7 Things That Every Matriculation Student Must Know

The new term for this intake’s matriculation students will begin on the 5^th June 2017 and I’m pretty sure that most of them still have tons of unanswered questions on matriculation life. I had been getting numerous texts,dms and calls since the announcement of matriculation placement results itself which kinda inspired me to write this post.Well,I am supposed to be working on my university placement essay but after 3 hours of cracking my head over it, I chose to blog  to release stress for a while.

Yeah-That's me on my second last day of college.

Here, I had stated 7 important things that every matriculation has to know prior to stepping into their respective colleges.

1. MATRICULATION LIFE IS NOT SIMILAR TO SCHOOL LIFE

Bear in mind that matriculation is a far cry from school life as matriculation is similar to pre-u.It is the same level as Form 6 but basically it takes a shorter period and is more compact. We no longer have teachers, they are called as lecturers. Don’t worry, you can still address them as Cikgu.During school days, you can commute to and fro daily from home but in matriculation, you gotta stay in a hostel. It won’t be a problem for those who had studied in MRSM, SBP, etc. but to the normal school goers, it might be a challenge in the start but you'll get used to it eventually. Staying in a hostel requires you to be more independent as you're not gonna have your dad nagging you to go and study or mom to wake you up every day. Not forgetting that you got to do the laundry by yourself, iron your clothes and do many more things independently.

2. What are the subjects that are offered?

Basically, there’s two streams in matriculation, namely science stream and accounts stream. There is a vast difference in both streams but there are a few basic subjects taken by students of both streams.

Here’s a rough skim through of the subjects that you will learn

MATA PELAJARAN TERAS

To be taken by all students

1. English
2.Kemahiran Dinamika (only 1 semester)
3.Pendidikan Islam/Moral (only 1 semester)
4.Kokurikukum (only 1 semester)

You will learn English in both semesters but for the other 3 subjects it will be slightly different. There can be two scenarios.

A. Kemahiran Dinamika and Pendidikan Islam/Moral in Semester 1, Kokurikulum in Semester 2

Or

B.Kokurikulum in Semester 1,Kemahiran dinamika and Pendidikan Islam/Moral in Semester 2.

ALIRAN PERAKAUANAN

1. Mathematics
2.Pengurusan Perniagaan
3.Ekonomi
4.Perakauanan

*Only Mathematics is taught in English while the other 3 is taught in Bahasa Malaysia.

ALIRAN SAINS

Module 1
1.Mathematics
2.Biology
3.Chemistry
4.Physics

Module 2
1.Mathematics
2.Physics
3.Chemistry
4.Computer Science

Module 3
1.Mathematics
2.Chemistry
3.Biology
4.Computer Science

*All science subjects are taught in English.

3. What to wear?

This is the most basic question as basically there is no more standard uniform for all in matriculation but there is a dress code that must be adhered to. For classes, you need be dressed formally so for the guys it’s gonna be the basic collared shirt, trousers/slacks and tie (compulsory) all the time but there’s an exception where Baju Melayu can be worn on Fridays only (Thursdays for Kedah, Kelantan and Johor as Friday is a holiday in those states).Meanwhile for the ladies, you gotta be in baju kurung, baju kebaya on most days while jubah is only allowed on Fridays. The rules might be slightly different as some colleges do allow female students to wear Punjabi suits, shirt and slacks so better check back with your respective colleges to be sure of it.

4. Some important terms

There will be a lot of new terms that will be alien to you all so I’ll share a few common ones

Kuliah-Basically, it means lecture but you will have your own lecture group (usually 100+ students per group)

Praktikum-This is break down from kuliah to a smaller group, more like a class

Tutoran-Sometimes a praktikum is broken into 2 smaller groups to form separate classes

Module-This is for science stream students as there is 3 modules namely Module 1, Module 2 and Module 3 while for accounts stream there is no module.

PST-Program Satu Tahun, only 2 semesters

PDT-Program Dua Tahun, you will learn of this after your PSPM 1 results where students who don’t achieve the required CGPA will be transferred to PDT which takes up 4 semesters.

Blok kediaman/Komsas/Asrama-They all have the same meaning tho, basically your hostel where you’re gonna stay.

Tutorial-The term sounds cool but it’s actually refers to homework

PSE-Past year examination, usually questions which you gotta do

PSPM-Peperiksaan Semester Program Matrikulasi

HEP-Hal Ehwal Pelajar

JPP-Jawatankuasa Perwakilan Pelajar(there will be an election process to elect student representatives so if you feel that you have what it takes to be one, give it a shot)

KJPP-Ketua Jabatan Pengurusan Pelajar, the higher official for students’ affairs

Mentor-more like a guardian (will be a lecturer) and each student will be assigned to a mentor by the college officials (usually a mentor will have about 5 mentees or more)

Felo-Term used warden, each block will usually have at least 2 felos and one might just live in a house adjacent to the hostel

There are more but this are the basic ones you should know for the start.

5. Is there Wi-Fi in college?

Imagine a day without internet, sounds impossible right? Without Internet connection, you won’t even be reading this.HAHAHA... There is WiFi in most colleges especially in the library, cafes, tutorial blocks and some lucky ones will have a WiFi port in their hostel blocks. Not saying that this WiFi ports don’t work but with the massive amount of student trying to use it at the same time, it way be veryyyyyyyy slow. (TIP: Some of us used to stay up till 2.00 a.m. as you can get tiptop internet connection at that hour since most people will be asleep by then)Therefore, it is advisable to have a stable data connection on your phone at all times as you can’t always depend on WiFi as WhatsApp is one of the main mode of communication at times.

6. Whatsapp Groups

As mentioned above, WhatsApp acts as one of the main mode of communication. There will be tons of WhatsApp groups for kuliah,tutorial,praktikum,mentor mentee,blok kediaman,aras blok,bilik, just to name a few so get ready as your phone might hang due to receiving excessive messages from all of these groups. A lot of information is passed around in the groups so just bear with it as the groups will become less noisy after some time.

7. CHARLIE

Charlie? Who is this Charlie? It’s not Charlie’s Angels so quit dreaming.
Charlie is actually an insect found in paddy field areas and since most matriculation colleges are situated near to paddy fields, get ready to face it.It just an insect man, what’s so special about it? You may ask. Well, a Charlie bite is enough to leave a permanent scar, don’t believe me? Just google it up and you will know. Don’t worry much, there are ways you can prevent from being attacked by Charlie such as keeping your room clean always and if you ever see a Charlie, don’t ‘gedik’ to touch it but push it away using a ruler or something before you stick some tape on it to suffocate and die. Some of my friends used to crush it up after putting the tape but I never had the heart to murder it so I rather leave it to die. There will also be other insects so equip yourself with insecticides to prevent them.

I think that’s all I have to say for now so to all those future matriculation students out there, all the best in your endeavours in college. Bear in mind that the journey might be tough but the end result will be sweet.

Thank you. (Stay tuned for more matriculation related posts)

Saveetra Revathi

P.s.The writer is a former Accounts stream student of Kolej Matrikulasi Perlis of the previous batch(2016/2017)and graduated on the 9^th of May 2017.She can be contacted via e-mail or just drop her a DM in Instagram at @sr.98_ or @srthewriter.