The results of the 2014 Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) examination show an increase in the performance of the candidates in all examination assessment criteria.

Malaysian Examination Council (MEC) chairperson Professor Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said the criteria included the national Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), the percentage of candidates getting CGPA of 4.00, 3.50 and above 2.00 to 3.49, the percentage of candidates getting an A in five and four subjects, the percentage with full passes, and a decline in the percentage of candidates who failed.

“The national CGPA in the 2014 STPM examination improved to 2.62 from 2.57 in 2013.

“This means CGPA of government schools improved from 2.55 in 2013 to 2.62,” he said when announcing the results of the 2014 STPM in Kuala Lumpur today.

The achievement of 4.00 CGPA for the 2014 STPM increased to 0.91 percent or 390 candidates compared to the 0.89 percent or 492 candidates in the 2013 STPM.

Mohd Noh said the percentage of candidates to get CGPA 4.0 increased in the 2014 examination compared to the 2013 STPM which had more candidates.

“The percentage of candidates getting a CGPA of 3.50 and above also improved to 9.09 percent or 3,895 candidates compared to 8.18 percent or 4,516 candidates in the 2013 STPM.

“The increase in percentage was also seen in the CGPA from 2.00 to 3.49, at 73.85 percent or 31,647 candidates as compared to the 2013 STPM,” he said.

The percentage of candidates who obtained a full pass in five subjects also showed an increase of 0.96 percent at 97.81 percent, or 41,915 candidates compared to 96.85 percent or 53,494 candidates in 2013.

Students who took four subjects and obtained full passes achieved the highest percentage at 63.80 percent or 27,342 candidates.

“A total of 10 candidates who took five subjects obtained a grade A in all papers, compared to eight candidates in 2013.

“Meanwhile, there was a decline in the number of candidates who failed, with only 57 candidates (0.13 percent) compared to 112 candidates (0.20 percent) in the 2013 STPM,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Noh, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, said of the 23 subjects offered, 10 showed an increase in full passes - Malay Language, Chinese Language, Tamil Language, Arabic Language, Communicative Malay Literature, Geography, Economics, Further Mathematics, Information and Communications Technology and Chemistry.

There was a drop in the number of full passes in two subjects  - Literature in English, and Biology, while there was no difference in the performance in 11 other subjects.

Urban-rural performance gap lessens

Mohd Noh also said the gap in the performance of urban and rural candidates was less with the mean CGPA of urban candidates at 2.64 compared to the 2.54 of rural candidates.

A total of 48,854 candidates registered for the 2014 STPM, with 42,854  (88.25 percent) sitting for it compared to 53,233 (94.65 percent) in 2013.

The 2014 STPM is the new assessment system applied by the second time by the MEC since it was approved in  January 2012 to replace the terminal examination which had been implemented since 1982.

The performance of 79,468 candidates for the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) for the November 2014 session which was released on Jan 5, 2015, also saw 68.82 percent or 54,691 candidates getting Band 3 or better, compared to 46.20 percent or 29,933 candidates in the July 2014 MUET session.

“This is a distinct improvement which shows that the announcement by the prime minister in the Budget 2015 that the MUET would be a compulsory requirement for the entry into and graduation from local universities had an effect on the increase in students taking MUET,” he said.

- Bernama