SPM 2014: 11,289 candidates scored straight As

A total of 11,289 candidates who sat for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) scored all As in the 2014 examination.

The results, however, showed a decrease as compared to the 2013’s result of 13,970 students.

Education Ministry director-general Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof who announced the SPM 2014 results analysis today said most of the students who obtained all As took nine and 10 subjects for SPM.

He said the drop in the number of these A grade students was due to, among others, the habit of forecasting questions, thinking that the questions would be the same, thus making them revise lessons in the old way, Bernama reports.

"Previously, you can spot questions. However, from last year, we changed the format for questions. The questions and standard of questioning are the same, but answering them demands thinking in a different way.

"However, candidates who focus on lessons and knowledge will continue to secure excellent results," he was quoted.

He said the index used to indicate the performance of a candidate was the National Average Grade (GPN), with a smaller value corresponding to a better performance.

"The GPN index for last year is 5.08 compared to 4.93 for 2013, down 0.15," he said.

Khair said the performance in subjects was gauged by the Subject Average Grade (GPMP), with a smaller value indicating a better performance.

He said that based on the GPMP for 2014, there was better performance in 28 of the 73 subjects compared to 2013, poorer performance in 43 subjects and similar performance in two subjects.

"For the core subjects, the performance in Islamic Education was better by 0.14, achieving 4.28 in 2014 compared to 4.42 in 2013.

"The performance in the other core subjects - Bahasa Melayu, English Language, Moral Education, History, Mathematics and Science - saw a decline.

"Moral Education saw the biggest decline, 0.38 to 4.70 compared to 4.32 in 2013," he said.

Khair said that for elective subjects, there was better performance in 27 of the 66 subjects.

A total of 455,839 students sat for the examination in 2014.