STPM Results: What a Relief!!!

STPM Results 2005

What a relief for the education ministry director and officials!!!

This year, the STPM results shows a large drop in the number of straight 'As' students. Only 362 of the STPM holders scored with 4As and 5As, a drop of more than 50% as compared to the 767 last year.

However, the good news is that matriculation students with a CGPA of 4.0 had increased to 1,263 as compared to 1,247 last year.

Now, the ministry of education can celebrate and breath easy. They can hope that next year, if the STPM figure will drop further, maybe, to less than ten percent or possibly zero percent, then, all the places for the critical courses in the universities, particularly, medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law, accountancy and economics, can then be awarded to all metriculation students as their numbers are expected to increase each year as the system will ensure that their results will be better and better each year.

The percentage of Bumiputra vs non-Bumi for admission into public universities is 62.4% (Bumis), 32% (Chinese), 5.6% (Indians) of a total of 39,976 candidates admitted.

In fact, the number of students admission into public universities as published in the newspaper (The Star) did not include those students admitted at KUIM, UIAM, UiTM, and Islamic Studies faculties of UM and UKM. It also did not include those scholarship holders who are sent to overseas universities.

Should their numbers be included, then UMNO Youth and Khairy will see a better and accurate distribution of admissions; and they can smile relentlessly. Khairy claimed that UMNO Youth's survey prove that last year's admissions to critical courses in public universities was unfavourable to Bumis, but the table published in The Star suggest otherwise. The Year 2004 record (which also exclude those students admitted to the 5 Universities named-above) shows that 3,145 Bumis (59.7%), 1,884 Chinese (35.8%), and 240 Indians (4.6%), were admitted into critical courses. Should we add up those from UiTM, UIAM and KUIM, and those shipped via scholarships overseas, the numbers and percentage should reflect about 80-85% Bumis, and probably, less than 3.5% Indians, with those from metriculation forming the extreme bulk.

Therefore, competition for the 910 places for medicine in public universities was less intense this year – all 361 STPM (assume all 361 applied for medicine which is not correct) and 549 matriculation students with a CGPA of 4.0 who applied were successful.

Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said said of the 910 places for medicine, 595 went to students with a CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 4.0.

“This means that there are 315 students with a CGPA below 4.0 who were offered places for medicine,” said Prof Hassan. However, he could not provide the cut-off point for the course.

Prof Dr. Hassan said even those with CGPA lower than 4.0 managed to secure places for medicine this year. "We have got some with 3.8 and 3.9. We have created more places this year and the number of those with a CGPA of 4.0 is less."

Wow, how accomodating Dr. Hassan has become. Thank you, very, very much, sir!

So, for the first time, over the last two years, we will have those with CGPA of 3.8 studying medicine in public universities. So, hypothetically, if most STPM students scored only with CGPA of 2.5 to 3.0, then Dr. Hassan should be able to include some students with 2.5-3.0 CGPA to read medicine.

Last year, more than half of the record number of 1,774 matriculation and STPM students with a CGPA of 4.0 competed for 779 places. The cut-off point for medicine last year was a CGPA of 4.0 while the year before it was 3.88.

Unlike in previous years, the cut-off points for critical courses this intake were not made available due to technical setbacks. Neither could Prof Hassan give a breakdown of the number of applicants from matriculation and STPM and the success rate of the two groups.

Applications for places in public universities were up by 22.2% – from 85,966 last year to 105,014 – with 64,877 students qualifying for entry.