IGCSE or SPM?

While most schools especially public schools do not provide any choices for their assessment, i.e. only SPM, some schools like international schools do provide students choices to choose either IGCSE or SPM or even both. There are lots of debates and questions about which is better. Well, I think this is not the question of which is better, instead, which is more suited to your plan. So, the first thing you need to know is your plan, here are some questions to help you plan your future after SPM/ IGCSE:

• Where do you want to study, local or overseas? 

• If study locally, public or private university? Please note that the fees of public universities are much cheaper than private universities in general, if you have a limited budget and are not competitive enough to get a scholarship, then a public university is a better option.

• Do you have enough budget for the exam?

• Do you have enough budget to take a pre-university course?

After you have your plan in mind, you can find the answers to which is more suited to your plan at the following:

• For those who plan to study in a local public university, SPM then STPM/ Matriculation/ Asasi pathway is more favorable.

• Those who will go to a local private university may choose either one of the pathways: 1) SPM then STPM/ Matriculation or 2) IGCSE then foundation/  A-level since most of the local universities accept STPM/ Matriculation/ Foundation/  A-level qualification

• If you opt for university overseas, IGCSE then A-level/ other pre-university qualifications depending on the country you are going is more favorable 

• Regarding the cost, SPM is much more affordable as compared to IGCSE. Not only the assessment fee, but the course books and revision books are also much cheaper than IGCSE. 

• Pre-university course like STPM or Matriculation is more affordable than A-level, if you opt for STPM/ Matriculation, then SPM is a better choice

Other than those mentioned above, some of the points you may need to put into consideration as well:

• IGCSE provides a wide range of subjects and students can choose any combination of the subjects whereas, for SPM, students have to pass 2 subjects (BM and Sejarah) to obtain their certificates (reference).

• English is the medium of instruction for IGCSE whereas SPM uses Malay as the medium of instruction for most of the subjects 

• on syllabus wise, not much different for most of the subjects except there are one or two chapters different; for some subjects especially Biology, SPM syllabus is more comprehensive and detailed whereas IGCSE syllabus is more relevant to real-life applications. In a nutshell, SPM requires more memorizing skills while IGCSE requires more understanding and analytic skills   

• those who consider taking both IGCSE and SPM, in my opinion, sorry to say if you disagree with me, it is a waste of money and effort since both qualifications are equivalent, there is no point for you to take the same thing twice unless you really like exam. You might as well put your 100% effort into one exam rather than divide it in half.