The national curriculum for secondary school is KSSM — Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah — introduced from 2017 and now the syllabus behind every national secondary school, and behind the national subjects taught in many private and independent ones.
Five years, one examination
Secondary school runs Form 1 to Form 5. Forms 1 to 3 are lower secondary; Forms 4 and 5 are upper secondary, where subject packages are chosen and the examination syllabus is taught.
SPM — Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia — is sat at the end of Form 5 and is administered by Lembaga Peperiksaan, the ministry's examinations board. It is the certificate that matters for what comes next: matriculation, Form 6, diploma and foundation programmes, public and private universities, and employment all read it.
What happened to the lower-secondary examination
PT3, the Form 3 examination, was cancelled and then abolished. In its place, lower secondary is assessed inside the school through classroom-based assessment and an end-of-year test. The practical effect is that SPM is now the first and only public examination a national-school student sits.
That has changed how families need to think about the middle years. There is no longer an external checkpoint at Form 3 to show where a student stands, so the first hard evidence arrives at the end of Form 5 — by which time it is a result rather than a warning. Whether UPSR and PT3 return has been under review; if that changes it will be on our noticeboard.
Where SPM sits against the other systems
- It is the only one of the systems on this site run by the Malaysian government, and the only one that carries a certificate condition tied to national subjects.
- It is taken at the same stage of school as IGCSE and one year later than the UEC Junior examination.
- It is the qualification Malaysian public universities are built around, and the one whose subjects several other pathways now ask for even when the student's main qualification is something else.
That last point is the one worth carrying into the rest of this section: SPM is not only a certificate for national-school students. Its Bahasa Melayu and Sejarah papers have become a requirement attached to other routes as well.
中学的国家课程是 KSSM（Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah，中学标准课程），自 2017 年起推行，如今是所有国民中学的课程依据，也是许多私立与独立学校所教国家科目的依据。
五年，一场考试
中学由中一读到中五。中一至中三是初中；中四与中五是高中，学生在此选定科目配套，并修读考试课程。
SPM（Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia，马来西亚教育文凭）在中五结束时报考，由教育部辖下的考试局（Lembaga Peperiksaan）主办。它是决定下一步的那张文凭：预科班、中六、文凭与基础课程、公立与私立大学，以及就业，看的都是它。
初中考试后来怎么了
中三的 PT3 考试先是取消，随后废除。取而代之的是校内评估与学年末测验。实际结果是：SPM 成了国民学校学生唯一一场公共考试。
这改变了家庭看待中学中段的方式。中三不再有校外检查点来显示学生的真实水平，第一份硬证据要等到中五结束——那时它已是成绩，而不是提醒。UPSR 与 PT3 是否恢复仍在检讨中；一旦有变动，会公布在我们的公告栏。
SPM 在各制度中的位置
- 它是本站各制度中唯一由马来西亚政府主办的考试，也是唯一一个把发证条件绑在国家科目上的考试。
- 它与 IGCSE 在同一个求学阶段报考，比统考初中考试晚一年。
- 马来西亚公立大学的入学制度以它为基础；如今即使学生的主要资格是别的，也有若干升学管道要求它的科目。
最后一点值得带进本节其余文章：SPM 不只是国民学校学生的文凭。它的马来文与历史试卷，已成为其他升学路线附带的要求。
More in this section本部分其他文章
SPM and the national syllabusSPM 与国家课程
- How is SPM graded?SPM 如何评分？
- Are students still streamed into Science and Arts?SPM 还分理科班与文科班吗？
- 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。