Are you a Normal Academic student thinking of entering Poly? The Poly Foundation Programme (PFP) might be for you! Durgaes, a student from Singapore Polytechnic, shares his experience in PFP.
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What is PFP?
The Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) is a diploma programme that is one of the two “through-train” pathways to polytechnics for Normal (Academic) students.
The aim of PFP is to prepare well-performing Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) students for progression into selected polytechnic Diploma courses and is conducted over 2 academic semesters at the polytechnics. This also serves as an alternative to Secondary 5. Students will be given provisional places in Diploma programmes if they pass all modules in the programme.
I entered Singapore Polytechnic in 2019 through the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) with a score of 10 points. The various people I met in PFP, the various people I mixed with and all the fun that I had simply cannot be experienced through secondary 5.
PFP allowed me to mix with people from different backgrounds and understand the polytechnic experience before I move on to my actual diploma.
PFP will be a “break year” for you before you get into year 1
How was PFP for you when you first started?
At the start of PFP, I did the bare minimum, just passing all modules and slowly trying to understand the polytechnic life.
It was different from secondary school where the teachers chase you for your homework and force you to attend classes. At PFP, you are given complete freedom; no lecturers chase you for your homework and no one will force you to come for lessons. You are responsible for your own actions and how you progress in the programme.
Academically, the modules taught in PFP are similar to Secondary 5, however, they tend to be geared towards the future Diploma you pursue.
What did you learn at PFP?
We learnt coding, Microsoft Office and even soft skills such as presentation skills were of great focus, which allowed me to master them and use them further on in my polytechnic life. To this day, I still use the various mathematical formulas that were taught on PFP in my Year 2 modules.
Durgaes (left) in a first aid course during PFP.
When I entered Year 1, I barely struggled, as my social life in the polytechnic had already been covered. I managed to put my focus fully into my studies when I entered Year 1, not having to worry about making friends or finding my way around school.
Did you enjoy PFP?
Durgaes (bottom left) with his friends at Sports Day
My overall experience was extremely enriching as the emphasis on grades were not that high and all we had to do was to pass to progress onto year 1. This allowed us to explore the school more, join more activities like the PFP sports day or even SP’s sports day and also make a lot of new friends from various courses in the process.
Due to the enormous amount of class-bonding activities we participated in together, I feel that I share a stronger bond with my PFP class as compared to my current Poly class of 2 years, simply due to the extra bonding time we had over those activities.
First PFP outing as a class
Any advice for students going to PFP?
A piece of advice for students who will be going to PFP would be that PFP will be a “break year” for you before you get into Year 1. Find out which course you want to get into your specific polytechnic and work as hard as possible to get the PFP spot!
If these tips were helpful, give Durgaes a follow or drop him a message to say ‘Hi’ on Instagram (@selfimprovehub)!
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