Subjects-you-could-study-in-malaysia
Malaysia has been rather progressive in its education blueprint, with new Education Minister, Dr Maszlee Malik drafting significant changes to the framework of Malaysian schools. With news that streams are to be dissolved, let’s take a look at the subjects that are still left standing as core subjects and possible elective subjects that you may take up. Our public examinations in PT3 and SPM have always had a long list of subjects candidates could take up. They comprise of core subjects such as English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mathematics, Pendidikan Moral or Pendidikan Islam and Sejarah. Regardless of the school or area, you are sitting for the exams, you would have to take up these subjects. English, Bahasa Malaysia and Sejarah are compulsory to pass subjects, which means that you’d only receive your SPM cert when you manage to at least pass the three subjects. However, with the never-wanting-to-lose spirit of Malaysians, many take up more than that, selecting subjects from the electives such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Additional Mathematics, hence forming the Science stream; Pendidikan Seni Visual, Geography, English Literature, Kesusasteraan Melayu and so on; forming majority of the Art stream students’ collection of textbooks.
English is a two-part paper, one being a complete writing paper, with two essays on board. One would be directed writing, with the information given and often a format to follow. The other would be free writing, selected off a list of five topics. The other paper would be a comprehension paper that includes grammar, reading, summarising and a novel study. Bahasa Malaysia is also a two-part paper, similar to English, and comes in a paper for writing and a paper for comprehension. The comprehension paper, however, comprises of more elements than the English one, spanning from summarising, comprehension, grammar, spelling, idioms and two novel studies.
Mathematics is a two-part paper, with a 40-question MCQ paper and a structure question paper. It usually comprises of topics specifically studied in Form 4 & Form 5 but will span across mathematical concepts studied since Form 1. Sejarah is a three-part paper that adds up to a hundred marks. Paper 1 is an MCQ paper comprising of 40 questions, paper 2 being a structure and essay paper and paper 3 being the most unique of them all, an open-book test. Pendidikan Moral and Pendidikan Islam are taken with respect to the student’s beliefs. A Muslim student is required to take up Pendidikan Islam while the non-Muslims would take up Pendidikan Moral. Pendidikan Moral, famed to require students to memorise 36 subjects and end up brutally fighting for an A, only has one paper, comprising of structure and essay questions. The science papers, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, have almost the same format, with three papers. The first is a 50-question MCQ, the second a structure and essay paper while the third is a written assessment of experiments. These subjects are often tough, with the syllabus comprising of many in-depth topics, not to add on the difficulty that the new batch of KSSR students would have to face.
Regardless of the subjects, they have their respective areas which are challenging. Due to the immense number of subjects a student has to go through with only 24 hours on hand daily, many opt into private tuition. Areas within the Klang Valley, like in Kuala Lumpur, are the heart of the best private home tuition available in Malaysia. They appear like mushrooms but also disappear in a blink of an eye, so grab a tutor now while you can!
