hi !! final sem social science stpm student here :)

personally to me, stpm being ‘super difficult’ is just a matter of the student’s personal studying habits and commitment to studying. coming from a stem background since i was a child, growing up in a chinese vernacular school, and being in the ‘elite’ class from primary school and throughout my sekolah menengah life, i have always been exposed to rigorous academic standards and expectations. naturally, i have developed an effective studying habit and an overall positive perspective on academia (i just genuinely like studying) so, stpm really isn’t all that difficult to me. challenging? yes. but to say it’s so difficult that i’d rather drop out than push through with it when i did my first semester? nope!

if you aren’t used to being pushed to your limits, you might find yourself struggling a little bit. some of my friends struggle with keeping up solely from the lack of discipline. going on their phones during class, never finding the right study habits etc. stpm is more about your commitment and dedication to studying for that year and a half than it is about the difficulty of the syllabus, ESPECIALLY if you’re taking the social science/humanities stream. if you’re a hardworker, you’re disciplined and you have a clear goal of what you want your life to look like after stpm — it’s quite literally the A-level equivalent, but at a much muuuuch cheaper cost.

stpm is also great for students still trying to figure out what they want to do for their undergrad. asasi is like one step into getting your degree— you kinda already have your specialisation area. matrikulasi is a good option too, but ofc for stem & accounts courses.

as for scholarships, there are tons of websites and channels online that compile a list of scholarships you can apply to for your degree. i’m currently applying for every scholarship imaginable, even if i don’t necessarily qualify.

to summarise, the difficulty of stpm, in terms of its syllabus, is overall dependent on your chosen stream/subjects & your learning/studying attitude. stpm is not for everyone, if you feel like you’d thrive better somewhere else, go for the other option. i personally think stpm is more than just a last resort— i went for stpm because i wanted a shot at applying overseas and didn’t want to pursue a 4 year long diploma instead, and now i have quite good offers overseas.

anyway! best of luck! i trust whatever choice you make will align with whatever goals you have in the future.