PBD, TP levels and UASA: how English is assessed in Malaysian primary schools

What is PBD?

PBD, or Pentaksiran Bilik Darjah, is classroom-based assessment: your child's teacher checks their learning as part of everyday lessons. Instead of one big exam, the teacher builds up a picture over time from what your child says, reads, writes and does in class.

In English, that might mean listening to your child answer questions about a story, watching them take part in a role play, reading their sentences or noticing how they follow instructions. Assessment happens while children learn, so most of it doesn't feel like a test at all.

PBD is part of the wider school-based assessment system that the Ministry of Education (KPM) has chosen to strengthen since the UPSR was abolished. The ministry has said it will not bring the UPSR back. PBD results are recorded as TP levels and shared with parents in school reports during the year.

What do TP1 to TP6 mean?

TP stands for Tahap Penguasaan, or mastery level. For each subject, the teacher places your child on a scale of six levels that build on each other, from just starting out to confident, independent use of what has been taught. In broad terms:

The exact wording for each level is set in the curriculum documents for each subject and year, so a TP in English describes something different from a TP in Mathematics. What matters most is the direction of travel: is your child moving up over the year?

TP levels are about your child's own progress against what was taught. They are not a ranking, and they're not designed to compare one child with another. A TP3 in Year 2 and a TP3 in Year 5 also describe very different English, because the content gets harder each year.

If your child's TP level in English is lower than you hoped, ask which learning standards they haven't yet mastered. The answer is usually specific, such as following a short spoken instruction or writing a sentence with a full stop, and specific gaps are much easier to work on at home than a general worry about “English”.

What is UASA and who sits it?

UASA, or Ujian Akhir Sesi Akademik, is an end-of-year assessment run by schools. In primary school, it is for pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6, and English is one of the subjects covered. KPM describes it as low-stakes: it is there to show how a child is doing, not to decide their future.

From the 2024 school session, KPM changed UASA reports from TP levels to percentages and grades, after parents found the TP-only reports hard to read. PBD still uses TP levels. So a Year 4, 5 or 6 report can show both: TP levels from classroom assessment and a percentage and grade from UASA.

Assessment in Malaysia is changing. Under the National Education Plan 2026–2035, KPM has also brought in a new central assessment for Year 4 pupils, the Matriks Pembelajaran (Year 4 learning matrix), set by the Examinations Board and first held in 2026, which includes an English paper. It is there to show teachers where each pupil needs support, not to replace the UPSR. Ask your child's school which assessments apply to their year, and check KPM's official announcements for the latest.

How do these relate to CEFR levels?

They measure different things. The English curriculum in Malaysian primary schools is aligned with the CEFR, an international scale that describes what learners can do in a language at levels such as Pre-A1, A1 and A2. TP levels and UASA grades, on the other hand, show how well your child has mastered the English taught in their year.

So there is no simple conversion from a TP level or a UASA grade to a CEFR level. A child with a high TP in Year 2 has mastered Year 2 English well; that tells you they're on track, not that they've reached a particular CEFR level. For more on the levels themselves, read CEFR levels for children explained and English in Malaysian primary schools and the CEFR.

How can I follow my child's progress?

Read reports for patterns, then talk to the teacher. One report is a snapshot; two or three show a trend. Look at English as four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing, because children are rarely equally strong in all of them.

• Which English skill is my child strongest in, and which needs most practice?
• Has my child's TP level changed since the last report? Why?
• What does the class need to be able to do by the end of this year?
• What could we practise at home for ten minutes a day?
• Are there books at the right level that you'd recommend?

At home, notice what your child can actually do. Can they tell you about their day in a few English sentences? Read a short story and say what happened? Write a birthday card? Those everyday moments show progress more clearly than any single mark.

Keep a simple record if it helps: a note of the books your child has enjoyed, new words they've used or something they managed in English for the first time. Over a term, it shows progress that a report alone can miss, and it gives you something concrete to share with the teacher.

How does CurioKids describe a child's progress?

CurioKids teaches live, 1-to-1 online English lessons for children aged 4–12, 25 minutes each, with a real teacher. Our own curriculum uses CEFR-based levels Pre-A1, A1 and A2, and parents get teacher feedback after lessons and can follow progress in their dashboard. We don't set TP levels or UASA grades, which come only from school. See our levels, or visit our Malaysia page to book a free first lesson.