old facts

As Malaysia is revolutionizing its education system, science and mathematics subjects are being tested in English. Other subjects are still being tested in Malay. Due to this, the SPM Papers for these science and mathematics subjects from 2003 up to 2006 have questions in both English and Malay. The first year to do the Science and Mathematics papers in English will be the students taking the November 2007 papers. In 2003, a new SPM subject, English for Science and Technology (EST)^[4] was introduced. It is an English test based on science and technology.^[5] Students set to take the English Science and Mathematics SPM papers in 2007 are still required to do this subject.

The minimum number of subjects that students have to sit for is 10. Students generally take 9 subjects, if they are in the Arts stream, or 10 subjects, if they are in the Science stream (after the introduction of EST in 2003). However, due to the competitive nature of receiving scholarships to further studies, there has been pressure to take as many subjects as possible. Previously, a maximum of 21 subjects was allowed to be taken, however, rules are now in place to make students pay for any sittings beyond the first 12 subjects of their choice.