What’s more worrying is that many secondary school students feel lost after SPM. The reason is that, in the past five years, they have focused all of their attention on learning and getting good grades only, and thus neglected to find out the future direction. If they are asked to find out the right course to study after SPM, it is like asking them to find a way out in a dark and scary tunnel. The solution to this problem is simple:

• Understand your true self:

Discover your true self via a biometric assessment. Only after you truly understand your character, passion, interests, strengths, and weaknesses, you are able to tell what your needs and talents are. In short, self-discovery can help you find out what you really want to do in the future, which makes you one-step closer to finding the most suitable course for you.

• Find a course that best suits you:

When there are too many options after SPM, most school leavers find making any decision challenging. However, if you are aware of your true self and needs, there will be some clues as to the type of career that suits you best. For example,

1. 1. If you are highly sociable, enthusiastic and lively by nature, you may find work related to sales and public relations exciting. Thus, you may want to explore more about business management and marketing-related courses;
   2. If you are sensitive to the needs of others, and know how to take care of others, you might find jobs that can help others fulfilling and rewarding. Therefore, you may consider pursuing courses related to education, early childhood education, special education, and nursing.

You may fall under one of the following categories based on your SPM results:

• 1st Category: Your SPM result is excellent

You are eligible for many options (i.e., in general, science streams students have more options than art stream students) after SPM. You are also eligible to apply for full scholarships or bursaries to help reduce the financial burden of your family.

• 2nd Category: You passed the SPM exam with at least 3 credits

Since this is the entry requirements to pursue a Diploma programme, you are still eligible for many options after SPM. You may want to consider applying for any bursaries and PTPTN loan to help relieve your family’s financial burden.

• 3rd Category: You passed the SPM exam, but you scored less than 3 credits

Your result does not meet the entry requirements of all of the pre-university (pre-U) courses, leaving you with two options: either retake your SPM paper(s) or enrol for the SKM (Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia) programme.

Unlike Diploma and Degree programmes, SKM programmes are very much focused on the mastery of practical skills. Upon completion of this programme, you can start working immediately, or further your studies!

• 4th Category: You have failed the SPM exam, even though you have at least 3 credits

Same as the 3rd Category.

The final step is to identify the most suitable University/College to enrol. Take into consideration the following factors to ensure that you have made a solid decision:

• Public University or Private University:

If public university is your first choice, then your options after SPM are limited to 2 pre-U courses only: either STPM or Matriculation. If it is a private university instead, you will have more options for pre-U courses.

• Tuition fees:

The pandemic has resulted in a severe economic crisis. Under such a circumstance, you may want to prioritize any Universities/Colleges that offer scholarships or bursaries.

• Distance:

Since online learning has become the new normal before and after SPM, distance is no longer an important consideration.

• Specialization:

Although many similar courses are offered by different Universities/Colleges, which seem to be the same, in fact they are not, and can be differentiated by their experience or specialization. For example,

1. 1. Some Universities/Colleges may have already offered certain courses for decades whereas others have just started offering them;
   2. Some boutique Universities/Colleges that are specialized in a few areas only offer a few courses related to those areas, whereas others offer a huge variety of courses.

• Study and career pathway:

There are different types of pre-U courses available in the market. Although they all act like a stepping-stone towards the same destination, the pathways taken are different and that makes a lot of difference when it comes to matters such as duration of studies, total cost incurred, the variety of career opportunities, etc.

Hopefully the sharing above can help you make an informed decision about what to do after SPM. To find out more about our biometric assessment, our SKM programme, and study and career pathways, please contact us at 016-2286223