Tak kenal maka tak cinta. Jom Kenali Universiti Awam (UA) Malaysia.
UIAM - UiTM - UKM - UM - UMK - UMP - UMS - UMT - UniMAP - UNIMAS - UniSZA - UPM - UPNM - UPSI - USIM - USM - UTeM - UTHM - UTM - UUM

Saturday, August 19, 2006

STPM Chemistry, Physics and Biology Practicals

Posted by Chong

STPM practical science will be carried out by students at school throughout form six. In general, STPM practical science is similar to SPM PEKA Amali since both of them are school-based assessment of practical work. The assessment of STPM practicals for session 2006/2007 has commenced in early July 2006 and will end before 30th August 2007, the year of the examination.

Remember the days when your SPM science teachers asked you to correct the practical work reports you did until they were perfect or almost perfect and then submit them back to be assessed in order to get good grades? However, this will no longer true for STPM practical science since unlike SPM PEKA, STPM practical science contributes a total of 10% of the respective STPM science subjects. For your information, SPM PEKA carries no weight at all in your real SPM examinations. What you will get at the end of conducting all the SPM PEKA experiments are the useless certificates and the priceless experience. They do prepare you to carry out your STPM practical science independently and correctly.

Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia (MPM) has determined some compulsory experiments to be carried out by the students and only compulsory experiments are assessed by the respective teachers. For instance, out of 20 Physics experiments, only 15 of them are compulsory. They are to be carried out by students individually, in pairs, in stations or in groups as recommended in the Student’s Manual.

As I have posted before, students may write their practical reports in either English or Malay. The practical work report must be submitted to the teacher on the same day the experiment is carried out unless otherwise stated (in the Student’s Manual) or it will be awarded ‘0’ mark. In addition, practical work report which can be completed at home (referring to Student’s Manual) is to be submitted to the teacher not later than 3 days from the date of experiment. A penalty of 2 marks is to be imposed for the report submitted late to the teacher. Moreover, ‘0’ mark is awarded if the practical work report is submitted later than 7 days from the date of experiment.

The assessment of practical work reports for Chemistry, Physics and Biology is different from each other. For Chemistry practical, we need to carry out an experiment in order to get the readings. Then, we need to answer some questions and do some calculations and it is done. The aspects to be assessed are Procedure (how the students carry out the experiment), Observation and measurements (the accuracy and precision of the readings) and Discussion (the answers to the questions). For Physics practical, we have to write a complete report in which covers Purpose, Procedure, Observation and measurements, Processing and analysis of data, Results and discussion and Conclusion. Procedure (4 marks), Observations and measurements (5 marks), Processing and analysis of data (6 marks), Results and discussion (3 marks) and General (2 marks) are the aspects to be assessed for Physics Practical.

Currently I am not very sure on how the Biology practical is assessed since I don’t take Biology. Anyone taking Biology would like to do us a favor?

Update: A reader just sent us the assessment and summary of experiments of STPM Practical Biology.
Liked this post? Subscribe now to read more post like this one!
Comments
8 Comments

8 comments:

  1. oh my ... i dunno where i throw my experiemnts guide away ...

    anyway ... for your info ... Bio experiments will be slightly different form Chemistry and physics. I duuno whether it is the same assesment between my school's teacher and yours. But for my Biology experiment, we got special treatment where we can directly fill our answers on to the sheets of experiments guide given to the students without having rewrite the whole procedures (like the chemistry) .. perhaps it is more time-comsuming for biology experiment since you need time to see your results and most unlikely the technical perfection won't help in speeding the mechanism of the enzymes .. etc ...

    Ask the guide from your teacher and you can see how the marks are carried out for each experiments. For every experiment it has a different marking scheme. (like drawing u only got observation marks and drawing / technical / results marks (each 10%))

    One fun thing is that my group made the biggest insect collections .. in the sense of the size of the cage ... haha ... we made a 3D cage and with different settings to keep our preserved bugs and tats cool !! Even the school wanted to exhibit our collection !! hahahaha (let the old senior has some indulgence ..)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the infomation, I think it helps. ;-)

    By the way, I think the insect collection will be the most exciting Biology practical since I saw some of the collections my seniors did. Some of the insect collections seem to be very professional and attractive with various insects which I have not seen before. I wonder how and where they caught them. Some others seem just ordinary with insects like cockroach, butterfly and bee.

    So one tip for you guys taking Biology: show your passion by collecting some rare insects instead of the typical insects we can find around our home area. Butterflies are fine but make sure you catch the big and colourful ones only!

    ReplyDelete
  3. IMO collecting insects... are generally pointless. You are supposed to instill love to insects by by killing them? Using this logic, assassins and serial killers would be the most loving people on this planet.....
    Kinda twisted logic, eh? Having said that I've got a giant collection of insects.... 34 of them. And I didn't love them any better after the project compared to before....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can u guys somehow get Chemistry's one please like the Bio and the Physics???
    Really appreciate it. TQ!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. can someone post something about physics STPM...i really need information about it, thnx. Also, can i study medicine if i study physics in STPM ??

    ReplyDelete
  6. I checked in IMU the entry requirements and they say that if you take 2 or all of the 3 science subjects plus Maths and MUET, you are eligible to enter for medicine (doctor) course. UNIMAS seemed to be the same too. Hence, you can do medicine if you get good grades no matter you are from Physics or Biology class.

    For those undecided of what to do after STPM, I would recommend taking Physics class. This is because if you graduate with a good result in Physics, you would have a wider range of choices (engineer, medicine, health care, chemist, etc...and nearly all the other Science-related courses) compared to those who graduated from Biology class (medicine, chemist, pharmacy and health care only) BUT if you feel that you really want to become a doctor and is willing to work hard, do take the Biology class as it prepares you better for the medicine course. Also, Biology is thought to be a little bit easier than Physics as Physics requires you to think and squeeze out your brain juice to the max.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just finished my A-level studies and I decided to take Pharmacy course in IMU. However, they need English qualification which are both MUET and IELTS if I am not mistaken.I have a pretty good result in my A-level exam and definitely fulfilled the course requirement.I am worried that I am not able to be given a chance to study in that university.Can someone tell me whether they really need MUET and IELTS?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi there ! I'm fresh to the tertiary study. I was offered a place in TAR college last week but i haven't make up my mind, so my parents decided to send me to a private institution that provides sixth form education. Now i'm a science stream sixth former and my bad performances in math T cannot be consigned to oblivion. So, what can I do? Shall I give up doing sixth form and accept the offer from TAR college instead (it's a diploma in biology and chemistry course, becuz i'm gifted in these two subjects) ? Or shall I continue doing sixth form but abandone math T, if so, what can I be afte graduation? I'm so lost ! Help me, please!

    ReplyDelete

Malaysia Students Blog is a team blog on Malaysian major examinations, secondary, pre-university & tertiary education, scholarship Malaysia, student resources, students' thoughts and everything relating to students & undergraduates at schools, colleges & universities in Malaysia - Student Education Malaysia

Comment Policy: Comments posted at Malaysia Students blog should be on-topic, constructive and add value to the discussion. Comments that are off-topic, one-sentence, abusive or offensive will be removed. Please use proper English with correct spelling and grammar in your comment. For general questions, please post them at SPM Student Malaysia. For enquiries, please email the administrator of this blog: Student at Malaysia-Students dot com.

Join over 50,000 people who get FREE latest scholarship updates via email!

Free Scholarship Updates:   

More scholarships available at Malaysia Scholarship Information Centre

Do Not Miss Any Job Offers! Get Student Part Time Jobs via Email!