KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 97.81 per cent or 41,915 students passed the 2014 Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).
In announcing the STPM results, Malaysian Examination Council (MEC) President Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said that there was an overall improvement in terms of As and CGPA, but it was the percent of passes that was crucial.
"From our research, it is much easier for those who take and pass their STPM to get admission to universities, so the percentage of passes is significant," said Noh.
Noh also said that the highest ever percent of passes for those taking four subjects were achieved at 63.80 per cent.
Only 57 candidates failed the exam, compared to 112 in 2013.
Noh also announced that the national CGPA was 2.62, higher than 2.57 in 2013.
A total of 390 students achieved a CGPA of 4.0.
Ten students scored 5As, and a total of 398 students scored 4As.
Noh noted that there were less students that sat for the 2014 STPM compared to the previous year.
In 2013, a total of 55,223 per cent of students sat for the exam. This is 16.69 per cent more than the 42,854 that sat for the exam in 2014.
Noh said that this was possible due to students opting for other pre-university courses.