A total 46,712 or 92.19 percent had full passes for at least one subject in the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) 2011 compared to 46,795 (92.5 percent) previously, or a 0.31 percent drop.

Malaysian Examinations Council (MPM) chairperson Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said 12 candidates received the excellent A grade in five subjects taken compared to eight candidates previously.

“Generally, the performance of the candidates in 2011 is the same as 2010, whereby the minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is the same, namely, 2.22.

“In 2011, 298 candidates (0.59 percent) received a CGPA of 4.00 compared to 343 candidates (0.68 per cent) previously,” he said when announcing the results of the STPM 2011 in Kuala Lumpur today.

A total of 50,669 candidates had sat for the STPM last year.

Mohd Noh said the gap between the performance of urban and rural candidates was still obvious where the performance of urban candidates was better than rural candidates.

He said 948 or 12.64 per cent of urban candidates received 5As, 4As and 3As compared to only 93 (6.14 percent) for rural candidates. He said 357 (14.2) of urban science stream candidates received 5As, 4As and 3As compared to only 11 (12.64) rural candidates while 591 (11.85) urban arts stream candidates received 5As, 4As and 3A scompared to only 82 (5.75) rural candidates.

In terms of schools’ performance, he said government schools showed a drop compared to the previous year, namely, the minimum CGPA of government schools last year was 2.29 compared to 2.32 the previous year.

“A total 52 schools achieved a minimum CGPA of 2.8 or higher in 2011 compared to 47 schools previously and 55 schools in 2009,” he said.

Mohd Noh said of the 12 candidates who received the A Grade in five subjects, five achieved A Grades in all examination papers taken.

Three excellent special candidates

He said there were three excellent special candidates - one in the blind category who scored 1A, 1A- and 2B, one in the dim-sighted category who had 3As and 1A- and a spastic (3As and 1A-), while the best rural student obtained 4As and 1A-.

He said based on candidates’ performance according to subjects, there was improvement in three, namely, Arabic Language (4.1 percent), History (3.8) and accounting (3.68) compared to the previous year.

He said there was a drop in performance in Syariah studies (-2.02), General Studies (-3.4), Business Studies (-4.06) and Further Mathematics T (-12.73) compared to the previous year.

“The performance in 16 other subjects saw little change because the difference in the percentage of candidates who had full passes between 2011 and 2010 was less than two percent.

On the usage of the English Language for answering Science and Mathematics, Mohd Noh said 98.1 percent of candidates answered fully in the English Language last year compared to 97.1 percent previously or an increase of one percent.    

Meanwhile, he said the performance of Malaysian University English Test (MUET) at the end of 2011 had improved, namely, 46.8 candidates had achieved Band 3 or better compared to 41.81 per cent for MUET Mid-Year 2011.

He said MPM was offering MUET tests three times a year - in March, July and November - from this year. The March session was concluded on March 3.

During the press conference, Mohd Noh also handed over cash prizes of RM1,000 and certificates of appreciation and plaques to two candidates who were excellent in the in MUET for 2011, one for MUET Mid-Year 2011 and MUET End of 2011.

They were Nicholas Tan Ooi Kiat from SMK Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur and Joy Lee Xing Pei from SMK Tinggi, Kluang, Johor. Both of them had obtained Band Six in the examination.

- Bernama