Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article uses citations that link to broken or outdated sources. Please improve the article by addressing link rot or discuss this issue on the talk page. (March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination sat for by all Form 5 secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) of England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the Nationals 4/5 of Scotland; and the GCE Ordinary Level (O Level) of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is the leaving examination of the eleventh grade of schooling.

The SPM is sat for by secondary school students before further studies in foundation, STPM, matriculation or diploma. The examination is set and examined by the Malaysian Examinations board. For students attending international schools, the equivalent exam they take is the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exam, and the Unified Examinations Certificate is equivalent to Advanced Level. All SPM examination papers are considered official confidential property and are protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 of Malaysia.^[1]

In 2021, the Malaysian Ministry of Education introduced a new SPM format for the new KSSM syllabus, which replaced the old SPM format for the old KBSM syllabus.^[2] For English, the GCE O Level grade was discontinued, the Common European Framework of Reference syllabus was implemented for the English paper and the result statement is handed out with the SPM Certificate.^[3]

The SPM allows Malaysians to continue their studies to pre-university level. Originally there were two versions of the SPM, which were introduced in 1964: the Malaysian Certificates of Education taken by students studying in English schools and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) taken by students studying in national schools. The difference between the two was that the SPM was conducted using the national language (Bahasa Melayu) while the MCE was conducted in English. The MCE was discontinued in 1976 when the Ministry of Education took over the examination from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) and merged it with the SPM. The predecessor of these exam were SPPTM (Sijil Pelajaran Persekutuan Tanah Melayu that was started in 1962) and FMC (Federation of Malaya Certificate which started in 1957) before the formation of Federation of Malaysia.^[4]

Certain subjects are mandatory for students. They are:^[5][6]

^a Compulsory for all Muslim students except for students in the Islamic Science stream, who are required to take their respective electives in lieu of this subject.

^b Compulsory for all non-Muslim students.

^c Compulsory for students in the Commerce, Literature and Arts streams only. Students in the Pure Science, Islamic Science, and Humanities Science streams are required to take their respective Science electives in lieu of this subject.

At the end of Form 3, Form 3 students are required to sit for the final exam — Ujian Akhir Sesi Akademik Tingkatan 3. Based on their result, performance and interest, students will be streamed into the streams that suit them the most for the following 2 final upper form years of schooling.

In 2003, the medium of instruction for the science and mathematics subjects was switched from Malay to English. Due to this transition, students taking science and mathematics subjects can choose to sit for the exams in either English or Malay.

*Chinese Language is compulsory for all SMJK students (Bahasa Cina)

Due to the switch from the KBSM syllabus to the KSSM syllabus in 2017, some subjects were removed. The list does not include courses that have minor changes in name only.

When releasing the results, only the letter grades (and not the actual scores) are revealed to the candidates. Candidates may request a remarking (regrading) if they suspect errors in the original marking. Although no list of rankings is released to the public, the names of the top ranked students in the country and in each state are released to the press.^[7]

Since 2010, the Ministry of Education has imposed a ten-subject limit on every candidate while lowering the minimum number of subjects from eight to six. Students are allowed to take two additional subjects (from Arabic, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazandusun languages and Bible Knowledge) but they will not be considered for government scholarships.^[8]

Candidates are assigned grades based on their scores in each subject. The exact grading scale used every year has never been made public.

Since 2009, the grading system ranged from A+ (the highest grade) to G (for gagal or fail; F is not used). The previous system assigned a grade point and a letter to each range, with 1A ("1" being the grade point and "A" the letter grade) as the highest and 9G the lowest.^[9] The Kepujian (Pass-With-Credit) grade is equivalent to the UK GCSE Pass-With-Credit grade as stated on the back of the certificates.

The Malay language (Bahasa Melayu) was slowly introduced into the national school system from 1960 but was only made a compulsory subject in 1970. Furthermore, a credit in Bahasa Melayu is essential in order to secure a seat in sixth form. One of the many problems associated with this change is that many "good" students were unable to continue their post-secondary education because of their examination result in Bahasa Melayu. In 1972, the BM failure rate was nearly 40%, and the July Paper was introduced as a solution so that students would be given a second chance to retake the paper.^[10]

As time passed, changes were made in education policy and from the higher education institution standpoint. In 2013, history became the second compulsory subject. Many universities also required students to achieve at least C in Mathematics or, in some colleges, to achieve at least a passing grade. Because of this change and demand the examination syndicates announced that the history and mathematics papers would become available to retake along with the Bahasa Melayu paper in the SPMU.^[11]

This year SPM will be sat by 2007 students. The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination schedule for 2024 has been released. Key dates include:

• Ujian Bertutur Bahasa Melayu (Malay Speaking Test): 2 – 5 December 2024
• Ujian Amali Sains (Science Pratical Test) - Physics, Chemistry and Biology: 9, 10, and 12 December 2024
• Ujian Amali Sains (Science Pratical Test) - Additional Science: 12 December 2024
• Ujian Bertutur Bahasa Inggeris (English Speaking Test): 16 – 19 December 2024
• Ujian Mendengar Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Inggeris (Malay and English Listening Test): 31 December 2024
• Ujian Bertulis (Written Test) SPM 2024: 2 January 2025 - 6 February 2025