5 Tips To Score Well in STPM

This blog is dedicated to those who are determined to score well in STPM, good luck!

"STPM is hard!", you may heard the claim at least once during your high school, agree with it? To be honest, I have the same feeling at the early stage in my Form 6 too. It is actually normal as STPM is the preparation for you before entering the tertiary education, so it's necessary to be tough for you to suit well in university. However, does the difficulty itself stopping you to score excellently? Or even aiming for four flats? This shouldn't be. Since the STPM format has changed in 2013, where new modular system has applied, the number of top scorers in recent years showed a surge in number. For the STPM 2019, there was 802 perfect scorers from a total of 44823 candidates, the most since new system was introduced. To get you a clear picture, for every 56 students, one of them scored 4 flats. So, be optimistic, there will be chance to be one of them if you pay enough effort. Here are the five tips that I will advise my juniors in doing their Form 6.

1. Have a Complete Study Resources

For Form 6, we don't have our own textbook to refer, it is different with Form 5. However, the Malaysia Examination Council (a.k.a. MPM) has set the syllabus, and most of the reference books are written based on it. Get some of the recommended books for your own revision. The only problem is that the fee of the books are not cheap. It is advisable to borrow from the school library, or perhaps, buy second hand version from the seniors. This may help you to save a lot! Besides the traditional reference books, online resource is another great option to be considered! For STPM science subjects, websites like Khan Academy are indeed useful and easily understandable.

2. Have Good Mentors!

Apart from your subject teachers, you should have mentors to enlighten and guide you through the way. The mentors here means the one who are specialize in the particular subject or topic. It does not limited only to tuition teachers, you can find it among your peers, the top student who are willing to teach you patiently. Don't feel shy or embarrassed to seek help from others as it may only shut down your opportunity to learn. If you don't have the right one among your friends, go for a tuition will be a better alternative! Tuition fees for Form 6 is slightly expensive however as long as you feel benefited from it, it will be worthy, take it as a long term investment!

3. Arrange your time wisely

Although it seems long for one and half year of study, but the truth is that Form 6 is rushy and packed! You have only five months for a semester final if we deduct the holiday time, to be more precise, it will be less than five months after excluding the examination weeks! If you don't keep yourself moving forward with the time, you will be in a serious trouble. Make your personal schedule to avoid the things mess up. I want to stress that allocating reasonable time for co-curriculum activities is vital, as being too active in the CCA will take up a lot of time! It is advisable for participating only once in the event of same level as the mark obtained is counted for the first participation. Remember, the CCA mark is only 10% for local university enrollment whereas academic result determines the rest 90%!

4. Study in your style!

Many people would ask you to study smart and not study hard. Well, the term smart is different for everyone. What I would encourage the juniors is study in their own style! Study at the time where you are comfortable with. Everyone has their personal time zone in doing anything, including studying! Find a suitable study time that has the highest efficiency, and this depends on the person. For myself, I revise my study at night, from 10 to 11pm. My emotion is calm and I able to concentrate well compares to other time. Finding the suitable timing will boost the progress of your revision! Please note that getting a personal study area/ place is another essential way to aid your revision too! 

5. Possess the correct mindset

Attitude determines altitude. Don't easily frustrated or give up throughout your journey in Form 6. You need to know that although most of them saying that Form 6 is difficult, but there are still many perfect scorers every year. It is normal for you to stuck for a Maths problem for hours in STPM. Try to seek help from peers or Google online, and after you know the solution, don't forget to revise it whenever you free. The success is never far away from you if you stay persistent and resilient! Cheers!

I hope that the advices above will aid you in achieve the pointer you dream of.  Feel free to leave any questions and your thoughts in the comment section below!