Fewer students score straight A's for SPM 2014

PUTRAJAYA: The 2014 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) saw fewer students scoring straight A's with only 11,289 candidates or 2.63% getting A+, A and A- in all subjects compared to 13,970 candidates or 3.16% in 2013.
The drop has been attributed to a changed format for questions that required a direct way of thinking or in other words students failure to adapt with the new assessment system implemented last year.
Of the 11,289 candidates who obtained excellent results, 9,438 of them were from schools under the ministry while 1,851 were not from schools under the ministry.
Director-General of Education Datuk Seri Dr. Khair Mohamad Yusof said majority of the students who scored As were those who took nine to 10 subjects.
Of the total, 108 scored 12As, 1,828 got 11As, 4,317 (10As), 5,000 (9As), 32 (8As) and 4 (7As).
"The drop in As was also among others due to the habit of forecasting questions, thinking the questions will be the same and students studying their subjects in the old way," he said, adding last year they had changed the format for questions.
He said although the questions and standard of questioning were the same, the way to answer demanded thinking in a different way.
The SPM results also saw a decline in the National Average Grade (GPN), from 4.93 in 2013 to 5.08 in 2014, a drop of 0.15.
GPN is an index used to evaluate the performance of candidate nationwide, where smaller value indicates better performance.
"Although a decline is seen, the statistic is still in an acceptable situation. It is a normal increase and decrease trend observed in the previous examinations," he told a press conference to announce the analysis of 2014 SPM at the ministry here today.
Khair said 455,839 candidates registered to sit for the examination last year, a drop of 14,566 or 3.1% compared to 470,395 candidates in 2013.
As for the performance gap between candidates in urban and rural areas, he said, it closing by 0.05 point.
The performance of urban candidates dropped by 0.17 GPN point to 4.85 compared to 4.68 in 2013.
"The same can be seen for rural candidates, the GPN dropped to 5.40 compared to 5.28 in 2013," said Khair, adding there was a decline of performance in all core subjects except Pendidikan Islam.
The performance of core subjects - Bahasa Melayu, English Language, Moral Education, History, Mathematics and Science saw a decline.
"The Moral education subject recorded the highest decrease of Subject Average Grade (GPMP) of 4.70 compared to 4.32 in 2013," he said.
He said overall, a total of 28 out of 73 subjects offered recorded a performance increase, 43 subjects showed a drop, and two subjects maintained its performance.
Khair said that for elective subjects, there was better performance in 27 of the 66 subjects.
As for Science electives, the best improved performance was in Additional Science, with 0.18 to 5.31 in 2014 compared to 5.49 in 2013, he said.
In the Technical electives, there was improved performance in Civil Engineering Studies; Electrical and Electronic Engineering Studies; Invention; and
Information and Communication Technology.
"Invention recorded a significant rise in performance, of 0.71 GPMP, that is 3.03 in 2014 as compared to 3.74 in 2013," he said.
Khair also disclosed that since last year vocational subjects were no longer offered as the subjects were given to students pursuing programmes in vocational colleges.
Khair said 364,724 or 85.1% 2014 SPM candidates sat for the first time and registered at least six subjects qualified to receive the examination's certificate.
On performance of special need students, he said, there were 964 who sat for SPM as compared with 883 in 2013.
Of the number who sat last yer, three who had visual impairment and two others with disabilities achieved excellent results in all the subjects they sat for.