Form 6 New System - Confusion Surrounding It

There seems to be a multitudinous of confusion regarding the implementation of the modular system for STPM. I find these confusion beguiling at times. So, I'll try to answer the most common confusions that arose and hopefully it'll clear the doubts for any to-be-lower-6 students this year.

Q1: Is STPM scrapped? There's no more STPM?
No. STPM is not scrapped. Previously, form 6 students study for 1 and a half year, and then sit for a major exam that determines their fate. So, there's a huge risk they have to take and therefore the stress is enormous. Right now, STPM exam will be conducted three times, once in the end of each semester. The exam you'll sit at the end of each semesters is the STPM that will determine your future. Basically, it's A-Level administered by the Malaysian government.

Q2: Is The STPM Paper Set by School Teachers? Or Are The Papers Set By MPM?
The major written exams are set by MPM. The STPM paper you'll take at the end of each semesters are the same as students in the whole Malaysia. It' a common paper. But there'll be school-based assessments that all students have to take. It's something like PEKA but you won't be spoon-fed anymore. This assessments allocate approximately 20-40% of STPM.

Q3: Would STPM Still Be Recognised by Universities?
This is probably the biggest concern by all students who intend to take it. STPM's recognition will be unaffected. The new system of STPM resembles that of A-Level, and if STPM is un-recognised simply because it has used modular system, then A-Level would be deemed useless as well. Changing its system does no harm to its recognition.

Q4: The Syllabus Is Changed As Well. Would It Affect The Quality of STPM?
Unfortunately, this would be a rhetorical question for now. As the first year, we'll be the "experiments". If we are found to be performing exceedingly well after STPM, the recognition of STPM will be increased (although you can say its recognition for now is already close to maximum). On the other hand, if the students who undergo it are found to be useless, performing sub-standard and below average, then the recognition of STPM will be affected and its quality will be proved low. Universities will scrutinise students who undergo this new system and they won't immediately un-recognise its certificate and immediately call in a rubbish without looking at the result. If the students who undergo it are found to be extremely good, these universities would target these students for enrollment because they have financial advantage. So, lower 6 students this year, we better work hard or else our juniors will suffer.

Q5: Form 6 Begins In September? There'll Be Schooling In December?
No. I've seen this many times, and it's wrong. Just because it has taken a system that is similar to universities does not mean it'll also begin its enrollment in September. All universities around the world implements the semester-based system for their courses, and they have enrollments in almost all months. September intake is more common and most universities have intakes in this month, and this probably spawn the misconception that semester-based system simply means the first semester will begin in September. No!

Q6: Who Will Mark The Papers?
STPM papers will be sent to other states for marking while the school-based assessments will be assessed and graded by your subject teachers.

Q7: Can The Old Books Be Used?
Yes it can, for reference but not as textbooks. Even reference books for A-Level, AUSMAT, SAM, IB Diploma and Matriculation can be used for reference as the theories regarding the subjects will not be different for any courses. But you can't use them as textbooks because the arrangements are all out and the syllabus are not exactly similar. There are only three publishers that produce reference books for STPM: Longman, Oxford and Pelangi.

Q8: The New System Sounds Easy. Do You Think It's Good?
Things are not always as it appears. The system has not been implemented yet and the first batch of students have not begun their schooling, so I believe it's wrong and it's too soon to tell the new system is much easier. While you can argue that what you learn in the first semester can be forgotten when you proceed to the next, which means you simply memorise less for an exam, cramming 6 chapters into one semester and learning them in 5 months sound pretty tedious and time looks scarce for studying and revision. Without actually experiencing it and has first hand experience on its system, we can hardly conclude anything. It could be easier, it could be tougher. We'll just have to wait and see.

Updates: Time's very rush. You study way too much for half a year. The result for the first term is yet to release so nobody knows how we, the first batch, performed. But I conjecture that we had performed very badly. Four major concerns: syllabus too wide, marking scheme's too strict, questions too tough, and the time given for one exam paper is seriously not enough!!!!

Everything will probably be different once students are sent to Junior College. In future, form 6 will not be implemented in secondary schools anymore. All students who wish to study STPM will be sent to a Junior College, a specially selected secondary school that specialises in providing pre-university courses. I do not know which schools will be so haplessly chosen to be closed and re-organised for only form 6, but I guess we'll see. It was initially intended to be carried out this year (BM schools should go to Permatang Rawa, Penang should go to Haji Zainal Abidin), but due to administrative issues it'll be carried out in 2015 in Penang, at least that's what they planned. 

Q9: Is It True The Syllabus Has Become Narrower and The Quality Has Dropped?
For certain subjects, the syllabus does become narrower. For example: Chemistry. A lot of topics have been removed like Mixture of Two Inmiscible Liquid, Calculating Rate of Order by Integration and Chromatography. But these topics are removed because they are too specialised and should only be learnt as higher level. However, new chapters have been included too to replace the removed: Use of Dry Ice and Anomalous Behaviour of Beryllium, to name a few.

For certain subjects, the syllabus has actually become wider. Most notable subject would be Mathematics T, as many of the new topics are taken from Further.Maths T. For example: Maclaurin Series, Chi-squared Test, 3D Vector, Hypothesis Testing, Complex Number, Gaussian Elimination and Sampling and Estimation. Pengajian Am has increased in syllabus as well with the inclusion of new sub-topics like Sejarah Pembentukan Malaysia. But a part in Paper 2 has been removed, so I think both of them cancel out and the syllabus remains the same.

Nothing suggests the quality has dropped, but this question would remain rhetorical for the moment.