Education Director-General Datuk Dr Amin Senin showing the analysis of 2017 SPM results after making the announcement today. – Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: The 2017 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results recorded a better National Average Grade (GPN) of 4.90 from 5.05 in 2016, said Education Director-General Datuk Dr Amin Senin.
“Overall, the 2017 SPM results showed improvement in the achievement of the candidates,” he told a media conference which was called to announce the analysis of 2017 SPM results here today.
A lower GPN indicates better performance.
Amin said the 2017 SPM results showed improvement in 48 of the 73 subjects, a decline in 23 subjects and no change in two subjects.
The five core subjects, namely Bahasa Melayu (BM), English, Islamic Studies, History and Mathematics showed improved performance, while a drop in performance was recorded for Moral Studies and Science.
He said the performance for BM showed the highest score at 0.46, while the score for Moral Education showed the lowest performance of 0.11 in GPN.
In the science and mathematics elective, three subjects, namely Physics, Chemistry and Additional Science showed and improvement with Additional Science recording the highest score at 0.36, and the lowest, Biology, at 0.12.
Amin said all religious elective subjects showed improved performance in the 2017 SPM than in 2016 , with Tasawwur Islam recording the highest score at 0.43.
In technical elective, the Home Economics subject recorded the highest score in improved performance at 0.34, while Civil Engineering Studies recorded the highest decline of 0.29.
He said the announcement on the number of As obtained by candidates who sat for the SPM examination last year would be announced by the education directors in the respective states.
A total of 43,883 candidates sat for the SPM examination in 2017, he added.
On the performance of the 2017 SPM candidates in the urban and rural areas, Amin said it was encouraging with an increase of 0.14 in GPN, at 4.75 and 5.22, respectively.
“The difference in the performance of candidates in the urban and rural areas remained at 0.47 in 2017, which is the same as in 2016,” he added.
According to Amin, a total of 415,008 candidates sat for at least six core subjects for the first time in 2017, with 85.2 per cent of them eligible to be awarded certificate.
They comprised 90.2 per cent candidates from schools under the Education Ministry, he added.
For special needs candidates, Amin said 621 or 62.5 per cent of the 994 candidates were eligible to be awarded the SPM certificate, while 54.9 per cent of them obtained the GCE O – Level certificate for English.
He said this year, the Education Ministry’s report included the ability of the 2017 SPM candidates in applying the Higher Order Thinking Skills (KBAT) in answering the examination questions.
Overall, he said, 66 per cent of the 2017 SPM candidates were able to master KBAT.
“Based on the quality of answers given by candidates, 27 per cent of the candidates mastered KBAT well, 39 per cent at moderate level and 37 per cent at low level,” he said.
However, he said the skills of the candidates to analyse, evaluate and innovate was still at a moderate level. – Bernama