With the Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) applications long past and Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Awam (STPM) results out, one of the few things remaining concerning a STPM student’s remaining classroom education is IPTA placement.

It has never been a secret that even the good students, with 3 or 4As, can easily end up with their fourth or fifth choices (or perhaps worse) when it comes to IPTA placements. It is neither a surprise that students can even get pushed to their fourth or fifth choices, even though the courses are for University Malaya - Malaysia’s top public university.

Many STPM students in their first year tend to find this non-ideal placement system, that actually still provides far too many places for matriculation students, unbelievable. But in their second year or after their STPM examination, when seniors come back with bad news on their IPTA placements, then belief starts creeping in.

Nevertheless, there isn’t really much to say about this situation. But it would be great if a few STPM students were to confirm these “rumors”.