How to Answer SPM Sejarah Paper 2: Structured, KBAT and Essay Questions

On Monday 30 November 2026, nearly every SPM candidate sits Sejarah: Paper 1 from 8:15 to 9:15 am, and Paper 2 from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm.^[1] It is one of the two subjects, with Bahasa Melayu, that a candidate must pass to receive the SPM certificate.^[2] Most do: 95.0% passed in SPM 2025.^[3] Above a pass, most of the marks are in Paper 2, which carries 100 marks to Paper 1's 40.

Paper 2 has a property that decides how to answer it. Lembaga Peperiksaan does not publish its marking scheme, but its examiners' reports, the Kupasan Mutu Jawapan (KMJ), print real SPM scripts with the examiners' ticks on them. The ticks go to ideas. A long paragraph that circles one idea earns one tick. A shorter answer with five distinct, accurate ideas earns up to five.

This guide covers the format, how the ticks are given, what each command word asks for and how to answer the three kinds of question in Paper 2, using real SPM 2025 scripts from LP's report. It ends with a time plan for the paper and a look at what "hot tips" are worth.

The SPM Sejarah format

Since SPM 2021, Sejarah has two papers. The old Paper 3, a themed open-book essay, ended with SPM 2020, so any guide that still mentions it describes the old exam.^[4]

LP mixes easy, medium and hard items in the ratio 5 : 3 : 2. Those words have exact meanings: an easy item is one that more than 60% of candidates answer correctly, and a hard item is one that fewer than 40% do.

Each Section A question is worth 10 marks and each Section B question 20. They are split into parts. In LP's sample items, Section A splits a question as 2, 4 and 4 marks, and Section B as 6, 6 and 8, or 4, 8 and 8. In both, the last part, (c), carries the most marks and asks for your own comment on a source. Those (c) parts are where the higher-order (KBAT) marks sit.

How the examiners give marks: one idea, one tick

The clearest evidence is in the SPM 2025 examiners' report, which prints two real answers to Question 1(b): "Mengapakah raja penting dalam kerajaan Alam Melayu?" (Why was the ruler important in the governments of the Malay world?)^[5]

SPM 2025, Question 1(b) Mengapakah raja penting dalam kerajaan Alam Melayu?

Medium-scoring script 2 ticks

1. Earns a mark: "Raja merupakan tonggak utama kerajaan." (The ruler was the main pillar of the government.)
2. No mark: "Raja akan memelihara keamanan negara." (The ruler would keep the country at peace.)
3. Earns a mark: "Rakyat sentiasa di bawah naungan raja." (The people were always under the ruler's protection.)

The middle line sounds sensible but is not in the syllabus, so it earned nothing.

High-scoring script 5 ticks

1. Earns a mark: "Raja merupakan tonggak utama kerajaan." (The ruler was the main pillar of the government.)
2. Earns a mark: "Raja juga dibantu dalam pentadbiran oleh pembesar." (The ruler was helped in administration by the chiefs.)
3. Earns a mark: "Sebagai contoh, raja Champa..." (For example, the ruler of Champa...) Earns its own mark
4. Earns a mark: "...dianggap suci..." (...was regarded as sacred...)
5. Earns a mark: "...dan dikaitkan dengan Dewa Siva." (...and linked with the god Shiva.)

Set the two side by side and three things stand out. The high-scoring answer is short, five lines in the student's hand, and almost every phrase in it earned a tick, including the example. Its wording is close to the Form 4 textbook, which says the ruler was "tonggak utama kerajaan", supported by the chiefs, and obeyed by the people.^[6] And the medium answer's second line, "raja akan memelihara keamanan negara", is the kind of sentence that sounds right and earns nothing, because it comes from common sense rather than the syllabus. LP's reports name that habit in report after report: many candidates answer "berdasarkan pemikiran logik akal tanpa menghubung kait dengan fakta sejarah" (from common-sense reasoning, without linking to historical fact).^[7]

State trial schemes, which teachers write to mirror SPM, show the same logic in their layout.^[8] Each acceptable point is a numbered line worth one mark, capped by the marks available: "Mana-mana 4F x 1 m" means any four facts at one mark each. Details and examples are listed as lines of their own, alternatives separated by a slash count once, and the higher-order parts carry a line such as "mana-mana jawapan munasabah" (any reasonable answer). There are no half marks.

Read the command word first

The first word of each part tells you what kind of point earns the mark. These are the command words (kata tugas) that appear in SPM Paper 2, and what the examiners' reports show each one wants:

To decide how many points to write, count the marks. Each accepted idea is usually worth one, so a 4-mark "Jelaskan" part needs four accepted ideas, which can be two facts, each with its explanation.

Section A: short, exact and from the textbook

Section A has four structured questions, all compulsory, worth 10 marks each. At an even pace that is about 14 minutes a question.

Precise terms decide the marks here. Question 1(a) in SPM 2025 showed a diagram of the features of the nation-state in the Malay world, "Raja, Rakyat, X, Y", and asked for X and Y. The textbook lists four features for the Malay world, "raja, undang-undang, wilayah pengaruh dan rakyat", and a different list of six for the Melaka Sultanate, which includes "kerajaan". In SPM 2021, the examiners noted that "kerajaan" is not a feature of the nation-state in the Malay world, so that answer scored nothing. Learning which list belongs to which kingdom is worth marks.

Write Section A in full sentences, one idea to a sentence. The 2021 report asks teachers to make sure students do not answer Section A in point form, and allows short phrases only where the command word asks you to list or name.

KBAT questions: use the source, then go beyond it

In SPM 2025, every (c) part opened with a source: a newspaper report, a song lyric, a royal speech, a graph, posters, a passage and a post on X. The 2025 report's main criticism of middle-scoring candidates was that they answered these KBAT parts from common sense, without connecting to what the question asked, and with explanations that were "terhad dan kurang mendalam" (limited and shallow).

Trial schemes spell out how source questions are marked. One 2026 scheme for a 4-mark question on a source gives nothing for copying the source word for word, at most 2 marks for stating only what it says (isi tersurat), at most 2 for only what it implies (isi tersirat), and 4 for both with an explanation. Other schemes cap copying at 1 or 2 marks; SPM's own rule is not published. The direction is the same everywhere: the source is where you start.

Question A poster reads "Perpaduan Teras Kemakmuran. Sayangi Malaysiaku" above a photograph of students of different races waving the Jalur Gemilang. "Huraikan mesej yang terkandung dalam poster tersebut." [4 marks]

Copies the poster 0 of 4

"Poster ini menyatakan perpaduan teras kemakmuran dan sayangi Malaysiaku."

("The poster says unity is the core of prosperity and love Malaysia.") Every word comes from the poster. Under this rule, copying scores nothing, and stating only what the poster says scores at most 2.

Explains the poster 4 of 4

1. Earns a mark: "Poster ini menyeru rakyat pelbagai kaum supaya bersatu padu dan menyayangi negara." (What it states: the poster calls on Malaysians of every race to unite and love the country.)
2. Earns a mark: "Perpaduan mewujudkan keamanan dan kestabilan politik." (What it implies: unity brings peace and political stability.)
3. Earns a mark: "Negara yang stabil menarik pelaburan, lalu ekonomi berkembang dan rakyat hidup makmur." (The explanation: a stable country attracts investment, so the economy grows and people prosper.)
4. Earns a mark: "Contohnya, rakyat pelbagai kaum menyambut Hari Kebangsaan bersama-sama dengan mengibarkan Jalur Gemilang." (An example: Malaysians of every race celebrate National Day together by flying the flag.) Earns its own mark

For "Pada pendapat anda" and "Sejauh manakah" parts, either verdict can score if you justify it. In LP's own sample of an evaluative item, "berjaya" (succeeded) and "tidak berjaya" (did not succeed) are both accepted answers; the marks go to the reasons.^[9]

Section B essays: point, explain, prove

You choose three of the five essay questions. The examiners' advice is to start with the questions that will earn you the most marks, rather than answering in number order, and to sketch a short outline (rangka jawapan) before you write.

Write in paragraphs. The 2021 report says Section B answers in point form "akan menjejaskan markah" (will cost marks), and asks candidates to write in complete sentences and to number each part of the question clearly.

Build every point in the same way. One trial scheme (MRSM 2025) marks an 8-mark lesson question (iktibar) as chains of four lines, each worth one mark: the fact or lesson (F), its explanation (H, huraian), an example or evidence (C, contoh) and an inference (I, inferens). Here is one chain on the lessons of the opposition to the Malayan Union:

Two full chains like this make eight lines, enough for an 8-mark part. The facts in the example come from the Form 4 textbook's chapter on the British transfer of power. Trial schemes mark the same 8-mark parts in four bands, and the top band (7 to 8 marks) asks for clear knowledge, apt evidence, a sound inference and depth; the sample answers they give for that band run to about eight developed points.

None of the trial schemes or examiners' reports we checked gives any marks for an introduction or a conclusion. A paragraph that sets the scene costs time and earns nothing. Start with your first point.

150 minutes: a time plan for Paper 2

Paper 2 gives you 150 minutes for 100 marks, a minute and a half per mark. One plan that keeps time for reading and outlining:

Paper 1 gives you 60 minutes for 40 questions: 90 seconds each. Between the papers you have 45 minutes from the end of Paper 1 at 9:15 am to the 10:00 am call for Paper 2. Our SPM 2026 timetable lists every other paper.

The 20 chapters

Paper 2 can draw on any of the 20 KSSM chapters, ten from each form:

By our count from LP's reports, every one of the 20 chapters appeared in Paper 2 at least once between SPM 2021 and SPM 2025. In those five papers, the first two Section A questions came from Form 4 and the last two from Form 5, and in Section B the first two questions came from Form 4 and the last three from Form 5.

What "hot tips" are worth

Every November, "hot tips" and prediction lists for Sejarah circulate on Telegram and blogs. In January 2025, after screenshots claiming to show the SPM 2024 Sejarah papers went viral, KPM said no question from either paper had been shown, and that the screenshots were "senarai tajuk dalam buku teks Sejarah yang dijadikan ramalan": a list of textbook topics used as predictions.^[10]

Since every chapter has appeared within five years, a list of predicted topics cannot safely narrow your revision. Treat a prediction list as extra practice questions, never as a revision plan.

The last seven weeks

1. 1 One page of notes per chapter
2. 2 A Section A question and an essay a day
3. 3 Two full Paper 2s, timed
4. 4 Final week: Paper 1 and rest

Write each chapter's page from the textbook: the definitions, features, causes, results and named examples it gives. Take the daily questions from recent state trial papers and mark them against the scheme line by line, then compare them with the high-scoring scripts in LP's reports for 2021 to 2025. For the (c) parts, practise what the source states, what it implies, an explanation and an example. Sit the full papers at the real limit of 150 minutes, and in the final week switch to Paper 1 practice (40 questions in 60 minutes) and your chapter pages. Our SPM 2026 revision plan fits this into the other subjects.

How parents can help

Ask your child to explain one chapter aloud in five points, each with an example. If they cannot, that chapter needs work. When they practise, check that each answer is marked point by point against a scheme, with a tick for every accepted idea, because the ticks show which kind of point is missing. In the last week, protect their sleep over late-night rereading.

Frequently asked questions

What is the format of SPM Sejarah Paper 2?

Paper 2 lasts 2 hours 30 minutes and carries 100 marks. Section A has four structured questions worth 10 marks each, all compulsory. Section B has five essay questions worth 20 marks each, of which you answer three.

How are marks given in SPM Sejarah?

Examiners give one mark for each accepted idea, up to the marks for that part. An explanation or example earns its own mark, but repeating an idea earns nothing, and an explanation without its fact may earn nothing.

How many points do I need for a 4, 6 or 8-mark question?

Count on one mark per accepted idea. A 4-mark part needs four, which can be two facts with their explanations, and a 6-mark part needs six. Trial schemes mark 8-mark source and lesson parts in bands, and the top band goes to about eight developed points with evidence and a sound inference.

Do I need an introduction and conclusion in Sejarah essays?

None of the trial schemes or examiners' reports we checked gives marks for either. Start with your first point and use the time for more points.

Can I answer Sejarah essays in point form?

No. LP's 2021 examiners' report says point-form answers in Section B will cost marks. Write in paragraphs with complete sentences, and number each part.

How do I answer KBAT questions in SPM Sejarah?

Start from the source. Say what it states, then what it implies, explain it, and add a historical example. For opinion and judgement questions, either side can score if you justify it.

Is Sejarah a must-pass subject for SPM?

Yes. Since SPM 2013, candidates must pass Bahasa Melayu and Sejarah to receive the SPM certificate.

When is SPM 2026 Sejarah?

Monday 30 November 2026. Paper 1 runs from 8:15 to 9:15 am and Paper 2 from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm.

Are SPM Sejarah hot tips reliable?

They are guesses. KPM has said that viral "leaks" of the Sejarah papers were lists of textbook topics, and every chapter has appeared in Paper 2 at least once since 2021, so a prediction list cannot safely narrow revision.

How long should I spend on each Sejarah essay?

About 28 minutes, if you keep 10 minutes at the start for reading and outlining and give Section A about 55 minutes.

Chemistry Paper 2 is marked the same way, point by point, with the marks tied to exact keywords: see the keywords SPM Chemistry examiners look for.