What next after SPM?
It is the one question that many a school-leaver in Malaysia has to face upon completing secondary school. “What do I do next?” Granted, many would have already charted their tertiary education path long before they finish Form Five. Or have it charted out FOR them. But for many others, it is a question to which they truly have no conviction in answering. And can one be blamed for not knowing for sure what they plan to do for the rest of their lives…at the raw age of 17, 18?
Besides the many academic options that a student can select from, there are also non-academic issues to think about as well. None more so than financial ones. But speaking from a purely academic point of view, what are the avenues available to a student fresh out of Form Five?
Option I: Form Six
Firstly, staying within a school setting, students can choose to continue their schooling life by enrolling into Form Six. Considering that only government or public schools offer Form Six levels, this is probably the most cost-saving route towards gaining entry into university. However, this makes it far more competitive and the Form Six level public exams – the STPM – is notoriously difficult to excel in.
On top of this, one has to complete TWO years of Form Six, Lower & Upper Six, before finally leaving school and embarking on higher education. For many, particularly the non-Bumiputra students, Form Six is THE only route for them to enroll into public universities. The Bumiputra students meanwhile, have more options. They can choose to do matriculation or some other pre-university course. This would usually not take more than a year to complete.
Option II: Private Education
Now, for private education, a school-leaver has considerably more options. Still, this very much depends on the type of degree programme and its prerequisites. Some programmes require students to take A-Levels while others merely have to go through a foundation course of some sort. In some cases, only an SPM or O-Level qualification is needed. However, this usually applies to Diploma courses and rarely for Degree courses.
Whether it’s a foundation course in college or a pre-university programme, neither duration is as long as Form Six but on the flip side, neither are they as cheap. So it all depends on what you want to study, as well as other equally important factors such as affordability and the duration of the course. Therefore, one has to choose wisely, taking into account all these factors before making a final decision.