The old arrangement — a student placed into aliran Sains, Sastera or Perdagangan at Form 4 — was abolished from 2020. National schools now build a subject list from a compulsory core plus a package of electives chosen by the student.
The six core subjects
Every SPM candidate takes: Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Inggeris, Matematik, Sains, Sejarah, and Pendidikan Islam or Pendidikan Moral. That is six subjects before any choice is made, and it is also the minimum a candidate may register.
Note what this means for the sciences: a student who takes no science elective still sits Sains, the general science paper. Nobody leaves SPM without a science subject.
The packages
Electives are grouped, and schools offer them as packages designed to line up with what tertiary courses ask for. In broad terms:
- a full science package — the three pure sciences with Additional Mathematics;
- a lighter science or technical package — two pure sciences with Additional Mathematics and an applied elective, or applied science and technical subjects;
- a humanities and commerce package — the commerce subjects, geography, literature and similar, in the combinations that school runs.
The number of electives a student may add on top of the core is set by the ministry and applied by the school, and schools differ in how many they will let a student carry. The school is the place to get that number, along with which packages it actually offers this year.
What changed in practice, and what did not
What changed is the label and the principle: a student is no longer assigned to a stream, and the packages are meant to be chosen against a career direction rather than allocated by results.
What did not change is the timetable. Packages exist because subjects have to be taught in blocks, and a combination the school has not built is not usually available on request. In that sense the practical experience for a Form 4 student is closer to the old streams than the policy language suggests — with the difference that the choice is theirs to make and the packages are more varied.
What to ask, and when
- Which packages does this school run in Form 4 this year, and how many students does each need?
- How many electives may a student carry, and can one be added or dropped after Form 4 begins?
- Does the intended tertiary course name subjects that only one package contains?
That third question is the one that matters most, and it is answered by reading the entry requirements of two or three realistic courses before the package is chosen — not after.
旧制度——学生在中四被编入理科班、文科班或商科班——已于 2020 年起取消。国民学校如今的科目清单，是由必修核心科加上学生自选的选修配套组成。
六科必修
每一名 SPM 考生都要考：马来文、英文、数学、科学、历史，以及伊斯兰教育或道德教育。在做出任何选择之前就已经是六科，而这也是可报考的最低科目数。
请留意这对理科的意义：即使一科理科选修都不修的学生，仍要考 Sains（普通科学）。没有人会在没有理科科目的情况下完成 SPM。
选修配套
选修科分组，学校以配套形式开设，并对照高等教育课程的要求来设计。大致上包括：
- 完整理科配套——三门纯理科加附加数学；
- 较轻的理科或技术配套——两门纯理科加附加数学与一科应用选修，或应用科学与技术科目；
- 人文与商科配套——商科科目、地理、文学等，视该校开设的组合而定。
核心科之外可加修几科选修，由教育部规定、学校执行，各校允许的数量并不相同。这个数字，以及今年实际开设哪些配套，都要向学校确认。
实际上改了什么，没改什么
改变的是名称与原则：学生不再被分配到某一个分流，配套的用意是让学生对照升学方向来选，而不是按成绩分配。
没有改变的是课表。配套之所以存在，是因为科目必须成组开课；学校没有编出来的组合，通常无法应要求另开。就这一点而言，中四学生的实际体验，比政策用语所显示的更接近旧的分流制——差别在于选择权在学生手上，而配套的种类更多。
该问什么，什么时候问
- 今年这所学校在中四开设哪些配套？每一套需要多少人才开得成？
- 学生可以加修几科选修？中四开学后还能不能增减？
- 目标升学课程指明的科目，是否只出现在其中一个配套里？
第三个问题最关键，而回答它的方式，是在选定配套之前先读两三个实际可能申请的课程的入学要求，而不是选定之后才读。
More in this section本部分其他文章
SPM and the national syllabusSPM 与国家课程
- What is the national syllabus, and what is SPM?什么是国家课程？SPM 又是什么？
- How is SPM graded?SPM 如何评分？
- Which science subjects are there at SPM?SPM 有哪些理科科目？
- Which commerce subjects are there at SPM?SPM 有哪些商科科目？
- English and Bahasa Melayu in SPMSPM 的英文与马来文
- When is SPM, and can I sit as a private candidate?SPM 什么时候考？可以以自修生身份报考吗？
Next step下一步
A question this page did not answer?这一页没答到你的问题？
Tell us the exam and the subject and we will answer it directly, usually within one working day.把考试与科目告诉我们，我们会直接回答，通常在一个工作日内。