Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination sat for 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.

The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia distributed by Examinations Syndicate.
2021 version of SPM Certificates
Mockup of an SPM certificate. It is handed out by the Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia

The SPM is sat for by secondary school students before further studies in foundation, STPM, matriculation or diploma. The examination is set and examined by the Malaysian Examinations board. For students attending international schools, the equivalent exam they take is the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exam, and the Unified Examinations Certificate is equivalent to Advanced Level. All SPM examination papers are considered official confidential property and are protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 of Malaysia.[1]

In 2021, the Malaysian Ministry of Education introduced a new SPM format for the new KSSM syllabus, which replaced the old SPM format for the old KBSM syllabus.[2] For English, the GCE O Level grade was discontinued, the Common European Framework of Reference syllabus was implemented for the English paper and the result statement is handed out with the SPM Certificate.[3]

Mockup of the front page of the Malay Language SPM Paper
SPM 2022 examination candidate QR code example
  1. ^ "Taklimat OSA" (PDF). Official Website of Legal Affairs Division of Prime Minister Department. Retrieved 9 March 2022. (in Malay)
  2. ^ Berita Harian (in Malay) (4 March 2020). "SPM Will Use A New Format Next Year (Malay: SPM Guna Format Baharu Tahun Depan)". bharian.com.my. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Assessment Format for English Aligned for CEFR" (PDF). Examination Syndicates, Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Retrieved 9 March 2022. (in Malay)