(From left) 5As scorer Beh Keng Hau from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Horley Methodist Teluk Intan Perak, Edmund Foo Sze Kai MUET best candidate who obtains Band 6 from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Datuk Amar Diraja Muar Johor, Mohamad Fairus Azmi (4As) from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Malik Alor Setar Kedah, Debbie Lim Huey Chih (4As) from Sekolah Menengah kebangsaan Sultan Ismail Johor Bahru Johor and Nurul Syuhadah Yakath Ali (4A) from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kuala Ketil, Kedah posing with their excellent award certificates. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 53,422 or 96.75 per cent of the candidates scored a full pass in at least one subject in last year’s Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination, compared to 47,910 or 92.67 per cent in 2012.
Malaysian Examination Council (MEC) chairman Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said, of the total, 1,898 candidates or 3.44 per cent passed all five subjects, 32,763 candidates (59.34 per cent) passed four subjects, 9,717 candidates (17.60 per cent) passed three subjects, 5,234 candidates (9.48 per cent) passed two subjects and 3,810 candidates (6.90 per cent) passed only one subject.
“The number of candidates who scored full passes in five and four subjects increased by 10,155 to 34,661 last year from only 24,506 in the previous year,” he said when announcing the 2013 STPM results here yesterday.
He said, in general, the performance of candidates last year was better compared to the previous year, in which the national Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) rose to 2.55 from 2.24 in 2012.
A total of 492 candidates obtained a CGPA of 4.00 last year compared to 442 candidates in 2012.
Mohd Noh said the number of candidates who obtained A in all subjects had increased to 497 from 450 candidates the year before, but only eight obtained 5As last year compared to 18 in 2012.
From the aspect of school performance, he said the number of candidates in government schools who obtained full passes in five and four subjects had also increased to 34,318 from 23,698 in 2012.
Ten subjects recorded better pass rate, namely Communicative Malay Literature (19.87 per cent), Usuluddin (18.53 per cent), Sport Sciences (17.45 per cent), Business Studies (16.87 per cent), Arabic Language (16.89 per cent), History (15.69 per cent), Mathematics M (15.27 per cent), Accounting (13.32 per cent), Syariah (12.36 per cent) and Bahasa Malaysia (12.04 per cent).
Meanwhile, two subjects recorded relatively small changes in their pass rates, namely Literature in English (+1.04 per cent) and Physics (-0.59 per cent), compared to SPTM 2012.
The performance of candidates in Further Mathematics showed the lowest decline at -28.57 per cent as only seven candidates sat for the paper last year, despite the fact that 11 candidates registered.
Mohd Noh said the gap between the performance of urban and rural candidates remained significant as with 1,189 urban candidates obtained 5As, 4As and 3As compared to only 156 rural candidates.
“A total of 473 or 12.23 per cent urban science stream candidates scored 5As, 4As and 3As compared with only 14 (0.51 per cent) for rural candidates, while for the urban art stream, 716 candidates (10.02 per cent) obtained 3As and above compared to 142 (1.99 per cent) rural candidates,” he said.
A total of 55,214 candidates sat for the examination last year, compared to 51,697 candidates in 2012.
On the performance of 72,101 students in the November 2013 session of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET), Mohd Noh said 33.15 per cent of the candidates had obtained Band 3 or better, as compared to 28.52 per cent recorded in the July session last year. — Bernama