How can one handle the stress of form 4/5/SPM?

[danielhong93]

The year has just started and i feel that form 4 is quite a drag. It's not like back in form 1/2/3 when stuff were still in their basics. I have loads of homework and CCAs to cope with, all for the sake of getting into a good college/uni with a good scholarship and recognition. I'm doing all of this so my parents won't need to be burdened with tertiary tuition fees and such. So, how can i pull off what my seniors have done when they were my age?

Below are the subjects which i am currently taking and 99.9% likely to take for my SPM in 2010.

BM
English language
Maths
Sejarah
Pendidikan moral
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Add Maths
English in Science and technology
Literature in English
Below are the CCAs which I participate in:

Member of the IT Brigade (student government)
Member of the Air Scouts (uniform body)
Commitee Member of the Christian Fellowship (society)
Marching Chief for Sports House (until April 2009)
Member of the school debate team - under probation

Advice from all viewers are most welcome.

[vikraman]

Daniel you are from MBSSKL. I am your senior 2007 graduation. Don't worry SPM is kacang :P Watch out for Ramani. That's all the advice you need!

[danielhong93]

Wow! Not many MBSians i know use Recom...Heck! I'm totally new here hehehe:))

What class were u from Vikraman and do u know Addison Ooh and Andrew Wong?

[vikraman]

My classmates. I'm from K. Please add me on msn if you wish to chat further. Do not reveal any more personal information on ReCom.

[stupidboy]

The year has just started and i feel that form 4 is quite a drag. It's not like back in form 1/2/3 when stuff were still in their basics. I have loads of homework and CCAs to cope with, all for the sake of getting into a good college/uni with a good scholarship and recognition. I'm doing all of this so my parents won't need to be burdened with tertiary tuition fees and such. So, how can i pull off what my seniors have done when they were my age?

Below are the subjects which i am currently taking and 99.9% likely to take for my SPM in 2010.

BM
English language
Maths
Sejarah
Pendidikan moral
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Add Maths
English in Science and technology
Literature in English
Below are the CCAs which I participate in:

Member of the IT Brigade (student government)
Member of the Air Scouts (uniform body)
Commitee Member of the Christian Fellowship (society)
Marching Chief for Sports House (until April 2009)
Member of the school debate team - under probation

Advice from all viewers are most welcome.

Normally, if you pay attention in class and do revisions of your own after class, you should do fine. Don't get too hooked up with your CCAs though. The most important part is still your studies. :)

[vaanbalthier]

If you really want to, just an advice though, do not take it too seriously. Well, try to get as many certs you can for CCA in form 4. It's "honeymoon" year. Limit yourself to CCA in form 5 though because this is where you'll have to start focusing.
Oh and Literature in English is kinda hard. If you're confident than take that subject. Check it out, the format and syllabus this year and decide. If you think that it's a nuisance, drop it. Just my opinion, hope it helps.

[Miracle_seed]

Somehow, I don't think Form 4/5 is stressful, it's still quite enjoyable time...

[capablanca]

The most blissful of times. My teacher once told me, if you can't handle secondary school, wait till you reach college. If you can't handle college, wait till you go to work. Then, you'll know which is the most stressful period.

[zell_ll]

Hoho...form 4/5, enjoy!!!

[bachok83]

pressure makes diamond.

Form 4 is not a honeymoon year. If you ask me, form 4 is one of the most important years of your life (it may be a stretch).

Form 4 determines your capability to cope with Malaysian's education system (reads, remember, remember, hafal, remember, hafal, hafal, &^%#*$ <--corrupted data, hafal, remember.....etc).

You can certainly make up in form 5, but that would take heck-a-lot of work. If you dont score in your SPM, it's hard to get scholarship.

And so the story goes.

Unless you want to follow a different path:
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Matt (http://ma.tt) are college drop outs.. (this percentage is very small, indeed).

[Xon]

When you're in college, you blame for the coursework/homework/questions/problems which're hell lots and difficult. But when you enter the society, and you face problems in the real world, you wish that the world and the society don't change the college.

>.< recalled and edited from a site.

[henry_yew]

If you ask me, Form 4 is the time where you might find yourself being able to balance out your time quite well between studies and co-curricular activities. In fact, this was the year when I joined the most activities and actually still managed to keep my grades.

Then again, if you have tuition classes to attend (oh, trust me, people do send their children for tuition classes) then you might find yourself having a very tight schedule for the whole week, as if with barely any time for you to actually sit down and calm yourself down.

In a way, Form 4 can be quite a relaxing year for you, but do not take it for granted. Keep up with the progress of your work and you should be able to do well in both academic and non-academic. If you feel that there are subjects that you need to have some tuition classes to boost your understanding, then by all means go ahead if that would solve your confidence crisis while answering your examination papers. However, I believe that you have your strengths in certain subjects, then you would not need to take up tuition classes for those subjects. Saves time, saves money.

Participating in a debate team can be quite a challenge, and when competitions start, often you might find yourself spurring during school hours (or maybe for you, after school hours). Do not be surprised that if you manage to win up to state levels, you might have to defer your examinations just to go for debate competitions, and then return to school to sit for your examinations. In this light, then Form 4 may not be your honeymoon year after all.

However, take it easy. SPM may seem to be a very difficult examination, but tell me, when you did your UPSR back then, it felt tough, too, right?

[dawny]

for me the best way to handle stress during spm is listening to music and chit chat more with friends & family. after expressing our feeling, stress could be reduced also :amuse

[sugarspice]

Hehe, SPM is that stressful as you sound to me...It was quite OK with me, except for the Chinese language...=.=

By the way, why is this thread under 'Malaysia Today'............:amazed

Mod, move it, move it!

[youngyew]

Moved as per request.

[chongkeat]

Digression Warning!

Unless you want to follow a different path:
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Matt (http://ma.tt) are college drop outs.. (this percentage is very small, indeed).
Ok, I kinda have a tiny bone to pick with that.

Now, I know that your message is most probably something like "Not going to college is not the end of the world", but I just think that calling these people "drop outs" is kinda misleading. To me, at least, that seemed to imply that those people are not good enough to finish college. I think.

I'm not too sure about the others, but Bill Gates definitely chose to drop out of college himself. Firstly, the computer industry was just starting to boom at the time, and he don't want to miss a perfect opportunity to get in quick, so he couldn't wait till he graduated, and dropped out. Now, remember that he is from a upper-class family, and so he can choose to drop out of Harvard just like that, and not worry.

Unlike him, most of us:
1. Don't have a mindblazingly brilliant flash of inspiration. Yet.
2. Are not really rich. Or at least, I'm not really rich.

(this percentage is very small, indeed).
But of course, you accounted for that here.

Again, not implying that you said anything wrong, just trying to expand on one of your points.

[WilsonCWJ]

Hmm.. my upper sec life was kind of stressful and hectic but I managed to endure them well. Remember to persevere in whatever u do and work hard on it. U should be prepared academically in form 4 so that u wont have a tough time in form 5.
In terms of extra-curricular activities, try to get yourself involved in similar curricular activities so that u can shoot two birds with one stone when u prepare. Good luck!

[CCY_to_the_top]

3 words..study hard...as long as you study, mid9 is okay..

[Koschei]

I guess I'm lucky, but the only thing that I didn't like about my form 4 and form 5 was the amount of manure that I had to put up with from some of my "friends".

If you're talking about studies, chill. The only subjects that you'll have to study are the sciences, and add maths. For the rest, you can glide through them. Just make sure you pay attention in class, at least half of the time.

(When you go to college, you'll look back and think "Oh god, SPM was so easy. I don't know why I got so worried about it.")

[music_freak28]

Form 4 and 5 was really fun for me. It was a busy life but I have learnt most during my upper secondary years.

All you need is time management. A perfect time management will give you success in all aspects. For SPM, about 3 hours of solid studying a day is more than enough. And you can spend the rest of the day on CCAs or other hobbies. It is really that simple. But make sure you concentrate fully on those three hours.

And also perserverance. Don't give up any CCAs quickly just because you want to study more (unless it is really occupying all of your time and jeopardizes your studies) as CCAs will really pay off in the end when it comes down to applying for scholarships.

And cut the lazy and last-minute attitudes because although u can still do well with last minute cramming, this attitude will affect your performance greatly in college.

Trust me, SPM is just a breeze. Always have this in mind: If we as humans could do well in it, why not you? You are human too. :)

[CCY_to_the_top]

ya..it just a breeze...i remembered asking myself when will the exam end during January on my SPM year..but now, its just a breeezzeee...

[yanno_yamster]

My forms 4 and 5 years came and went pretty fast, and before I knew it I am outta school already... Trust me, these 2 years SHOULD be one of the best years of your life as my ex-school principal always said... Take chances and do things you have always longed to do/accomplish in school just for the fun of it (For me, I played under the rain in school in front of the principal's office, wakakakah!!) as long it doesn't hurt others though...

The one thing I dislike in form 4/5 is the lack of sleep due to doing homework and projects (the worst was getting merely 3 hours of sleep). That was the time where I really crave for those forced afternoon naps I used to hate when I was much younger... Good thing listening to music helped a lot in keeping myself awake (though can be quite distracting at times).

In short, play hard, study smart!!!

[Scrmath]

The year has just started and i feel that form 4 is quite a drag. It's not like back in form 1/2/3 when stuff were still in their basics. I have loads of homework and CCAs to cope with, all for the sake of getting into a good college/uni with a good scholarship and recognition. I'm doing all of this so my parents won't need to be burdened with tertiary tuition fees and such. So, how can i pull off what my seniors have done when they were my age?


Below are the subjects which i am currently taking and 99.9% likely to take for my SPM in 2010.

BM
English language
Maths
Sejarah
Pendidikan moral
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Add Maths
English in Science and technology
Literature in English
Below are the CCAs which I participate in:

Member of the IT Brigade (student government)
Member of the Air Scouts (uniform body)
Commitee Member of the Christian Fellowship (society)
Marching Chief for Sports House (until April 2009)
Member of the school debate team - under probation

Advice from all viewers are most welcome.

Well,for cca,get as much as certs and especially in daerah or higher one!Try to participate activities like australia chemistry and nusajaya secondlink..They gain u a cool 17 marks for participation in koko cert!And dun forget be a prefect to get bonus mark!

For academics,bm i recommend tuition with experienced tcher..the most important part is bm essay..like bekerjasama u should add idioms like aur dgn tebing, bulat pembetung kerana..., bersatu teguh bercerai roboh...all that..try to put about 40 idioms,cogan kata like msia boleh,remaja tiang negara.. and good phrases like memperkemas iltizam all that..try to write an opening and conclusion which can be put to all essay!It saves u ample time!My opening and conclusion have a total of 320 words oledi! rmr A1 for bm u need abt 700 word at least..

Bi be careful with yr grammar mistakes..for msia one this should be enough for a1 but gce o level not enough..

add math practice makes perfect..sej get skema jawapan from tcher to memorise..est dun reveal yr names in articles or report written in exam..go tuition for phy coz referrence bk is not enough..Moral master the strategy to answer..

[CCY_to_the_top]

nowadays, CCA only took up 10% out of 100%...academic took up 75%..so..go for studies instead..

[Keiko123]

since you're f4 this year, i advise you SHOULD use the whole year wisely.
u must understand all the syllabus taught in those subjects (especially Bio, Phy, Chem) in f4 earlier, so tat u can continue your studies in f5 smoothly. moreover, you should brush up your english at this time since it's getting more important currently. [i had experienced it myself, which i didnt use the time in f4 properly. there's a regret in my life... :cry but luckily my spm result didnt disappoint me absolutely.]

btw, u should participate in some curricular activities too, besides just holding a book studying the whole time-like a book worm :P because CCA will be useful in your future. nowadays everything depends your CCA besides academic result. (i think so...) but remember dont neglect your studies too. manage the time wisely.

otherwise, when you come to f5, you'll find tat you're rushed to bear all those f4+f5 academic problems at the same time like wat i had faced when i was in f5. :(

anyway, these are just my opinions.
how should you manage it all depend yourself. :)

[castle]

everybody seemed to be very busy during f4 and f5...i wonder why i was so relaxed?all i did was hangout with friends and go out at night.

well,imo,just pay attention in class.you don't like homework,don't do it.hehe...well,at least that's what i did.pay attention,do exercises in class,relax,have fun and you'll be fine.f4 and f5 was the best years of my life.

[sarahcsm]

The year has just started and i feel that form 4 is quite a drag. It's not like back in form 1/2/3 when stuff were still in their basics. I have loads of homework and CCAs to cope with, all for the sake of getting into a good college/uni with a good scholarship and recognition. I'm doing all of this so my parents won't need to be burdened with tertiary tuition fees and such. So, how can i pull off what my seniors have done when they were my age?

Below are the subjects which i am currently taking and 99.9% likely to take for my SPM in 2010.

BM
English language
Maths
Sejarah
Pendidikan moral
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Add Maths
English in Science and technology
Literature in English

Below are the CCAs which I participate in:

Member of the IT Brigade (student government)
Member of the Air Scouts (uniform body)
Commitee Member of the Christian Fellowship (society)
Marching Chief for Sports House (until April 2009)
Member of the school debate team - under probationCool, your subject list is very similar to mine =) I think you should go ahead with all your CCAs, but try not to miss too many classes. I know its tough not to miss, but do make an effort to attend your classes, especially for the sciences and maths. I was extremely busy in F4, and practically missed a total of one month of classes, in the second half of the year. Due to that, I was totally lost, especially in the sciences. =) If you really have to absent yourself from some of these classes, read ahead of the teacher, so that you don't miss out when you return. As for me, tution classes did help =) As someone said earlier, the information in reference books for chemistry and physics are not sufficient. Unless your school teacher teaches well, I'd recommend attending tuition classes for these two subjects, especially PHYSICS. The reference books don't really explain the concepts well. When you come to F5, the more challenging topics for chemistry are carbon chemistry and redox. Most students find it confusing cause they depend entirely on reference books. And these resources, most of the time, are incomplete. Especially when elaborating the carbon chem and redox rules. Ask as many questions as you need, cause they'll be missing links here and there when you miss classes. I think that's the best way to catch up.

Although you'd be busy with the many CCAs, don't allow your academic results to drop too low, cause it'll be quite hard to catch up later on. I'd say the lowest you could get, would be a B3. Nothing lower than that. To be honest, I screwed my chemistry in the final year F4 examinations, with a 56. =) If you ever experience this, don't worry. Use the end-year break (Nov - Jan) to catch up, just like I did (Chemistry is now one of my favourite subjects =)) =D. Make full use of the end-year break to strengthen your foundation, and if you can, start some easier chapters of form 5 (sciences and math) first.

I don't do exceptionally well in Bio, =), so I can't really tell you much. You'd have to ask a Bio expert. =) Basically, you need to read everything in the text book and in reference books. And understand it.

As for add maths, do as many questions as possible. And check the answers, of course =) There is no point doing the questions but getting all of them wrong. Make sure your working is complete, and if you can, try to derive all the formulas you use. By deriving, your thoughts become clearer, and I think it's easier to solve the maths questions that way. Don't rely completely on the formula sheet provided cause you won't have time to finish the questions.

For English Lit, read your stuff as many times as possible. Each time you read, you gain a new understanding. Write all of them down. Underline the quotes you find interesting or helpful. The more quotes you memorize, the better. If you can get a friend to discuss the texts, it would be better =) Makes life much easier for you. For the poems, look out for metaphors and imagery =) I personally liked Dulce Et Decorum Est =) It's got lots of vivid imagery, and alliteration =)

Reduce your CCAs in F5 as much as you can. The F5 year's very crucial. However, don't get so stressed about SPM. As another person said on the forum, just like UPSR, SPM will be a breeze after you finish it =) Of course, nobody would agree before taking the SPM, but after you're done with it, you'll realize that pre-u and uni stuff is so much more challenging =) Just take it in stride, and you'll do well. Study ahead of time, and complete all your homework, even if you feel it's redundant (cause they ARE helpful). Don't leave out any part of the syllabus. And prayer helps a lot (from family members, friends etc. )=) No matter how tired, stressed or depressed you are, remember: God's there for you =)

[ponyo]

Form 4 would be the time when you collect as many certs as you can (plus enjoy!) while in Form 5, you can wave CCA goodbye by June and start concentrating! :amuse Hope that helps.

[nickvl]

You ain't see nuthin' till you are in Form 6!!!!!

anyway yeah best time to collect certs, participate in evrything...in short have a life....

[Boyz_Zoo]

Form 4 is the time to enjoy but don't get overboard. Hunt for certs and posts. Then, next year you can set probationary board at may for the junior to take over and finally give them permanently, and then focus in your studies. It is very enjoyable your form 4 and form 5 life though it is stressful but you miss it. I do.

[snow_undine]

i would say that form 4 and form 5 is definitely two years of easy life. you just have to study and join the clubs. not to say that i am biased but the life in college and university is harder and more stressful. just keep in your mind that form 4 and form 5 is easy, be consistent, and believe in yourself. ask your teachers and friends if you don't understand your studies. seriously, stop thinking that it is stressful and it will not be as stressful as what you're feeling now.

[BattleBoyz]

I am starting to miss my upper secondary school life. Well, I just want to say cherish every moment you have with your classmates and friends and enjoy your upper secondary school life. That will be your precious memories with your friends. After SPM, all your friends will seperate and go on to their college life. :P

[swing]

hi daniel,
u can find out how to managing ur exam anxienty at http://www.malaysiaexampaper.com/index.html, u will know how u are going to do b4 and :squishon the day of exam ...

[ipin]

3 words..study hard...as long as you study, mid9 is okay..

how come STUDY HARD is considered as 3 words.hehe:P

[AnnieChan]

hahaha yea o..

[CelineD]

how come STUDY HARD is considered as 3 words.hehe:P

maybe there's an implied 'very' in the middle of the two words.:wink

To the thread owner...it's true that from form 3 (PMR)to form 4(pre-SPM) is a big leap...so is form 5 to PRE-U of any kind, and so on. the leap can really confuse us sometimes, like form 3 almost everything is objective to form 4 almost everything is subjective; from form 5 right now in form 6 and above(or any other pre-u for that matter), in order to learn everything under syllabus we finish one major chapter in 1 or 2 weeks most...and there's got tons of chapters!

Don't let what I said freak you out though. The huge 'gap' is something our education system can hopefully improve on, but take it as a blessing in disguise. You learn to digest new ways of studying, new infos etc at a faster rate and as a result can adapt to change in learning more easily...:amuse

[AnnieChan]

heyy i actually enjoy answering subjectively ! :) it fun.. your answers aint limited..especially for sejarah :P

[CelineD]

heyy i actually enjoy answering subjectively ! :) it fun.. your answers aint limited..especially for sejarah :P

Er...history is subjective? Not really...it's almost 100% memory.The pendapat part is my fave though...

If history were really subjective in the sense where it's 'personal opinion allowed' I'd disagree with the way history is sometimes presented in the textbooks...anyway back to topic, subjective means that the answers need to be reasons and not blindly picked--it's harder, but good!:)

[nittu]

heyy i actually enjoy answering subjectively ! :) it fun.. your answers aint limited..especially for sejarah :P
Sejarah was one of my fav subject last time especially form 4 sejarah.. I really love studying the ancient part and about the religions.. That was very interesting part until i can memories all the points.. But form 5 sejarah was quite boring.. Anyway as Celined told sejarah is nearly 100% memorisation and if im not mistaken most people hate sejarah because of that..:P

[Young]

Hmm, everyone here says that F4 and F5 were easy years compared to college or university but I beg to differ. =/

It depends, really. If you're aiming to be an excellent student then SPM will burn you down and beat you to a pulp. It's quite a feat to study for 10+ subjects and aim for 80+ for each and every one of them.

If you think about it, we study for 2-3 languages, 3 sciences, 2 mathematics, and one ridiculously annoying history subject for TWO years just to regurgitate everything out during one do-or-die exam... That's pretty epic by any standards. When I told my Singaporean or Australian friends about SPM, they were shocked and horrified that we had to do 10+ subjects.

College and university were both different as they required different sets of skills from SPM. I thrived in college, blitzed the assignments and aced the exams... and still found it to be substantially less stressful compared to SPM.

For university, I'm doing medicine and many consider it to be one of the more demanding courses around... But when I think about it in retrospect, the workload isn't any more than SPM. Granted, it's a lot harder to score high marks (in university, everybody aims for pass before anything else :P) and the stakes are definitely substantially higher but stressful? Of course it was stressful but I didn't find it to be a lot worse than SPM. :)

So to those who are in F4 or doing SPM this year, you have every right to feel pressured and stressed out (only if you're aiming to excel); it's a normal reaction. Don't be put off when people say SPM is easy and the hard stuff comes in college/university because by the time you overcome SPM, you have your work ethics set up for most challenges the academic world throws at you. :)

[girlhand]

actually wen im sitting f4 n f5 i've also think dat way..
but its actually more harder wen ur in collge r u oneday..
its ok..

tke my advice..
take it slowly..just think dat this 2 year is actually a basic if u want to go further..
go..go..fightin!!!haha...