152 Lorraine Pe Symaco
Other exams are administered to secondary students: (1) the PMR (Penilaian
Menengah Rendah or Lower Secondary Assessment); and (2) the SPM
(Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or Malaysian Certificate of Education, taken by
the fifth year secondary students).
We observe that during the period 2000–11 there is a trend of increasing
percentages for both statistics for the UPSR as well as the other two exams.
For example, the percentage passing the UPSR rose from just below 76 per
cent in 2000 to over 84 per cent in 2011 (Government of Malaysia 2012).
And with respect to the percentage of students being graded “A” on the
UPSR, that figure increased from about 25 per cent in 2000 to over 30 per
cent in 2011.
A comparison across states of the GPS (Gred Purata Sekolah or Grade
Point Average) for the UPSR in 2011 shows that the two worst performing
states are Sabah followed by Sarawak (see Figure 6.6). These states’ GPS
across subjects are 54.3 per cent and 60.8 per cent, respectively. We also
note that W.P. Putrajaya has by far the best performance, with a GPS
FIGURE 6.6
Comparison of Performance across State for UPSR in 2011Source: Government of Malaysia (2012).Sabah