The Malaysian Examination Board said Thursday that 4,211 or 67.8 per cent of the 6,213 candidates who sat for the Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) 2015 obtained at least a 'sijil pangkat maqbul' (pass).

The board's director Datin Nawal Salleh said, "it is among the best results since the introduction of the examination in 2000".

She said the number of passes this year increased by 388 candidates or 4.5 per cent, compared to 3,823 in 2014.

"Four hundred and forty-four candidates achieved the 'sijil pangkat mumtaz' (excellent), which represented an increase of 1.6 per cent or 113 candidates compared to 331 candidates the previous year.

"Overall, the candidates showed a national grade average improvement of 0.12 points compared to 3.20 in 2014," she said here today.

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According to her, 54 candidates scored 'excellent' in 10 subjects they sat for, which represented an increase of 20 (0.31 per cent), compared to 34 candidates in 2014.

She said the number of candidates who failed to obtain a STAM certificate was 2,002 (32.2 per cent), a decrease of 210 or 4.5 per cent, compared to 2,212 (36.7 per cent) in 2014.

Nawal said 1,395 (22.5 per cent) candidates obtained 'sijil pangkat jayyid jiddan' (very good), which was an increase of 265, compared to 1,130 candidates (18.7 per cent) in 2014.

She added that the number of candidates who obtained the 'sijil pangkat jayyid' (good) this year increased by 49 but the percentage decreased by 0.2 per cent compared to 2014.

She said the number of candidates who passed three of five subjects in the Arabic language also increased compared to the previous year.

"Two hundred and twenty-seven more candidates (1.8 per cent) passed the subjects including Nahu and Sarf; 317 more (2.3 per cent) passed the Arudh and Qafiyah and 298 more (2.2 per cent) passed the Insya' and Mutalaah."

She said the percentage of candidates who passed in the two Syariah and three Usuluddin subjects had also increased.