Finally, the "Sit And Cry Everyday" (SACE) or "Self Abuse Matriculation" (SAM) program came to an end. I can finally enjoy my long overdue holidays with no worries. I apologize for taking a short hiatus from blogging. Not that I did not put in any effort in coming up with a post but rather I did not really put in much effort in finalizing up to 8 of the drafts that I saved and were supposed to post before this blogpost. Oh well.

This blogpost will be mainly about stuffs regarding SAM program itself. You can google up South Austrlia Certificate of Education for extra info.

I really cannot stress on how hectic SACE is. As a student who had gone through the hella program, I will now talk about my pre-U life.

Many of my friends had the same question: Since SACE consist of 70% coursework and only 30% of the overall marks is exam based, why is SACE hard compared to A-levels or STPM? Plus the syllabus for SACE is way easier as compared to A-levels and STPM.

I acknowledge that the SACE syllabus is much easier than A-levels and STPM after going through a few reference books in my college's resource room, in fact a little too simple to be even considered sufficient for pre-U level.

BUT.

The coursework component is definitely NOT something you should take lightly on. I consider myself as a semi-hardworking student, "semi" being I procrastinate almost a little too much, but generally I would work my ass off for every single folio component to earn that A or A+ that is bloody, freaking hard to get.


Imagine being lifeless even on the weekends, rushing to meet the due dates AND study for tests and quizzes simultaneously. To those who can't really relate, recall yourself sitting for SPM. You have shit loads of homework to finish every single day, and you have to spend time to prepare your tests maybe 1 or 2 weeks or more prior to your test. Now imagine all those homework you normally copy from your friend or didn't even bother to do is counted for your final mark AND that you won't have time to prepare for your tests. The reason being coursework or "homework" is given almost every week which you will need to break down the load and finish it within a week, plus there are up to 3 summative or "counted" tests in a week.

So basically my weekly routine during the lecture weeks was this:
Do chemistry report, physics report, biology report + study for maths, bio, chem, phy tests, depending on what tests you have on that week.

I have literally no social life in college. Yes of course I wanted to join clubs and events, party out till late night, hang out at mamak stall till 4 am to just chillax. Of course I wanted all those stuffs deemed as "fun", I'm not a robot. However for the sake of at least getting, hopefully, an ATAR of 90 or above, I gave up 95% of fun and force myself to give my best in the program. The 5% of fun I have is mainly hanging out with Joy, chatting with a few of my friends during breaks and scrolling through Facebook. Damn I didn't even have the time to scroll through instagram.

A lot of people told me I should just enjoy my college life since it's a once in a lifetime thing. Though I admit I may regret not enjoying my college life to its fullest, but I certainly do not regret for trying my best for SACE. I still do not know my ATAR score as of yet, but hopefully, a few years down the road, I will have no regrets for whatever I got for my ATAR because I know that I gave my best shot.

Ohh did I mention you only get 2 weeks of semester break throughout your whole program? What a joke I know, as if having to stay in the room to deal with assignments every weekends weren't enough.

Being consistent, is very very important.

They expect you to be in top-notch condition while sitting for all the tests and doing all the assignments throughout the year. In my case, I got mostly of A and A- for a few of my maths tests, but out of a sudden, I don't know why, I screwed up one of my tests and got a very bad grade. That badly affected my average score and average grade. Like imagine having quite good grades all this while and suddenly a crappy grade came and bloody dragged down your average grade. %$&^@!sjhb

SACE deteriorates health and weaken family bonds. Though this is a rather emotional and personal remark which one who had gone through SACE shouldn't be making as we were thought the otherwise, but this statement is not totally untrue. It's not all about time management. People or the adults have to know that for slow learners life myself, we take a very very long time to finish assignments and also to read and study for exam. It's not all about stupid teenagers surfing the net all day everyday and not knowing how to manage and allocate time appropriately. I am one who is slow in picking up stuffs or understanding the things I've been taught. I had to ask my friends 2 or 3 times to understand something that was taught in a single class. Therefore having to put in more effort than the others to get an above average grade plus balancing time to finish my reports results in myself not getting enough of rest and of course, not able to spend time with family members to go for shopping etc due to the work load.

All these effort, is because of one belief I have:  Hard work pays off.

Despite putting more effort than the others, you will still get lower grades than them. Despite studying for tests way earlier than anyone else, you will still get results you are not satisfied with. But that's okay. Convince yourself, effort has a long term effect. By the time you finish everything, you will generally have an average score that is to your liking, because of your effort. I won't say that is what happened to me because that will make me sound arrogant, but I would say that is how it is for SACE.

So finally, should you take SACE?

Putting all emotional and biased thoughts aside, I'm gonna make a few honest remarks as I certainly do not want anyone that's younger than me to screw up their future because of what I said.

If you were to opt for some professional courses such as medicine, pharmacy, law, engineering etc, SACE is not the course you seek. The reason being the syllabus you learn in SACE is too little as compared to A-levels or STPM which really has a way in-depth syllabus. In addition, many of the universities prefer A-levels or STPM over SACE as most don't even consider students who took SACE.

If you really wanna take SACE and pursue to those professional courses in your degree, here are 2 warnings:

1) Prepare to get an ATAR of 98% - 99.95% to be eligible for the course (just eligibility, don't even mention about scholarships)

2) Prepare to study your ass off and suffer like mad in your first year of degree to keep up with other students who took A-levels or STPM or even matrics I think.

To be entitled for scholarships, though many of the universtities websites be it locally or in the Austrlia or UK require a minimum of ATAR 90, you have to at least get ATAR 95 and above to get scholarship as an ATAR of 90 is sadly, quite common. Just like how straight A students are common for SPM.

One more important thing I must highlight is the recognition. If you are thinking of going to study overseas other than Australia, do not take SACE. A-levels is still the most preferred pre-U course across countries. Why graduate half a year or one year earlier than others but the universities don't recognize your pre-U?

I had actually gone through a few articles on the internet before taking SACE, also by students who had graduated from SACE, saying more or less the same thing as what I mention in this blogpost. The reason I still opt for this program is because, mainly, it's short. Secondly, I wanted to confirm whether I really dislike any courses that were related to bio.

I guess SACE, again in my opinion, is suitable for those who are undecided on what to take after SPM and most probably won't take medicine or engineering or other very professional courses for degree, yet, not fully sure on the exact foundation or diploma to take for example diploma in IT. I actually wanted to take diploma in IT but because I wasn't very sure whether I would like the course or not due to the fact that I was not exposed very much to IT in my high school life so I chose the "safe side" and took SACE.

Eventhough you end up choosing a course that you don't like later on for degree, just make sure that in those years that you have to deal with that something you dislike, you do not suffer trying to graduate from it.

Being undecided after graduating from SPM is not uncommon and trust me most of us gone through this stage. I've been thinking of what I want to do for my degree since form 3 and yet, I still do not have a definite answer to it even after graduating from SACE.

Sometimes the reason that you are undecided is because you weren't exposed to the things that are offered in Uni for example law and IT, that's why pre-U is important.

I apologize for not mentioning much about STPM and matrics because I am not very familiar with it but I am sure you can ask your seniors who are taking the courses for more info.

Another side warning if you wish to take SACE: your English, preferably should be above average. In physics, biology and chemistry tests in SACE, they actually allocate marks for how fluent the delivery of your idea is and they actually deduct marks for bad grammar, bad phrasing of words, etc which I find very, very absurd. I mean, if the way you phrase your sentence is not wrong but it is not to your lecturer's liking, they will actually deduct your marks, even though your points to your answer is correct.

Since we are used to UK or British English, Australian English may confuse you. The way they phrase their questions are weird sometimes. You will know what I'm talking about when you take SACE.

It's not like you have to be damn good in English. You can see my English is fairly normal in this blogpost so if you have decided on taking SACE, go with it.

That sorta conclude my rants on SACE. I would like to emphasize again that this blogpost is mainly my thoughts on SACE. Again, if you have already decided to take SACE, just proceed. As bad as it sounds, you can definitely benefit from it. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

May the odds be ever in your favour.

xoxo