A total of 34,271 (7.77%) out of 441,137 students scored straight A's in the 2011 Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations, making it the best PMR results in the past four years, said Education director-general Datuk Seri Abd Ghafar Mahmud.
He said the National Average Grade (GPN) for the examinations improved from 2.74 to 2.71 this year (a lower GPN indicates better results).
(In 2010, the percentage of straight A's scorers was 7.02%.)
"This year's GPN indicator is also the highest of the past four years.
"Additionally, all subjects showed an improvement in student achievement, except Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, Iban language and Islamic Studies," he said when announcing the PMR results here on Thursday.
Abd Ghafar said the number of candidates who obtained Grade E in all subjects also went down to 346 (0.08%) from 386 (0.09%) in 2010.
Meanwhile, candidates who obtained minimum D (not including all A) went up to 272,966 (61.88%) from 265,388 (60.39%) in 2010.
Abd Ghafar said the achievements of rural candidates who garnered Grade A in all subjects also went up to 6,474 (4.28%) compared to 5,825 (3.81%) last year or an increase of 0.46%.
He said the number of urban students who scored Grade A in all subjects rose 0.86%, from 24,084 students (8.86%) in 2010 to 26,189 (9.72%) this year.
"The GPN value of urban candidates dropped 0.04 points compared to rural students, 0.03 points. But overall, the achievement of urban candidates was better than rural candidates," he said.
