Clueless

[dillawearsprada]

So I just graduated from high school. Received 5A+, 1A, 2A- and 1B+ (darn you Chemistry) for my recent SPM exam. Not too shabby, I say, but unfortunately not up to par with what scholarship givers wanted or else I would've been attending interviews. Anyhow, my father offered me a chance to attend a private uni for my pre-uni studies. Thing is, I am absolutely clueless as to what to do. Heard A-Levels is tough as crap, so it's kinda out of my options. My question is, if I go for ICPU/ AUSMAT/ etc. is there a chance for me to get funded by a scholarship later on? Like, do MARA or JPA offer overseas scholarships to those who took neither STPM nor A-Levels?

Thanks in advance <3

[dearyou]

As of 2012, JPA no longer offer scholarships for Pre-U leavers. Any type of Pre-U should be fine for university admission, and it all depends on your personal opinion. A-Levels is perhaps the hardest amongst all the Pre-U programmes, but it is also widely accredited by admission tutors. Would you want to consider IB? And make sure you do well, score at least an ATAR of 99.05 to secure a scholarship if you decided to do Ausmat.

[dolpin122]

i think it depends on what course you might want to do in future..i mean if you're gonna do accounting or business, go for foundation and save time.
But if you plan to take medical field courses like medicine,dentistry etc.. A levels and i think IB, stpm will be useful..helps alot during your first year..and i agree that A levels is hard..but nothing is easy..you've got to work hard..

[frostbyte13]

First, allow me to clear up a controversial fact that A-level is that toughest pre-university. All if not most of them are equally hard, because pre-university courses are to drill you for professional courses in elite institutions. Yes, A-level is tough, but so is SAM/ICPU/MUFY/UNSWFY/AUSMAT alike. The only difference is WHY is it tough. A-level is tough mainly because there is a lot to absorb, much like STPM. So I dare say, STPM and A-level students are on par. Just a matter which is more recognized locally and internationally. The others I've mentioned are tough because it's a short time to learn the entire syllabus which is almost the same as A-level and STPM.

Originally Posted by dearyou

As of 2012, JPA no longer offer scholarships for Pre-U leavers. Any type of Pre-U should be fine for university admission, and it all depends on your personal opinion. A-Levels is perhaps the hardest amongst all the Pre-U programmes, but it is also widely accredited by admission tutors. Would you want to consider IB? [B[And make sure you do well, score at least an ATAR of 99.05 to secure a scholarship if you decided to do Ausmat.[/b]

Heed those words. Because I myself am not familiar with the new JPA policy and could not be really bothered because I am just not having hopes in JPA after it disappointed me post-SPM.

Originally Posted by dolpin122

i think it depends on what course you might want to do in future..i mean if you're gonna do accounting or business, go for foundation and save time.
But if you plan to take medical field courses like medicine,dentistry etc.. A levels and i think IB, stpm will be useful..helps alot during your first year..and i agree that A levels is hard..but nothing is easy..you've got to work hard..

THIS. Save yourself some trouble if you are going to do these fields.

[dillawearsprada]

Originally Posted by dearyou

As of 2012, JPA no longer offer scholarships for Pre-U leavers. Any type of Pre-U should be fine for university admission, and it all depends on your personal opinion. A-Levels is perhaps the hardest amongst all the Pre-U programmes, but it is also widely accredited by admission tutors. Would you want to consider IB? And make sure you do well, score at least an ATAR of 99.05 to secure a scholarship if you decided to do Ausmat.

99.05 out of 100? That's like unreachably high :O Heard IB is tougher than A-levels but I wouldn't know. Do you mind sparing some of your time to explain how IB's different than A-levels? And how widely recognized it is?

Originally Posted by dolpin122

i think it depends on what course you might want to do in future..i mean if you're gonna do accounting or business, go for foundation and save time.
But if you plan to take medical field courses like medicine,dentistry etc.. A levels and i think IB, stpm will be useful..helps alot during your first year..and i agree that A levels is hard..but nothing is easy..you've got to work hard..

The thing is, countless of people have been telling me how A-levels is completely exam-oriented, which practically means I'd have to bury my head in book for 1.5 whole year, if not longer. What intrigued me about other programmes like AUSMAT AND CPU is that they actually make us do coursework and stuffs like that, which I will surely find refreshing after all those years of reading and memorizing in secondary school.

Oh and I'd like to pursue engineering Mechanical engineering specifically.

[dolpin122]

Honestly, i'm not so sure if A-levels is useful for engineering...
yes, Alevels is exam oriented...
so i think IB would be fun because you are assessed not only in exams but community work and if not mistaken, some other course work. That makes it harder to ace than A-levels.

[frostbyte13]

OH believe me when I say that though coursework and practical work emphasis may sound INTERESTING, you need to ask people who are doing it now for a proper opinion. Most of my friends in AUSMAT dreaded these assignments as not only did it involve a high degree of research and pain-staking time to prepare the paperwork, the weight of the final grade it added only served to make it worse. Believe me, you had best check yourself whether you are actually a person who likes practical work more than just plain memorizing. Doesn't mean doing practical work will mean less burying yourself in books; it might mean MORE.

A simple teaser; what are you experiences conducting experiments in F4 and F5? Fun? Exciting? Or did everyone just copy the answers? I did the former, and it make my lab days very boring; A-level's lab days also did not really do me justice as exam tested well beyond the scope we had to prepare in the short time we had.

[dillawearsprada]

Originally Posted by dolpin122

Honestly, i'm not so sure if A-levels is useful for engineering...
yes, Alevels is exam oriented...
so i think IB would be fun because you are assessed not only in exams but community work and if not mistaken, some other course work. That makes it harder to ace than A-levels.

Really? I think I'm settling on Foundation in Science/ Engineering.

Originally Posted by frostbyte13

OH believe me when I say that though coursework and practical work emphasis may sound INTERESTING, you need to ask people who are doing it now for a proper opinion. Most of my friends in AUSMAT dreaded these assignments as not only did it involve a high degree of research and pain-staking time to prepare the paperwork, the weight of the final grade it added only served to make it worse. Believe me, you had best check yourself whether you are actually a person who likes practical work more than just plain memorizing. Doesn't mean doing practical work will mean less burying yourself in books; it might mean MORE.

A simple teaser; what are you experiences conducting experiments in F4 and F5? Fun? Exciting? Or did everyone just copy the answers? I did the former, and it make my lab days very boring; A-level's lab days also did not really do me justice as exam tested well beyond the scope we had to prepare in the short time we had.

Oh. I might just be stating crap here, cos I haven't actually gone through any of that but from where I see it, I thought programmes like AUSMAT, CPU, etc. would be better because our final mark isn't entirely based on one paper but our whole length of studying instead. Or am I wrong there?

Haha well, in all honesty, I did enjoy some of the experiments. So you were an A-levels student? Would you say you regret you decision of going for A-levels? Or would you not have it any other way?

[frostbyte13]

Originally Posted by dillawearsprada

Oh. I might just be stating crap here, cos I haven't actually gone through any of that but from where I see it, I thought programmes like AUSMAT, CPU, etc. would be better because our final mark isn't entirely based on one paper but our whole length of studying instead. Or am I wrong there?

Haha well, in all honesty, I did enjoy some of the experiments. So you were an A-levels student? Would you say you regret you decision of going for A-levels? Or would you not have it any other way?

Finishing my A-level this June. Yeah our final marks are based on just one paper you know. CIE though more rigid than Edexcel, still provides for a modular examination system, meaning your aggregate grade is not based on your performance on one paper and is not crammed into one session, unless you choose to do so. The latter meaning you did badly for the first half of your exams, then it becomes linear because you will be taking both halves of the exams together i.e. repeating. The good thing is your best score, whether the new or old, is the one taken into your final calculation of your aggregate grade.

Hey, do you think that our assignments and projects will be marked as lenient as in secondary school? You must research, digest, transcribe and elaborate on your findings. Not to mention you'll need to prove what you write and the sources, if you have any idea what is bibliography is about. If your materials really look like copy and paste or do not impress your lecturer in terms of maturity of the writing, it's the equivalent of sending in an empty paper. Sure lecturers can be a bit more understanding if they know who you are and stuff, but the fact boils down to the fact they still have an obligation to be responsible people.

I regretted taking more than necessary subjects for A-level considering the fact even after I finally decided what I want to pursue and also possibly a little on the overall decision to take it. However, this is now and it can't be said back then. I took A-level because I literally had no idea what I wanted to do, only did the time in A-level finally got me to decide to do Economics. And frankly, if you are not aiming high, a foundation which is a much easier route is enough to go this field of study. That said, a foundation can NEVER prepare me in the likes of what A-level has done to my academia. Besides, I met GREAT friends in A-level.

THEN AGAIN, please consult some others who took those other pre-university courses you mentioned. It could be I never wrote all these without giving the benefit of doubt to them or it's just my examination mentality speaking NEITHER, am I discouraging you at all for trying out these programs. I don't know who you are but God knows? Maybe you will actually prefer assignments and stuff rather than exams?

[dillawearsprada]

Originally Posted by frostbyte13

Finishing my A-level this June. Yeah our final marks are based on just one paper you know. CIE though more rigid than Edexcel, still provides for a modular examination system, meaning your aggregate grade is not based on your performance on one paper and is not crammed into one session, unless you choose to do so. The latter meaning you did badly for the first half of your exams, then it becomes linear because you will be taking both halves of the exams together i.e. repeating. The good thing is your best score, whether the new or old, is the one taken into your final calculation of your aggregate grade.

Hey, do you think that our assignments and projects will be marked as lenient as in secondary school? You must research, digest, transcribe and elaborate on your findings. Not to mention you'll need to prove what you write and the sources, if you have any idea what is bibliography is about. If your materials really look like copy and paste or do not impress your lecturer in terms of maturity of the writing, it's the equivalent of sending in an empty paper. Sure lecturers can be a bit more understanding if they know who you are and stuff, but the fact boils down to the fact they still have an obligation to be responsible people.

I regretted taking more than necessary subjects for A-level considering the fact even after I finally decided what I want to pursue and also possibly a little on the overall decision to take it. However, this is now and it can't be said back then. I took A-level because I literally had no idea what I wanted to do, only did the time in A-level finally got me to decide to do Economics. And frankly, if you are not aiming high, a foundation which is a much easier route is enough to go this field of study. That said, a foundation can NEVER prepare me in the likes of what A-level has done to my academia. Besides, I met GREAT friends in A-level.

THEN AGAIN, please consult some others who took those other pre-university courses you mentioned. It could be I never wrote all these without giving the benefit of doubt to them or it's just my examination mentality speaking NEITHER, am I discouraging you at all for trying out these programs. I don't know who you are but God knows? Maybe you will actually prefer assignments and stuff rather than exams?

I understand that the assignments and projects done in university is on a whole new level compared to what was done in secondary school, that's something I'll never ridicule. I'm still as confused as I ever though. I got accepted into UITM for Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, which is the course that I was striving for, I also got accepted into Matriks for Foundation In Sciene, which isn't a bad choice either. But it bothered me that if I go for either one, it would crush my dreams of going overseas for my further education (degree). I could go to a private college for a pre-university program, kick it in the butt, and land myself a scholarship for post-graduate studies but the thing is, what if I don't get a scholarship? These 'what if's are killing me.