What next after Form 5?

If you think you can wait till exams are over before starting to think what would be the next step you take in terms of your education after Form 5, you are seriously mistaken. Waiting till then can mean precious time lost especially if you wish to go for private institutions of learning post Form 5. Therefore, here’s a short guide to give you a rough idea of what choices there are to allow you to make a better decision for your future.

Basically, there are two main routes after Form 5, going to public education or private. First, we will talk about the choices available for public institutions.

Form 6

After Form 5, you go for Form 6, natural progression? No. Form 6 no doubt will allow you to have a chance of entering public universities in Malaysia but bear in mind there’s a huge difference between Form 5 and Form 6. Mind you the workload and syllabus is daunting considering the short time period required to finish it all. You have to have a rough idea of what you would want to pursue in the future to choose which subjects to take first of all, and if you flunk Form 6 exams (STPM), it’s all back to square one, having only Form 5 standard qualifications.

Well, the pros about Form 6 are that it’s internationally recognised, meaning you also have the option of furthering your studies overseas, should you wish to. Apart from that, Form 6 is of course cheaper than going to private institutions. And despite the myths surrounding Form 6, what we learn is pretty much up to standard, the syllabus being kind of similar to A-levels.

Form 6 starts in May the year after you finish Form 5, so you probably have some time to think through other options before going for Form 6.

Matriculation

Ah, the notoriously difficult for non-Bumiputeras to get in matriculation. But if you do get in, it’s said to be an easier route to public universities. I’m not very sure about this, since I have not been through that, but the syllabus is supposedly not as detailed and comprehensive as Form 6. Thus, it is easier for them to score well? Plus, their results are not all decided by one final exam, unlike for Form 6.

The thing about matriculation though is that there are limited places, very few places offer matriculation relative to Form 6. And, again I’m not too sure about this, but it is not as internationally recognised as STPM? Do correct me if I’m wrong.

Then, we have the private pre-university choices.. Which are aplenty these days, will just touch on the more popular ones. Of course, going to these places will mean you stand no chance for entry into public Malaysian unversities.

A-levels

A-levels are the very same exams sat by students in United Kingdom. There are two major boards for the A-levels exams, the Cambridge board and the London board. Both with their differences in testing system. Well, the good thing about A-levels it the diversity of subjects you can take, which can be specialised to suit your future career choice. Meaning pre-law students can take subjects relating to law and etc. Usually, there are a few intakes for A-levels in different colleges here in Malaysia and the whole thing takes 1.5 years.

There are a few colleges in Malaysia more well-known for churning out top scorers in A-levels, being Taylor’s, HELP, and perhaps Inti. Or if you’ve cash to burn, you can even go to UK to do your A-levels, there are scholarships and bursaries available for students who do well in their Form 5 exams.

SAM

South Australian Matriculation. To know more about this, you really ought to consult one of our BUGGERs here, kvys2000, who’s currently doing his SAM at Taylor’s. The pros of this course are that it’s short, only 1 year! Which translates into cheaper tuition fees, and faster entry into university. The cons? Perhaps being that not as widely internationally recognised as say, A-levels. And that they syllabus is not as detailed. My friend who went for SAM had to struggle a bit when studying medicine as there were many things not yet taught in detail, while the other Form 6 and A-levels students already knew them.

Year 12 at Australia/New Zealand etc

Now this one is really if you are decided that you want to continue your studies at those places or you have PR or something. Otherwise, it’s a really pricey route to take. Undoubtedly, the whole experience will really be an eye-opener and the way of teaching, facilities and learning atmosphere will probably be better but really, what’s the rush to go overseas? Haha.

Diploma

Very sure of what your future career choice? Then perhaps you can consider going for diploma. It’s less expensive than some of the other private college choices here but you really have to be sure that that’s what you would want to pursue a career in. Normally, you can choose to do a year or two more to get a Bachelor’s degree after getting a diploma, but the problem may be that limited universities would recognise the diploma. Failing that, you can just choose to work straight after getting a diploma, but the pay generally wouldn’t be as good as someone who has a degree.

Foundation

Another pre-university option is Foundation, which normally lasts a year. After which you can directly go to universitiy and enter First Year. The thing about Foundation is that what you learn would be very closely related to what you learn later on in unversity, unlike more general education as for A-levels, Form 6 or the like.

However, Foundation courses typically only allow you entry into a certain university. You may not have a choice to change to other universities for your Bachelor’s Degree.

So, that’s just a few pre-university options to consider. Of course there are many other routes, such as going for those scholarships like JPA or Petronas but these are the usual routes that students in Malaysia would normally take.