Singaporean GCE 'O' Level

The Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) Examination is an annual examination given in Singapore. Most of the examinations are set by the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate, while the remainder are set by Singapore's Ministry of Education.

The examination is taken by students at the end of their fourth year in secondary school, typically at age 16. The system is comparable to the United Kingdom's GCSE test, which is also usually given to 16-year-olds. The two examinations differ in the manner of questioning. The United Kingdom used O' Level (O' Grades in Scotland) exams until ten years ago, when they were replaced by GCSE exams. Whether the GCSE is an improvement over its predecessor is a topic of debate.

Syllabus

Singapore's Ministry of Education determines the examination syllabus and the standard of difficulty through the Singapore Examinations and Assessments Board. The test questions are created by the examiners at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, with the exception of the "Mother Tongue" subjects, the Science Paper 3 (Practical Examinations) exams which are getting phased out, the Science SPA papers (the successor of the Paper 3 examination in 'O' Level Sciences), as well as the Combined Humanities subjects, with the exception of the Geography papers. After the examination, most completed papers are sent to Cambridge for marking by British teachers and subsequently sent back to Singapore. The exceptions are papers set in Singapore as mentioned above, which would be marked by local teachers randomly assigned to avoid a situation whereby a teacher would mark scripts from his or her own school.

Grades

A grade in one GCE exam subject is a number with an accompanying letter. In descending order, the grades are: A1, A2, B3, B4, C5, C6, D7, E8, and F9. The grades of six or five subjects (depending on the scoring system used) taken are added to give an aggregate score known as L1R5 (one language subject and 5 relevant subjects), or EL1R2B2, which is a separate aggregate scoring system used for polytechnic admission.

Junior Colleges accept students by their L1R5 grades, while polytechnics may impose specific requirements—certain subjects must be taken, and certain minimum grades must be obtained to demonstrate basic competency for some courses. For example, a student who wishes for a place in a Mass Communications department must obtain an "A2" grade for English, in addition to their L1R5 grades.

Special and Express Students

All Special and Express students are required to take a minimum of six subjects, and a maximum of nine. Students who wish to take ten subjects must obtain permission from the Ministry of Education. All Special and Express students must take the following subjects:

• English language
• Mother Tongue
• A Second language or literature for foreign students in lieu of mother tongue.
• A Humanities subject (i.e. Literature, Geography, History)
• A Science subject (i.e. Physics, Chemistry, Biology)
• Mathematics
• Combined Humanities, which comprises a compulsory Social Studies component and also a history, geography or literature elective.
• Additional Mathematics (optional)

Social Studies is used as an implicit study of National Education.

The taking of the Mother Tongue paper is different from the other papers in that it is taken at the end of the month of May instead of the later part of the year. However, the candidate may opt to take another paper during the later part of the year along with the other papers that the candidate has paid for. The November re-assessment only covers the written examinations; no re-assessment is available for the Oral component of the examination.

Normal (Academic) Students

Normal (Academic) students take four to seven subjects including:

• English language
• Mother Tongue or a second language
• Combined Humanities, which comprises a compulsory Social Studies component and also a history, geography or literature elective.
• Mathematics
• Combined Science, which may comprises compulsory Physics and also a Biology or Chemistry elective.
• Additional Mathematics (optional)

See also

• Integrated Programme
• General Certificate of Secondary Education
• General Certificate of Education
• International General Certificate of Secondary Education

References

External links

• Official site