School of Pharmacy

  1. Where is the school situated?
    The school of Pharmaceutical Sciences is located beside the Pusat Informm building. If you come in from Bukit Gambir gate (preferable), go straight until you pass by a small bridge , then turn to your left, our school is few miles away. If you come in from Sungai Dua gate, go straight till you meet a T-junction, turn to your left and go straight till the end of the road, then turn right until a Y-junction. Turn to the left , go straight (Pusat Informm will be at your right hand side), turn to your right before the small bridge and go straight to our school.

  2. Are there bus to our school? Are there nearby bus stop?
    There is bus to our school and it will stop by the bus stop located beside the Jabatan Keselamatan building. No worries, we will guide and teach you guys on orientation week. Anyway, there is shortcut to our pharmacy school using IK(Desasiswa Indah Kembara) Cafe . We are ready to teach you guys! 🙂 Hence, we usually prefer to walk( morning exercise for us and save time, you can have more sleep XD).
    More information will be given on orientation week.

  3. Are there food near the school?
    Yes, Indah Kembara and Fajar Harapan Cafe is the two nearest cafe from the school. Bakti Permai Cafe can be a choice for your lunch spot too(there is shortcut to this cafe XD).

  4. Do we need bring laptop and printer?
    Yes, especially when you want to do your assignment. Sometimes there will be online assignments in e-learning. Printing service is provided at Cai Lab(in pharmacy school) and at DK Foyer(inside USM). Otherwise, you can print or photostat your assignment nor lecture notes at sungai dua or ivory area(outside USM).But you can still bring it for your own convenience.

  5. We need to buy lab coat and goggles?
    Yes. Need to wore during experiment times.

  6. Where to purchase our lab coat?
    School of Pharmaceutical Sciences office. You guys will get the size measurement on orientation week.

  7. What is the proper attire for attending lectures ?
    In discussion on this issue, USM is comparatively liberal among public universities. Students do not have to wear formal to attend classes every day. Some lecturers will request us to wear formal for thier classes. It depends on the lecturer. We wear long pants and covered shoes. Collar T is much more preferable than rounded neck t-shirts in our school. Anyway, rounded neck t-shirts are also acceptable in USM.

  8. Where do we having our class?
    All in DK (Dewan Kuliah)Y and DK X first floor of our school.For lab sessions ,will be at the labs.

  9. Will there be a lot of assignments and quiz?
    Yeah, of course! Time management is very important.

  10. What about the timetable?
    Do not expect university life for this course to be free. class starts at 9am to 5pm. Manage your time well and get enough of rest (You will know it soon XD).

  11. What is the minimum point to get 1st class? What if I get 1st class honoured? What is the Dean list requirement?
    In order to get honoured as first class degree holder, you have to maintain your cumulative grade point average, or CGPA at or above 3.67 over 4.00 by graduation. Well, being honoured first class you can fully waive your PTPN loan and might get higher chances to be employed and better salary(of course, your extra-curricular activities’ involvement and your performance play important role too!) .
    For dean list requirement, CGPA at or above 3.67.

  12. What is unit? What to do with it?
    Units, is just another term as credit hours in other institutions. You need to accumulate certain amount of units in order to graduate.

  13. Do we need to bring original certificates? Need to be certified?
    If you’re applying ptptn, you don’t need to bring the original copy of certificates. Photostated copies will do. If you plan to apply for scholarships, you will have to bring along your original copies.

  14. Is that easy for us to buy stuffs? Or we need to buy them beforehand?
    There are market and shops nearby and at a few hostels’ cafeteria. Just bring the essential stuffs you think you’ll need. Besides, you can hang out with friends to nearby Sungai Dua Tesco and Queensbay to buy your stuff. No worries, penang is very convenience.

  15. Lectures will be conducted in which language?
    In English for most of the courses, except in few university courses such as Bahasa Melaysia, Tamadun Islam dan Tamadun Asia (TITAS), Hubungan Etnik and so on.

  16. Pharmacy exam papers easy to score?
    It depends.Passing Grade for our school is higher ,B-. Investment of time and effort is crucial in order to get good result and further understanding.No Pain, No Gain! Let’s do it!

  17. How to register the courses for the first semester?
    For the first semester, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences provided automatic courses registration. Students are only required to check the courses that auto-registered.

  18. Where to get lectures notes and past year?Any textbooks needed?
    In our school, there is PHARMILY, which means all of you will have a pharmily and direct seniors(2nd year) . They will pass their notes and past year to you guys. NO worries about that.:)
    So far no textbooks needed like other courses.Lectures will be conducted in power points slides and you may print out the handouts /lecture notes. You might buy second handed reference books from seniors or borrow from the library.

  19. How do students get access to Internet?
    Within USM compound, students can connect to USM network using their own IDs which will be given upon entering USM. However, being able to connect does not guarantee the speed of the connection.

  20. Must all students join any co-curricular activities?
    USM does not force students to join co-curricular activities.For example, Traditional dance, Latin Dance, Catan ,Swimming and etc. However, students might need the units (credit hours) from co-curricular activities to graduate successfully. So, for our course,we will join co-curicular for 3 semesters to accumulate units. 1st year students will be given more information during orientation week.
    USM also have a lot of societies or clubs which they can choose to join. These societies or clubs offer NO units. However, by joining those societies or clubs, students will be able to gain MyCSD points (important to secure a hostel room in second year). MyCSD is My Continuous Student Development in full. It is a program that intends to build a holistic student personality under the APEX program. Having a low MyCSD points will lessen the chance of getting a room in subsequent year in USM. Again, joining these societies or clubs is based on students own preference.

  21. What activities or events are offered?
    There are a lot of activities under pharmacy school. For example, Assimilation Week(compulsory for first year),Pharmatrade,Pharmex,Pharmakon,Pharmnight, Pharmacy Carnival,Green Lung,National RX Quiz, National Pharmacy Debate Competition,MIEH, Run For Your Health, Jakti,Baktisiswa, Community Outreach Program,Lawatan Academic and etc. All this activities and events are to collect MyCSD.
    Besides, USM Pharmacy students are encouraged to join MyPSA(Malaysian Pharmacy Students’ Association) and try to apply as their subcommittee to explore yourself while working together with other universities pharmacy students.

  22. Can students drive in USM? How to get the sticker?

First year students are NOT allowed to bring in any vehicles .If students get caught driving any unregistered vehicle in USM, they will receive a summon. Students can only bring their own vehicle to USM start from second year. Still, students have to get a sticker and register their own vehicle with Jabatan Keselamatan in USM. In order to entitle a sticker, students have to be active in societies and clubs. Stickers are limited and they are only given to students who are actively participating in the clubs.

For further information please check this link:

http://www.pha.usm.my/index.php/en/