculation(in my opinion)...STPM students have their own plus point...for ex: They can apply for oversea unis(worldwide known) but matriculation in the other hand!!