Jeremiah School 2009: March 2009

This post is directed at anyone who reads it personally and at everyone who reads it in general.

And now, time for the community service announcement. But first…

I have many demands on my time.

From reading papers, other books and the Bible, to doing housework, to handling university applications, and very soon, attending interviews, to playing computer games, like Sudden Attack.

You know, I have to spend a considerable time playing Sudden Attack as the more I play, the more points I get, which enables me to get the weapons I need to play better. I grew rather fond of sniper rifles, until I actually used one of them. I then found that it was almost impossible to hit anything as there are no crosshairs, and with the scope on, I’m limited to a perspective of a few degrees. Shotguns are what I like to use, but they don’t work well at long range, so maybe I‘ll just stick to assault rifles. One of these days I‘ll try out a machine gun, but with such ridiculously high recoil, I’ll probably flop at it.

And by taking time off to write this community service announcement, I’m ensuring that I’ll end up with an M-16 for the next week or so in my battles.

Ok, so I’m joking. But I digress.

After Form 5, most people would say that the natural progression in the education system in Malaysia would be Form 6. When I say natural, I mean that it is by default. Most people who finish Form 5 don’t do Form 6. They go into college to do a variety of programs, such as Foundation Years for various universities, matriculation programs for Australia, such as SAM and AUSMAT, or Pre-U programs for North America, such as ICPU and ADTP or more recently, International Baccalaureate.

A large number of people also do A-Levels, which gives them a large choice of programs once they finish their pre-U program. Some also go straight into Diploma programs, or Certificate programs. (For those of you who did accounts and want to do ACCA, you’re lucky. I have to sit for another test if I want to get my LCCI certification). Others go straight into full time work. A lucky few will get into local matriculation, but when local matriculation doesn’t come one’s way, most people would rather go into private education rather than go into Form 6. Why? Well, for good reason…

Here are the top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t do Form 6. Yes people, you read that correctly, it is why you shouldn’t.

Number 10: Even Sixth Formers have to wear uniforms.

Some schools may have their Sixth Formers wear a uniform different form the rest of the students; for ladies, this is universal, while for the men, some schools allow you to continue wearing whatever you were wearing at the end of Form 5. As for prefects and librarians, that is up to the individual schools. As Sixth Formers would most probably be wearing a uniform different from the rest of the school, they are more easily recognized by the rest of the school. Teachers treat them as adults, to a certain degree, while the rest of the student body knows who they are dealing with.

If you have no problem with this, then it is okay. Personally, I have no problem with wearing uniforms, but then again, that is only my opinion. If you are the free and expressive type and wish to wear whatever you want whenever you want, Form 6 is not the place not to go. As an institution under the purview of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, it also means everything else on your body must also be in order. Hair, shoes, socks, earrings, bangles, unity bands, ear studs, nose rings, moustache, beard, goatee, nails, etc. all have to be within the limits set by the Ministry. After 11 years of being told how to dress, do you need another one and a half?

Number 9: More often than not, you will be unable to use your handphone, or any other electronic gadget more sophisticated than a calculator.

As I stated earlier, all schools offering Form 6 fall under the purview of the Ministry of Education, which gave an order barring all students from having hand phones. While the implementation of this order is on a school by school basis, there is a good chance you will be deprived of your handphone during school hours. Of course, if you have been bringing your phone to school all this while, then the only difference between going to college and going to Form 6 would mean that you would not have to constantly look over your shoulder to ensure that there are no teachers nearby whenever you use your hand phone.

While the ministry said no handphones at all, some schools do allow their Sixth Formers to bring their handphones to school. As far as I know, Taman SEA allows its Sixth Formers to bring, and keep their phones on themselves during school hours.

This also means that unlike going to college, you would not have peace of mind if you decide to bring laptops, MP3 players, PDAs or cameras to class. Makes life very troublesome for the gadget inclined, doesn’t it?

The most troublesome part about all this is not being able to contact others, or use your gadgets, when you need to or want to. But then you know all this already…

Number 8: Most people are limited by their schools to taking four subjects, rather than five.

There are two caveats to this problem. The first is some schools still do offer five subjects for STPM. The second is that if you want to drop a subject or two, then this is not a problem at all; this is in fact an advantage of doing Form 6.

For most, this is not a problem. However, if you want a wider range of studies, Form 6 is not the place to go to. International Baccalaureate ensures that students take subjects from both the science and social science stream, while A-Levels still allows you to take four science subjects. Taking all the sciences would enable you to widen your knowledge of physics if you like biology, or biology if you like physics, so you won’t end up like a frog under a coconut shell.

The greatest disadvantage of not taking all the science subjects is apparent after STPM; some universities want all the science subjects, or you might find that what you’re studying in your first year is what some people have already done at Form 6.

Though most programs narrow down your choices of programs at university, at least you get to take multiple subjects, whereas in Form 6, you only get to take a few.

Number 7: Your studying conditions will probably be pretty similar to the ones you had while you were in Form 5.

Remember the days when the sun is bearing down on you, the classroom feels like it is cooking and you want to sleep? Or that table which you used to sit at which has enough graffiti to cover the perimeter wall of your school? Or the splatter of water that would come in when it rains? Well, at least you’re used to it, because if you’re going back to do Form 6, you would get another chance to endure it all over again.

Sure, most colleges have a temperature that can rival a freezer, but at least there are ways you can overcome that. (If you have trouble remembering how, let me know :D)As far as I know, there is no way one can cool oneself down when the temperature in the classroom approaches that of an oven, or a way one can dehumidify an open space when the humidity of the surrounding area goes sky high.

The only exception to this rule would be when you shift from one school to another school to do Form 6, in which case you have absolutely no idea what the conditions will be like. But then again, the conditions between schools for Sixth Form classes are pretty similar. And they are pretty similar to that of the Form 5 classes. So unless your school, or the school you will be going to, has a separate block for Sixth Formers with a different set of conditions, your studying conditions will be similar to that of those in Form 5.

Number 6: You will be expected to participate, run and lead in extra-curricular activities in a manner similar to when you were in Form 5.

As I wrote earlier, Form 6 falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education. As such, your extra-curricular achievement will still be calculated as it was in Form 5. You know the details, but I’ll just put them here so you don’t have to dig them up yourself.

You are supposed to join one uniformed body, at least one game club and at least one society. The points taken from these activities are averaged out and any bonus points you collect are added to form your overall grade. And as a Sixth Former, you would be expected to help out in the running of the society or whatever else you join, especially if the school you choose to do Form 6 in is the same school in which you did Form 5 in.

Even if the school you do your Form 6 in is a different one compared to the one in which you did your SPM in, you would still be expected to take up leadership positions, especially in uniformed bodies with good connections to your former alma mater, or in clubs or societies which prefer Sixth Formers as their leaders, or clubs or societies which have no other leaders.

Just for your info, extra-curricular achievement for local government universities is taken from four years: Form 4, Form 5 and Lower and Upper Six. So slacking is not good for your extra-curricular activities marks.

Number 5: The teachers will still treat you like kids.

As you are still in school, wear uniforms and the like, you still get to be treated, or are treated (depending on how you look at it) as a kid. So there’s no going out of school early, no coming into school late and no walking out of class when there are no teachers in class. On top of that, you get to line up every day for assembly, receive report cards at the end of every term (which your parents still have to sign) and get demerit if you refuse to follow school rules.

On the extra-curricular front, activities run by any society you choose to lead are subject to approval by the teacher adviser. This does not mean that if you go to a college, this would not occur, but that in a school, your activities are still limited by the whims, fancies and idiosyncrasies of your teacher advisor.

Academic wise, Form 6 is not a good way to develop independence. Teachers will still chase you for your work, rather than considering you an adult and mature enough to send in your own work on time. This is not to say it is a bad thing, but just that you would have somewhat poorer study habits compared to your peers who went to college if you aren’t the type who hands in your homework day in and day out.

But wait, didn’t I say that teachers treat Sixth Formers like adults earlier? Well, in certain ways, you’re treated like an adult, but not in every way. What I wrote above are the exceptions to the rule.

So let’s say that you don’t mind wearing a uniform, you know all the tricks when it comes to bringing and using handphones during school hours, you want fewer subjects, you don’t mind baking in the hot sun, being treated like a kid, and you ignore all your extra-curricular activities. What comes next is stuff no Sixth Former can run away from…

Number 4: A subject of questionable usefulness, Pengajian Am, is there to cause you to study more stuff which you might not want to know.

Pengajian Am, more commonly known as PA among Sixth Formers here has two papers; Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 has 60 multiple choice questions, where 15 test your ability to think, qualitatively and quantitatively, while the remaining 45 test your citizenship knowledge. Normally the questions are citizenship first, with the thinking skills ones later. If you don’t know what citizenship is all about, it is basically the second half of the history syllabus for SPM.

Just that the book you have to read for it is about as thick as your Chemistry reference book.

There are numerous policies, laws, positions, procedures, bodies, commissions, councils, courts, jurisdictions and powers to remember. You get the idea…

Paper 2 is was once known as Kertas Am, until one fine day the ministry thought we were not patriotic enough and introduced Paper 1. Nevertheless, it has 2 essays, which are relatively easy to score decently in, provided one doesn’t go off topic. This is followed by two comprehension passages, which are basically about as hard to screw up as the essays.

What normally kills students off and is the bane of many a Sixth Former is Section D and Section E.

Section D involves translating an entire passage into a graph within the time constraints. We are supposed to take at most 30 minutes to do this. I normally take forty five minutes to an hour to do this, and took the former during STPM proper. The exercise is time-consuming and is not always worth the time put in; a good graph will net you 12 to 14 marks, with most flawless graphs falling here. Few people get between 11 ½ to 4 ½ because most mistakes normally cause you to get less than 4 ½ marks. And missing out a word, whether omitting it on the graph or failing to read it in the passage can cost one dearly.

Section E involves translating a table, graph, bar chart, pie chart, flow chart or fish bone diagram into a passage. Normally, this part doesn’t cost most people their marks, except when the instructions are read wrongly, or when another word is omitted from one’s answer, then the same situation occurs; a “fatally flawed” essay is worth only 2 or 3 marks.

Personally I have no problems with Paper 1 of PA; but then that’s just me. As for Paper 2, it was Sections D and E which I worried about, and which you should worry about too. Last year, weird stuff came out for both sections. The graph I did also had a mistake in the information. I still got an “A”, somehow (must be God’s grace), but is it worth spending so much time on a subject of worth only to local government universities? I don’t think so…

Number 3: With the exception of certain science papers with practical papers, your entire grade is based on your performance in one exam.

Form 6 starts in mid-May. Officially, that is. It used to start in March after the SPM results come out, but due to National Service, the intake was pushed back to May. Some schools start early (some schools in Sibu…DANIEL!!) which gives them sufficient time to cover the entire syllabus before they sit for STPM.

Nevertheless, the typical Sixth Former will spend about one and a half years studying, and at the end of all that studying, his or her entire grade will be based on two papers he or she will sit in November or December in the year he or she is in Upper Six. For PA, your entire grade will be based on five hours of exams, all taken within two weeks, while for most social science papers, your entire grade will be based on six hours of exams, all taken within two weeks as well.

Science papers with practical components are a little bit easier. Twenty percent will be based on you course work, of which you will normally get nineteen or twenty points out of twenty, while the remaining eighty percent is based off four and a quarter hours of exams, all taken within two weeks.

Basically, one and a half years of study are crammed into four, five or six hours of exams. And how you perform during the exam determines your grade. If you flop, there are no second chances.

Even A-Levels is not so merciless. There are two exams, AS and A2, for Cambridge A-Levels, while Edexcel has up to three. Most other courses have a very big proportion of their marks devoted to coursework.

Number 2: STPM is notorious for having a heavier syllabus compared to most other Pre-U programs, and is said to be the equivalent of most first year degree programs.

Some Pre-U programs narrow down the student’s further choice of study pretty dramatically. This is especially true for Foundation years and Diplomas, but has the added advantage of first, you will not study anything you do not need to know and secondly, you will spend less time studying what you do need to know. However, you go deep into what you do need to know, as you have fewer subjects to study.

Other Pre-U programs force you to study subjects which you do not need to know; SAM and IB being two of them. The only catch is, you don’t go so deep. As for A-Levels, you probably don’t go as deep as STPM, which makes it easier to score in, even though you have to think more while taking A-Levels than you do when taking STPM.

STPM combines the worst of both sets of programs. You learn a lot of stuff, much of it which you will only need to use once in your lifetime. Of course, you learn a lot of stuff you will eventually use, but in the meantime, you’ve got to cram your head with a lot of stuff which you won’t use ever again in your life.

Number 1: There is no graph when determining the grades for STPM. Grades are rarely inflated, and when they do, they often deflate after that.

Every year the MEC (Malaysians Examination Council, or Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia) releases a report on the performance of the candidates the year before. I haven’t looked at the report for the arts stream before, but I have for the science stream. In the report, the answers for most objective papers and for the mathematics papers are included. On top of that, a general description on the performance of the candidates for each question is also included.

However, at the start of every report there is a description of the general performance of the candidates in the subject itself, and included as well is the percentage of people who get every grade.

I’ll just be frank; there is no such thing as a normal graph when it comes to grading for STPM students. When it comes to PA, the normal graph maybe used; however, there are a high percentage of people who fail PA, so the graph doesn’t really fall towards the end. For bio, the graph is more smoothed out. For chemistry, the graph is less smoothed out; chemistry is notoriously hard to score in. The mathematics graph, looks nothing like a normal graph. There are a high number of people with “A”s, even higher than those with “A-“s, and there is another peak towards the middle. However, the highest peak comes at the end; about 15-25% of the candidates fail to get a subsidiary pass every year.

The best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) part is that the percentages change every year. Sure, the percentages for SPM change as well, but most of the time, they only go up. As for STPM, they go all over the place. Most of the time, they hold steady, but sometimes, they go up, others, they go down. The variations in the percentages are pretty alarming; one year, 3% had “A”s in chemistry, the year before, 2%.

For certain subjects, like computer science, there have been years where less than 1% of all candidates got “A”s. On the other hand, subjects like PA normally have an “A” rate of about 6%, with bio around 7%.

The variation in “A” rate between years and subjects is proof enough that the MEC doesn’t use a normal distribution graph when it comes to grading students.

If you’re doing Form 6 to get into a local government university, I suggest you consider the following:

Matrikulasi students have an easier time getting the grades they need to get into universities. They have lighter syllabi, easier exams and are assessed continuously rather than their entire grade being based off one exam. They are also guaranteed a place in local universities.

Matrikulasi students also have an easier time getting the points they need from their extracurricular activities. As there is only one college per state, anyone who represents their college represents the state, and gets a whole ton of points while they’re at it.

You’ll also have to compete with the Diploma students who leave the local universities, who have similar benefits with the Matrikulasi students.

If you go overseas or private, PA is normally not regarded as a Principle subject, which means that you’ll normally only have three Principles. This is a disadvantage when you compare yourself with students who did A-Levels; they normally have 4 Principles.

If you still want to do Form 6, you are probably a combination of two kinds of people:

The very poor.

Or the very foolish.

The biggest reason, by far, as to why people do Form 6, is that they do not have enough money to go private. It doesn’t cost much more than the rest of secondary education, and allows one to get into a local public university. However, consider the following:

If you have the money and are academically inclined, why on earth are you doing (or wish to do) Form 6? Go join Tze Phei when she enters Taylor’s. Private education will be easier, more convenient and more worth your time.

If you are poor and smart, go join Sarah Alfred in MCKL. As most (if not all) JS alumni are Methodists, you’ll be able to get a discount there, and I believe they’ll do the best they can do to ensure you get a scholarship to further your studies.

***Writer's note: As I feared, some people might read the above comment as saying that people who go to MCKL are poor. Let me state it here for clarity: Not all people who go to MCKL are poor, and Sarah Alfred, in particular, is far from it. The comment is directed at people who do not have the money to continue their education overseas, not at people who go to MCKL in general. I would also like to state that some people who do go to MCKL are materially blessed. So please DO NOT infer more than you see.***

If you are poor and not that academically inclined, then I would strongly discourage you from doing Form 6. Private education would be cheaper, easier and, as long as it’s your passion (or calling) it would be well worth your time. Sure, you might not have the money to go private, but I’ll have to warn you: Form 6 has a way of sucking the life out of people like no other program can. If you wish to or know it is God’s calling for you, then maybe you could try out STM…nevertheless…

If you are rich and not that academically inclined, then don’t be a fool. Don’t try Form 6. It’d be a waste of your time. You might as well pay for an easier program.

There is a need to include another caveat here: no program is a sure pass. Regardless of what you choose to do, you need to study, whether it be A-Levels, SAM, AUSMAT, ICPU, ADTP, MUFY, CAT, Diploma, Certificate, or, even after such extensive and comprehensive dissuasion, Form 6.

However, I can assure you that Form 6 will be the toughest of the lot. So maybe you should consider while you still have the time…

Just one last thing: Whatever decision you make, or course you take, let us all know that we may be able to continue praying for you.

God bless.

A little something, since i'm finding it hard to write about my experiences in JS. I guess you guys have to meet me in person to know about it in more detail, including what's the tragedy about.

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I came to JS, a disillusioned young boy.
Broken from being taken advantage of,
hurt by people and sins which i never took to care about;
I was close to giving up on God,
close to letting my life slip through my own hands, into hell.
But God was gracious,
he gave me hope on the day before YLDP 2008;
He made me challenge Him to show Himself within a small community of 11 X 2, plus 3.

In those extremely short 6 weeks,
It was there that God answered all my questions,
It was there that El Shaddai showed me His unfailing love;
It was Yhwh Rapha that healed me from my sickness, perversion, and infirmities;
It was there that He showed me that He is the God of Love,
It was there that i found my very own feet again.

Even though 6 months had barely passed from that tragedy,
The Lord of Miracles made me come out much stronger, instead of falling away;
It was His amazing grace and love that he protected me from the path of Satan's destruction,
It was His blessed assurance that made me find this group of friends;
It was His awesome power that love and concern just flowed through SUFES campsite like a ton of bricks.

And here i stand, stronger than before;
The passion of Christ burning strongly in my heart,
Joy overflowing, Peace abundant;
Conviction back, and unwavering - despite the circumstances.

And because of that,
I will forever give the glory to God, all the days of my life.

"This is my story, this is my song"
Such is the testimony of Timothy Ignatius Lewis, JS 2009.
(FYI, that's my middle name - not included in the IC)
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And now facing my bed in my room, just on top my hot-wired Hifi:

The little chocolate mirror with the handmade cross hanging in the centre. Just to remind myself about JS and who should be centre of my life, always.
I hope this encourages you guys.

Tim