Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia
The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination taken by all fifth-form secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Nationals 4/5 of Scotland, and the GCE Ordinary Level (O Level) of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is the leaving examination of the eleventh grade of schooling. SPM is the penultimate examination sat by secondary school students before further studies in foundation, STPM, matriculation or diploma. The examination is set and examined by  the Malaysian Examinations board ("Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia"). For those who attend international schools, the equivalent exam they sit for is the International General Certificate of Secondary Education exam. On the other hand, the Unified Examinations Certificate is equivalent to Advanced Level. All SPM examination papers are considered official secrets and are protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 of Malaysia. Starting from the year 2021, the Malaysian Ministry of Education introduced a new SPM format for the new KSSM syllabus, replacing the old SPM format for the old KBSM syllabus. Also for the English subject, the Common European Framework of  Reference (CEFR) syllabus is implemented for the English Paper. History. The SPM provides the opportunity for Malaysians to continue their studies to pre-university level. Up to 1978, the examination was handled by UCLES, which still advises the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate on standards. The English paper is separately graded by the national examination board and UCLES, and both grades will be displayed on the statement slip. On the actual certificate, only the national examination board's grade is listed. The minimum requirements to obtain the certificate is to pass both Malay language and History. Generally, the SPM is taken at  the age of 17, though students who attended the pre-secondary transition class (commonly known as "remove class") would take it at the age of 18. Previously, students who successfully passed their Penilaian Tahap Satu (PTS) examination at Primary Three and chose to skip a year of primary school education would take their SPM a year earlier, at the age of 16. This was discontinued in 2000. Students who are home schooled generally take the SPM at the end of their secondary education as well. Subjects. Compulsory subjects. Certain subjects are made compulsory for students. They are: Elective subjects. Science  and Mathematics. In 2003, the medium of instruction for the science and mathematics subjects was switched from Malay to English. Due to this transition, students taking science and mathematics subjects can choose to respond in the examinations in either English or Malay. Old/Terminated subjects. Due to the switch from KBSM syllabus to KSSM syllabus in 2017, some subjects have been terminated and switched to a fully new syllabus. The list does not include courses that have minor changes in name only. Results. The evaluation scheme is fully exam-based. The examination for SPM usually takes place around November and  lasts for more than 3 weeks. Papers are also scheduled in June for students who wish to resit for examinations they failed the previous year, but only for Bahasa Melayu, Sejarah and Mathematics. When releasing the results, only the letter grades (and not the actual scores) are made known to the candidates. Candidates may request a remarking (regrading) if they suspect errors in the original marking. Although no list of rankings is released to the public, the names of the top ranked students in the country and in each state are released to the press. These students may achieve the  level of temporary celebrities, and may even be approached by companies to advertise their products. Politicians usually visit some of these top ranked students a day before the official results to congratulate them. Because the SPM examination is the final nationally standardised examination taken by the majority of Malaysians, many scholarships are awarded based on SPM results. Since 2010, however, the Ministry of Education has imposed a 10-subject limit on every candidate, while lowering the minimum number of subjects from 8 to 6. Students are allowed to take 2 additional subjects (comprising Arabic, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazandusun languages and  Bible Knowledge) but they will not be taken into consideration for government scholarships. Grade system. Candidates are assigned grades based on their scores in each subject. The exact grading scale used every year has never been made public. Since 2009, grading system used has a range from A+ (the highest grade) to G (for ""gagal"" or fail; F is not used). The previous system assigned a grade point and a letter to each range, with 1A ("1" being the grade point and "A" the letter grade) as highest range and 9G the lowest. The table below shows the comparison  between previous grade system and the current one. Bahasa Melayu July Paper. Bahasa Melayu (BM) was slowly dosed into the national school system beginning from 1960 but it was only made a compulsory subject in 1970 (i.e. to pass the Malaysia Certificate Education exam, a pass in BM is a must). Furthermore, a credit in BM is essential in order to secure a seat in sixth form. One of the many problems associated with this change is that many "good" students were unable to continue their post-secondary education because of their examination result in BM. In 1972, for instance , the BM failure rate was nearly 40%. To solve this problem, the July Paper was introduced so that students would be given a second chance to retake the paper.