General STPM Strategies and Tips

STPM Mathematics

• Read all the questions before attempting any of them.
• Do a quick mental calculation of all the marks given for each question.
• Do the questions with highest marks first.
• Before doing any question, read the question and make sure you obtain all the information from the question before you actually solve. [Berry Berry Easy comment: It is recommended that you write out all the available information required to solve the question at the side of your question on the question paper for easy referencing]
• If you are not confident of your answers, scribble wih pencil on the question paper first , copy them onto the answering paper after you are convinced that your scribbled answer is right. [Berry Berry Easy comment: This is recommended only for those who are very confident in their time control]
• Always make sure you are able to score the questions with more marks.
• Don’t spend much time doing questions with low marks.
• Time spent on questions should be proportional to the marks allocated

STPM Chemistry
Paper 1

• Always do the most complicated and difficult questions first. [Berry Berry Easy comment: This is optional as some students has been used to solving the easier questions to gain "confidence". Stick to your strategy]
• If you don’t solve complicated and long questions first (usually calculation) , chances are that you will feel panic as time passes. [Berry Berry Easy comment: Get a feel of how much time you require to solve a calculation question and try not to exceed the amount of time. You can gain this expertise by doing past year questions or exam simulations]

Paper 2

• Read all the questions before solving.
• Solve essay questions first (choose 4 easiest out of 6)
• This is because if you spend too much time in structure you are going to panic easily when solving essay questions which require you to present your answer on the paper. When you are panic, you will not be able to write properly.
• [Berry Berry Easy comment: Alternatively, you can set aside time for solving the structure questions before attempting the essay questions. Whatever it is, just make sure that you don't spend too much time on any section.]

STPM Biology

• Solve essay questions first.
• Read all the essay questions and choose the easiest four questions.
• Prepare answering by scribble keywords(those that you are going to write, similar to guided essay) on the question paper. (Berry Berry Easy comment: Very highly recommended tip to use. A survey done by Berry Berry Teacher among high essay scorers found that this technique is used by all of them)
• After solving all four essay questions, solve the structure. (you should feel better and secure as you have already done the part with 60 marks) (Refer to comment for Chemistry Paper 2)

*Example of the scribbled keywords
- RNA polymerase III – promoter – unwind DNA strands – RNA primer – primase – 3′ to 5′ DNA strand as template – RNA polymerase III – add RNA nucleotides to primer – mRNA formed – and so on.


STPM General Paper (Pengajian Am)
Paper 1

• Study them by heart.
• Understand the concept behind everything in 'kenegaraan'
• Can’t understand the concept? Give each of them a reason, make the reason yourself.
• It’s better to study by heart for once and remember everything forever than to study without heart and remember them for only a few days.
• After understand all the concepts and definitions, do questions to test yourself.

Paper 2

• For Section A (Bahagian A) and Section B (Bahagian B), you have to read a lot to increase your general knowledge
• If you want to write good essays. -I would advise you to spend your leisure time reading PA essays.
• Read them for your own knowledge, not just for examination’s sake.
• [Anonymous contributor suggested Longman PA volume 2 as reference. Berry Berry Easy is not affiliated to Longman].
• For graphs, read the whole questions, then analyse which graph should you use to represent the data. Understand why such question corresponds to that type of graph. In other words, understand the concept behind them and not just foolishly memorise all the keywords.
• After you are good in determining which graph to represent certain data, you practise drawing all the graphs. Practice makes perfect here.
• For Section E (Bahagian E), read the questions and analyse them. Understand the concept behind them.
• Buy a good reference book which has many sample questions and then analyse all the questions (Section D, Section E)
• Recommended time allocation: 40 mins for Section A, 40 mins for Section B , 30 mins for Section C , 30 mins for Section D and 30 mins for Section E.

The most significant thing to do in examination is that you should not spend too much time on a question if you haven’t finished others. Treat every acts during the examination as your last acts. It’s all up to your performance during the few hours.

Good luck everyone, hopefully it helps.


* TIPS FROM BERRY BERRY TEACHER