Malaysia is a federation of 13 states located in South-east Asia. The country consists of two geographical regions; Peninsular Malaysia (also known as West Malaysia) and Malaysian Borneo (also known as East Malaysia) separated by the South China Sea. The educational administration in Malaysia is highly centralised with four hierarchical levels; that is, federal, state, district and the lowest level, school. Major decision- and policy-making take place at the federal level represented by the Ministry of Education (MoE), which consists of the Curriculum Development Centre, the school division, and the Malaysian Examination Syndicate (MES). Like most Asian countries, Malaysia so far has focused on public examination results as important determinants of students' progression to higher levels of education or occupational opportunities. The dominant form of assessment in the Malaysian education system is external centralised public examinations. The Malaysian education system requires all students to sit for public examinations at the end of each level of schooling. There are four public examinations from primary to post-secondary education. These are (1) the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) at the end of six years of primary education; (2) the Lower Secondary Examination (PMR) at the end of another three years' schooling; (3) the Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) at the end of 11 years of schooling; and (4) the Malaysian Higher School Certificate Examination (STPM) or the Higher Malaysian Certificate for Religious Education (STAM) at the end of 13 years' schooling. The author describes the four public examinations and talks about the new assessment system proposed by the MES which will impose greater demand on school teachers' role in assessing their students. (Contains 5 tables.)