Bernama: A total of 15,793 students obtained straight A's in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2012 examination, a rise of 0.13 percent compared to the 15,079 students in the previous year. Director-General of Education Tan Sri Abd Ghafar Mahmud said 13,721 students were from the government schools, compared to only 12,970 students in 2011, while 2,072 candidates were from private schools compared to 2,109 the previous year. "In addition, 481 candidates scored grade A+, which is the highest mark for all subjects that they sat for, with 431 candidates from the government schools and 43 from private schools," he said. When announcing the SPM results at his office, here today Abd Ghaffar said 488 candidates with special needs sat for the exam compared with 622 candidates last year, an increase of 27.5 percent. According to Abd Ghaffar, three candidates with impaired vision and two candidates with Attention Deficit Disorder and High Spectrum Autism achieved a minimum of