Eleven months ago, I was anxiously waiting for matriculation intake results to be released. All the excitement, thrill, joy and sorrow that ensued throughout my entire tenure as a matriculation student finally ended just two weeks ago. And for the coming two weeks, the stress and apprehensive feelings are set to overtake my mind and soul as my results for the second semester exam will be released, specifically on May 21.
Over the years, I’ve read from many sources that matriculation students are arguably unmatchable as compared to STPM students in terms of knowledge and self-discipline as STPM students are basically required to master a subject in more detail given the much allocated time frame (of an estimated one and a half year). Well, after graduating from matriculation, I can safely say that the matriculation program and STPM both have their pros and cons.
As a former matriculation student, I strongly believed that time management is the utmost important aspect to achieve success in this much-criticised programme. Since the commencement of the programme, I only had approximately 6 to 7 hours of sleep daily, just to make sure that I’ve completely revised whatever concepts that I’ve learnt or even did countless amounts of exercises to ensure strong understanding of a particular concept that I learnt. In a typical day, classes commence from 8 am and normally end at 4 pm. One has to properly managed time so as to have sufficient time to understand and know proper techniques of answering exam in the finals.
We only had short test during mid-semester and finals at the end of semester. No trial papers are allowed to be carried out as matriculation system is mainly based on the semester system practised in local universities. In nature, it teaches us to be more resourceful in finding out details and confidently elucidate a problematical issue to generate critical thinking amongst the students. However, it leaves much to be desired as this ideal culture was less noticeable in my college.
Needless to say, a student who has not properly adjusted to a totally new environment would surely face a stack of problems as culture shock is a prominent occurrence in matriculation colleges. Students are selected from a variety of backgrounds and across the nation, predominantly from west coast. We also had to adhere to specific dress code. All these are enforced to ensure no discrimination among students from poor and well-to-do family or different education background.
Others may agreed with me while some might oppose, whatever it may be, matriculation programme has been an integral turning point in my life. Although things might have turned out for better or worse had I undertook STPM, I’m still grateful for whatsoever experience in life that I garnered for embarking on this programme.
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