Skip to main content

New! You can personalise your feed. Try it now

Advertisement

Advertisement

New A-Level scoring system will lower stress, say students, but some not too thrilled with removal of mid-year exams

SINGAPORE — Current and past junior college students agreed that the changes announced to the A-Level scoring system would have reduced their stress levels and given them more room to explore their interests. However, they are divided on the removal of mid-year exams, with some saying that these serve as a "wake-up call" before the A-Levels.

New A-Level scoring system will lower stress, say students, but some not too thrilled with removal of mid-year exams
Follow TODAY on WhatsApp
  • The Ministry of Education will change the way GCE A-Level scores are calculated
  • Former and current junior college students said that the latest changes would have reduced their stress and given them more room to explore their interests
  • However, some of them said that it may be hard to encourage students to take up subjects they are interested in if these are deemed impractical for future jobs
  • Students also welcomed the move to make Project Work a pass or fail subject
  • On mid-year examinations being removed, some said that it would reduce stress but others said the exams help them to prepare for the A-Levels

SINGAPORE — Current and past junior college students agreed that the changes announced to the A-Level scoring system would have reduced their stress levels and given them more room to explore their interests. However, they are divided on the removal of mid-year exams, with some saying that these serve as a "wake-up call" before the A-Levels.

They were speaking to TODAY shortly after it was announced in Parliament on Wednesday (March 1) that the Ministry of Education (MOE) will change the way GCE A-Level scores are calculated.

This is so that students will have more room to explore various areas of interest without being overly concerned about their examination grades, Education Minister Chan Chun Seng said.

Education experts, too, largely agreed that the moves would reduce the stress that students face, although they said that it would take a considerable period of time to change the "achievement culture" in Singapore.

BACKGROUND TO THE CHANGES

Right now, students can choose to take four Higher 2 (H2) or three H2 and one Higher 1 (H1) content-based subject. Students who opt for H2 subjects will study more in-depth content. 

For students who take four H2 subjects, their lowest-scoring subject in the A-Level examinations is considered as an H1 subject for the purpose of computing the University Admission Score. 

Under the changes, which will apply to students who will be in the first year of junior college or Year 2 of Millennia Institute next year, the fourth content-based subject will only be included if it improves a student’s admission score. 

Project Work will also be removed from the computation of the score, with students receiving either a pass or fail grade. Students will need to obtain a pass in Project Work for university applications. 

With these changes, the maximum University Admission Score will become 70 points in 2026 instead of 90 now. 

In addition, mid-year examinations will be progressively removed for consecutive cohorts of junior college and Millennia Institute students from next year. 

This is part of a shift away from an over-emphasis on testing and academic results, MOE said in its statement on Wednesday.

MORE ROOM TO EXPLORE INTERESTS

Darius Song, a 17-year-old first-year student at Victoria Junior College (VJC), said that the reduction of the maximum University Admission Score from 90 to 70 will help reduce stress among students because they will not have to aim for a perfect score among all four content-based subjects.

This will give them more time to invest in their holistic development, such as taking part in co-curricular activities, he said.

Ms Joyce Cheow Jia Yin, a 19-year-old who had completed her studies at Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) last year, said that the changes will benefit students who may have passion in a subject but may not be academically strong enough to score well for it.

Many junior college students opt for subjects such as physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics and economics even if they do not have an interest in them, she added.

These subjects act as a “safety net” for students because it gives them more options when applying for university courses.

That said, Ms Cheow noted that it would be tough to encourage students to consider subjects they are interested in if these subjects are deemed impractical in the workforce.

Her fellow schoolmate from ACJC, who wanted to be known only as Kelly, said that she had chosen subjects such as economics and physics during her junior college years because they were deemed easier to study and to get good scores compared to other subjects such as art and music. They also gave her more options for university courses.

However, she was not very passionate about these subjects, the 19-year-old added.

“Looking back, if I could go through JC again with the new system, I think I would have been a little more adventurous and tried out one or two niche subjects that wouldn’t guarantee me a high score, but would help me learn more about myself and explore my passions to a greater extent.” 

Students also welcomed the move to make Project Work a pass or fail subject, saying that this would reduce the stress of preparing for the subject, especially given that grading tends to be subjective.

Darius, the student from VJC, said that unlike other academic subjects such as science or mathematics, Project Work is more holistic and grading can be subjective.

By moving to a pass-or-fail grading system, students will be less worried about how their grades would affect their final University Admission Score, he said.

Ms Rebecca Tabile, a 19-year-old who finished her studies at Raffles Institution last year, said that the move would also help future students enjoy and embrace the process of Project Work, instead of fearing it.

REMOVAL OF MID-YEAR EXAMINATIONS

Past and present students were more mixed in their views on whether the removal of mid-year examinations would help to reduce stress.

Although some felt that it would especially help first-year students ease into the workload and pace of junior college studies, others said that it was important to keep the examinations so that students will know how they fared before the A-Level examinations itself.

Darius said that when students first enter junior college from secondary school, they are exposed to a heavier and more hectic workload. This may make it hard for some of them to cope in their first few weeks or months in the new environment.

By removing the mid-year examinations, students may better adapt to life in college, he added.

On the other hand, Anecha Thongmoon, a Year 6 student at Raffles Institution sitting for the A-Levels this year, said that mid-year exams act as a “wake-up call” for students to know how well they fare in major examinations.

If the first major examination that they sit for is at the end of the first year of junior college, it might be too late for them to catch up on subjects that they are weaker at, the 18-year-old added.

Having mid-year exams will also give students a better experience of what it is like to sit for a major examination, compared to weighted assessments, which tend to test students on fewer topics. This will help students prepare for the nationwide A-Levels, he said.

A Secondary 4 student who wanted to be known only as Ling said that she will not be changing her choice of subjects when she enters junior college next year under the Integrated Programme, despite the latest changes. 

The 16-year-old from River Valley High School said that she still intends to take subjects such as mathematics and economics in junior college.

This is because these subjects tend to be basic requirements for most university courses. 

She also said that although these changes aim to reduce emphasis on grades, she will still feel “a self-imposed stress” where she expects herself to reach her academic goals.

“And in school, teachers will still push us to perform well academically so it will still be stressful,” she added.

On whether the changes will encourage her to pursue her interests, she said: “Personally, I don’t have passion for any subject in particular. I feel like passion for subjects comes from performing well in them, so at the end of the day, grades kind of still do matter.”

WHAT EDUCATION EXPERTS SAY

Education experts broadly agreed that the move will help to reduce students' stress.

Associate Professor Jason Tan from the National Institute of Education said that he was not surprised by the changes because they follow other recent reforms at primary and secondary school levels to place less emphasis on academic achievement. 

He added that the changes will encourage students to explore their interests more fully with the time freed up from assessments.

However, Assoc Prof Tan said that it will still be an "uphill task" to reform the high stakes nature of assessments in Singapore. This was especially so for A-Levels, which influence students' entry opportunities to universities.

Students may still make a pragmatic decision when choosing their fourth content-based subject, given that they still have the option to include its grade in their University Admission Score if they perform well. 

Similarly, Dr Ho Boon Tiong, a consultant at ClassPoint Consulting, an educational training and consulting firm, said that the changes will free up time for both teachers and students to explore other areas, but it may take a while to change the "achievement culture" embedded in the education system. 

It is necessary to guide students to explore other areas of interest and maximise learning through pursuit.

It will take effort for teachers to redesign the curriculum in the initial stages and expand it to include more interesting areas. Students will then be able to benefit from the changes announced on Wednesday, he added. 

Related topics

A-Levels Education junior college Millennia Institute

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.