#526
25th February
(Source: Mrs. Belanger's English Class, www.belangela.wordpress.com, edited)
Alright, first of all, I'm kindly appreciate the weather today becuz' it finally rains omaigosh.
Recently, the weather was way too hot even during the night could reach up 30 degrees something.
Well at last it cools down a bit and now I can blog where there are some random thoughts come along.
Anyway, people around me, especially in local universities, would like make comparison between Matriks and STPM. This is true as recently, several keyboard warriors just post anything about this topic in the confession pages.
And then, I was like, "Really? You all quarrel just to compare these?" Seriously, it did happened for some times and ended like in a week I think.
Anyway, as I enrolled in STPM, so I can talk much about it, yet I wish to say something about Matriks as well becuz' lots of friends are from Matriks. However, there are still some misconceptions in between these two programs like saying someone can get this easily but hardly can get that, or anything else.
I tell you what I'm full of my thoughts and personally, I don't think these two programs should be compared to each other. Yes, STPM and Matriks are not for comparison. In fact, they are almost equal if you look from certain aspects.
Alright, I'll list my points one by one, I'll start from lifestyle.
So, since my school offers STPM programs, so it's no doubt that I went back to my school again and graduated for the second time at the same hall, but some schools do not offer so they need to transfer, and that's the different case.
Talking about lifestyle, school life would be as normal as what we had done before, just that we became much more crazier than ever (becuz' we want to spend our time amazingly as we can before ending that memorable 7 years). Studying period is just from morning until 1.30pm something, and that's the end, unless you have extra activities in school.
Basically if you live in big town, you can spend your time leisurely by hanging out and so on, but not before exam time lol. Yupe, it is just pretty normal as what you did in secondary school.
But things go different for Matriks. This is because most of them are sent to rural areas where they have to move a lot of things inside the hostel and start the so-called hostel life but not school life.
It is indeed different from home becuz' there's no longer your own lovely bed, no air-conditioned room, bathroom has to be shared and the list goes on.
Sometimes breakfast has to be prepared by your own, no food which could compete with your mom's homemade lunch or dinner, and most of the time you have to spend your life entirely at that blocks.
Well, it is true becuz' there are hardly any place you could go when you are in rural areas even during weekend, unless you have enough money to go home, back and forth, which is highly unlikely if your hometown is pretty far away.
Every decision has to be done by yourself and you have to manage your own time and make sure you get through your life as meaningful as you can.
The next point, it would be the education system.
Since you already knew that STPM took about 2 years while Matriks would be only 1 year, there's no doubt that STPM students study more than what Matriks students study.
I confirmed from my friend and this is quite true due to the difference of studying period, someone said STPM could be a good reference for Matriks as Matriks syllabus contain part of that of STPM.
So, this turns out that STPM students gain more knowledge than Matriks students, but at the same time it depends on how the students apply them on daily life problems or in future.
Thirdly, this is the most interesting one, the examination system.
I actually looked through my friends' Matriks examination and I was quite shocked becuz' there's a huge difference between them, which I think should be quite obvious.
Well, you know that STPM is one of the toughest examinations in the world, right? Yes, I had said for quite a lot of times, I'm still consider this statement is true, but maybe not in future I guess, as I felt the difficulty is gradually decreased, yet the formality and standardisation remained.
I think most people said that this exam is tough, I have the reasons too: Exam time is very limited, unexpected (but very standard) questions, tricky spots, and way too much theories and formulas to memorise.
Well, as the semester system introduced, I feel like it is a good thing since we can repeat for the first and second sem examination, and this would give another chance for us to do it better, I'd personally repeat one time, for PA just to make it from B+ to A-. However, there's no repeat anymore for third sem examination.
Somehow, most teachers encouraged us not to repeat becuz' it consumed a lot of time and that happened after the third sem examination, you only have like several days to revise the whole thing from Sem 1 and Sem 2, this could draw a big problem for those who couldn't manage time well.
Basically, 3.0 above is considered really well done, till the legendary 4.0
A lot of people tried to compare this to Matriks, becuz' Matriks is much more easier, they have ample time to finish exams, not much of tricky questions, and I think you can get 4.0 easily, and that's the grade of what my friends got.
Maybe you could sense the value of this 4.0 in two different programs right? Yupe, you'll be the judge. I personally feel that STPM examination system is somehow about both luck and effort, which mean even you knew that you wrote that freaking correct answers and confident could get an A yet things just, turn the way you offense.
Then, the part where most people argue about, the co-curriculum system.
A lot of people, again, said that it is easy to score that 10% in Matriks but not in STPM.
Well, think about that, you could be active in several school activities to get those marks, and it turn out that when you rethink about it, why don't you focus on that 90%, which could decide your future even more?
I know I know, not all schools could give you the chance to get that good marks, but, if you are able to attend a lot of school activities and able to take part in competitions, then it could be no problem.
Even if it is just participation marks, or you enrolled as one of the presidents in certain clubs (since you are the "dailou" among all juniors lol), that could make a huge change though.
So, if you feel like that 10% is important, then just go for it, but don't forget also to make your 90% effort being well done too.
Lastly, the outcome, from both STPM and Matriks leavers.
STPM is internationally recognised so if you scored pretty excellent in your grades, then just apply any university you desired and make the best for the offered scholarships and interviews to enroll as well.
This could be different from Matriks leavers becuz' they can only enroll in the programs offered by local universities, and they are hardly get any recognition from foreign universities.
But then again, STPM leavers do have a problem as well, as this happens every year, most people who score well, didn't offered the courses they want, it might be their second choice or even below of that.
I should say that I'm really lucky becuz' I get the university I want and offered the course I want too. I was convinced that I could get my first choice since Johor is really far from Penang (and maybe gov want to send you further).
This is really a challenge for those who did bad in examination, but to no choice they have to either take colleges' programs in order to further their study, and this might seems wasting time.
A lot of seats in universities are firstly reserved for Matriks students, so ya, I might say those who took STPM are really the warriors among the Malaysians, if you are one of them, you should be proud of it, becuz' you had went through that.
Alright, I think I will give a simple and short paragraph to make everything clear.
Don't always compare these two pre-U programs becuz' in my opinion, both leavers, each have their own potential and could give benefits to each other as well.
I'll give an example, Matriks leavers have experience for hostel life but not STPM leavers, so they can teach STPM leavers to make use of that lifestyle. On the other hand, STPM leavers have more knowledge from what they learned, they could provide more ideas and knowledge for Matriks leavers on how to score well and study efficiently.
As you can see, these two different groups of people, they are both alternatively beneficial for each other, right? That's why both of them should be together in university, I mean, they are equal at certain points, no comparison should be initiated from anywhere.
You might find STPM leavers are smarter than Matriks students, but no, sometimes it's on the other way round, and I think a lot of people should change this mindset as well.
So, these are my thoughts and opinions about STPM and Matriks, I hope that those who read this could digest what I said for such a long post.
Maybe you have own ideas and thoughts about this as well, if you have any of them you could just comment below here.
I'll appreciate and wish for those who are waiting for their results especially SPM students, good luck and have a good day.
It is indeed different from home becuz' there's no longer your own lovely bed, no air-conditioned room, bathroom has to be shared and the list goes on.
Sometimes breakfast has to be prepared by your own, no food which could compete with your mom's homemade lunch or dinner, and most of the time you have to spend your life entirely at that blocks.
Well, it is true becuz' there are hardly any place you could go when you are in rural areas even during weekend, unless you have enough money to go home, back and forth, which is highly unlikely if your hometown is pretty far away.
Every decision has to be done by yourself and you have to manage your own time and make sure you get through your life as meaningful as you can.
The next point, it would be the education system.
Since you already knew that STPM took about 2 years while Matriks would be only 1 year, there's no doubt that STPM students study more than what Matriks students study.
I confirmed from my friend and this is quite true due to the difference of studying period, someone said STPM could be a good reference for Matriks as Matriks syllabus contain part of that of STPM.
So, this turns out that STPM students gain more knowledge than Matriks students, but at the same time it depends on how the students apply them on daily life problems or in future.
Thirdly, this is the most interesting one, the examination system.
I actually looked through my friends' Matriks examination and I was quite shocked becuz' there's a huge difference between them, which I think should be quite obvious.
Well, you know that STPM is one of the toughest examinations in the world, right? Yes, I had said for quite a lot of times, I'm still consider this statement is true, but maybe not in future I guess, as I felt the difficulty is gradually decreased, yet the formality and standardisation remained.
I think most people said that this exam is tough, I have the reasons too: Exam time is very limited, unexpected (but very standard) questions, tricky spots, and way too much theories and formulas to memorise.
Well, as the semester system introduced, I feel like it is a good thing since we can repeat for the first and second sem examination, and this would give another chance for us to do it better, I'd personally repeat one time, for PA just to make it from B+ to A-. However, there's no repeat anymore for third sem examination.
Somehow, most teachers encouraged us not to repeat becuz' it consumed a lot of time and that happened after the third sem examination, you only have like several days to revise the whole thing from Sem 1 and Sem 2, this could draw a big problem for those who couldn't manage time well.
Basically, 3.0 above is considered really well done, till the legendary 4.0
A lot of people tried to compare this to Matriks, becuz' Matriks is much more easier, they have ample time to finish exams, not much of tricky questions, and I think you can get 4.0 easily, and that's the grade of what my friends got.
Maybe you could sense the value of this 4.0 in two different programs right? Yupe, you'll be the judge. I personally feel that STPM examination system is somehow about both luck and effort, which mean even you knew that you wrote that freaking correct answers and confident could get an A yet things just, turn the way you offense.
Then, the part where most people argue about, the co-curriculum system.
A lot of people, again, said that it is easy to score that 10% in Matriks but not in STPM.
Well, think about that, you could be active in several school activities to get those marks, and it turn out that when you rethink about it, why don't you focus on that 90%, which could decide your future even more?
I know I know, not all schools could give you the chance to get that good marks, but, if you are able to attend a lot of school activities and able to take part in competitions, then it could be no problem.
Even if it is just participation marks, or you enrolled as one of the presidents in certain clubs (since you are the "dailou" among all juniors lol), that could make a huge change though.
So, if you feel like that 10% is important, then just go for it, but don't forget also to make your 90% effort being well done too.
Lastly, the outcome, from both STPM and Matriks leavers.
STPM is internationally recognised so if you scored pretty excellent in your grades, then just apply any university you desired and make the best for the offered scholarships and interviews to enroll as well.
This could be different from Matriks leavers becuz' they can only enroll in the programs offered by local universities, and they are hardly get any recognition from foreign universities.
But then again, STPM leavers do have a problem as well, as this happens every year, most people who score well, didn't offered the courses they want, it might be their second choice or even below of that.
I should say that I'm really lucky becuz' I get the university I want and offered the course I want too. I was convinced that I could get my first choice since Johor is really far from Penang (and maybe gov want to send you further).
This is really a challenge for those who did bad in examination, but to no choice they have to either take colleges' programs in order to further their study, and this might seems wasting time.
A lot of seats in universities are firstly reserved for Matriks students, so ya, I might say those who took STPM are really the warriors among the Malaysians, if you are one of them, you should be proud of it, becuz' you had went through that.
Alright, I think I will give a simple and short paragraph to make everything clear.
Don't always compare these two pre-U programs becuz' in my opinion, both leavers, each have their own potential and could give benefits to each other as well.
I'll give an example, Matriks leavers have experience for hostel life but not STPM leavers, so they can teach STPM leavers to make use of that lifestyle. On the other hand, STPM leavers have more knowledge from what they learned, they could provide more ideas and knowledge for Matriks leavers on how to score well and study efficiently.
As you can see, these two different groups of people, they are both alternatively beneficial for each other, right? That's why both of them should be together in university, I mean, they are equal at certain points, no comparison should be initiated from anywhere.
You might find STPM leavers are smarter than Matriks students, but no, sometimes it's on the other way round, and I think a lot of people should change this mindset as well.
So, these are my thoughts and opinions about STPM and Matriks, I hope that those who read this could digest what I said for such a long post.
Maybe you have own ideas and thoughts about this as well, if you have any of them you could just comment below here.
I'll appreciate and wish for those who are waiting for their results especially SPM students, good luck and have a good day.
