Words, cannot express how I am feeling right now.

Last semester's final exam results were released a few hours ago. Disappointed with my Public Relations marks but it was expected. Now, who would have thought that I scored an A for Introduction to Film? :D I remembered that I was writing all I could remember in the simplest form during the exam. I didn't try to BS or write in long paragraphs. I just did my best. And when the lecturer came over he saw my paper and he said, "That's all?" I said yes. He said it was too short. o____o You don't know how bad I felt at that time. But I guess even with the little I wrote, I had the content. So that gives, don't give BS in exams.

Meanwhile, my friends and I received very bad news today.

When I began my first semester in the Bachelor of Communication (Hons) program in May 2012 with the university that I am currently studying, there was this thing called "Employability Enhancement Subject (x2)" (EES) on the course fee schedule. I remember that on the orientation day, students were told that those who did their MQA (Malaysian Qualifications Agency) subjects (like Malaysian Studies and Moral Studies) in pre-university could be exempted from doing the subjects again in degree.

Today, I'm in my third semester of year 1 in the same program, and today, I am told that I am required to complete 120 credit hours to graduate. This means that aside from the 36 subjects I have to take over the course of 3 years (that's 9 semesters - 2 long semesters and 1 short semester a year) to get 111 credit hours, I would have to take 3 additional EES or MPW (Matapelajaran Wajib) subjects which would give me 9 credit hours.

Now, let's go back to March 2011 - this is when I first started my pre-university studies in Foundation in Arts program with the same institute that I am currently in now. Students were told that we are advised to take Malaysian Studies and Moral Studies (Islamic Studies for Muslim students) so that we don't need to do it in degree later. So, I completed my Foundation in Arts program, passed all 11 subjects took the 2 MPW subjects, and happily went to degree.

I am utterly speechless with the news that we need to take 3 additional subjects (which at first we were told by our university that we didn't have to and we were informed that this is a new policy constructed by the MQA) and we are not allowed to be exempted from taking 2 subjects leaving us to only take 1 more MPW or EES subject even though we had finished 2 MPW subjects in the foundation. If so, I feel shortchanged by both MQA and the university because what was the point of us taking the MPW subjects since it's not a requirement for us to complete the Foundation in Arts program?

Bachelor of Communication (Hons) in this university is supposed to be a 3-year Honours program and I am sure that those who joined this program had come with an expectant heart that we would complete this program within 3 years - without extending any semesters. Therefore, my friends and I worked hard not to fail any subjects and took 5 subjects in long semesters and 3 subjects in short semesters when needed. With the additional 3 subjects to gain the 9 credit hours, it would mean that this would exceed the 3-year time frame as it is NOT possible to complete 39 subjects within 9 semesters even if we wanted to.

So now, while my friends and I are very dissatisfied with the implementation of this policy to make all local and international students take up 3 extra subjects from MPW or EES to gain the extra 9 credit hours, we plead that respective authorities allow us - those who had completed Malaysian Studies and Moral Studies or Islamic Studies - to be exempted and allow us to make credit transfer so that we only need to do one more MPW or EES subject.

Edit: There is nothing I can do at the moment because even if I am allowed to be exempted from doing MPW, I still need to do EES subjects. :( MQA should have taken this into consideration and allowed us to do a credit transfer but they wouldn't allow us to do so because it's on a different level. RM1,000 (it's not a small amount!) wasted as it's worth nothing now. And we thought we could "save time" by doing MPW during pre-university. SIGH. I still think both the university and MQA have screwed us in this matter.