PUTRAJAYA: Results of the 2019 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) recorded a better National Average Grade (GPN) of 4.86 from 4.89 in 2018, said Education director-general Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim.
The improvement by 0.03 of-a-point continues the positive trend which has been recorded since 2015.
A lower GPN indicates better performance.
She said out of 389,498 students that sat for SPM last year, 59.99 per cent, or 233,652 candidates obtained at least a pass for all subjects they sat for, with 8,876 of them getting grade A+, A and A- for all subjects.
“The percentage of candidates who are eligible to be awarded the SPM certificate also increased by 0.33 per cent, with 86.72 per cent of candidates who sat for the examination last year being eligible to receive the certificate, (up from) 86.39 per cent in 2018,” she added.
Habibah said the results showed that 48 out of 83 subjects recorded an improvement in performance, while 27 subjects recorded a decline; and eight subjects were new.
“Three core subjects, namely Bahasa Melayu, English and Moral Education, showed better performance.
“While Islamic Education, History, Mathematics and Science recorded a decline in performance.”
She said English recorded the highest Subject Average Grade (GPMP) improvement with an increase of 0.17, while Science recorded the biggest decrease of 0.14.
Habibah said 45 out of 68 elective subjects also recorded an increase in performance.
“All science and mathematics elective subjects recorded an improvement, with Chemistry recording the highest GPMP of 0.10.”
As for special needs candidates, Habibah said that out of 1,402 students, 860 were qualified to be awarded the certificates.
On High-Level Thinking Skills (KBAT), Habibah said 56 per cent of the candidates were able to master the skills to evaluate, analyse, apply and innovate.
“It was found that 53.33 per cent of the candidates mastered the skills to apply, analyse (62.64 per cent), evaluate (47.51 per cent) and innovate (60.52 per cent).”
Habibah said performance in both urban and rural areas improved, with the GPN in urban areas at 4.70 (compared to 4.75 last year), and rural areas at 5.14, compared to 5.18 in 2018.