At a press conference announcing the 2025 SPM results today, Azam said the decrease was not a cause for concern as there was an increase in the number of candidates scoring straight “A+” last year, Bernama reported.
The number of candidates who obtained straight “A+” in 2025 was 376, up from 352 in 2024.
Azam said the ministry would examine the contributing factors to the trend before taking follow-up action together with the state education departments, district education offices and schools.
Azam also said that the 2025 SPM examination results recorded the best achievement so far with a national grade average index of 4.42 points compared to 4.49 points in 2024.
The number of candidates who obtained at least a credit, or grade “C”, in all subjects was 92,347 in 2025, compared to 86,040 in 2024.
“A total of 141,728 candidates obtained at least a pass, or grade ‘E’, in all subjects taken in 2025, compared to 136,791 in 2024,” Azam was quoted as saying.
Of the total 413,299 candidates registered for the 2025 SPM examination, 395,740 were new candidates who registered for at least six subjects.
Azam also said that a total of 366,435 candidates or 94.29% were eligible to receive the SPM certificate in 2025 compared to 355,933 in 2024.
He said the number of registered candidates who did not sit for the examination across all subjects was 5,032 in 2025, compared to 6,246 in 2024.
“This is a decrease of 1,214 candidates, which shows the effectiveness of the various initiatives and interventions implemented by the ministry and various stakeholders,” he said.
Performance by subject
On student performance by subject, Azam said the highest increase was recorded in Pendidikan Islam, which rose to 3.2 average subject grade (GPMP) points in 2025 from 3 points in 2024.
“Bahasa Melayu showed a decrease in performance of 0.13 points, from 3.85 points in 2024 to 3.72 points in 2025,” he added.
For the 12 elective subjects in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), which involve applied science and technology, a total of eight subjects showed an improvement in performance.
“Electrical and electronic engineering studies recorded the highest performance increase of 1.64 GPMP points, improving to 2.01 points in 2025 from 3.65 points in 2024,” Azam said.
Of the 22 STEM elective subjects involving vocational subjects, 16 subjects showed an increase in performance, five showed a decrease, and one remained unchanged compared to the 2024 SPM.
Azam said 11 out of 12 humanities and professional arts elective subjects showed an increase in performance, while one subject showed a decrease.
“Entrepreneurship studies showed the highest performance increase of 0.94 points, improving to 2.50 points in 2025 from 3.44 points in 2024, while principles of accounting showed a decrease of 0.07 points, to 4 points in 2025 from 3.93 points in 2024,” he said.
For the Pengajian Islam elective subjects, nine out of 13 subjects showed an increase in performance, while four showed a decrease.
Five out of seven language elective subjects showed an improvement in performance, while 11 out of 18 arts education subjects recorded similar gains.