Over 80% of PSLE cohort posted to school within first three choices: MOE
More than 80 per cent of Primary 6 pupils who took the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) under a new scoring system this year were posted to a secondary school within their first three choices.
More than 90 per cent of them were posted to a school within their six listed choices, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Wednesday (Dec 22).
This year's batch of pupils is the first to take the national exam under the new scoring system, which has replaced the previous T-scores. They received their Secondary 1 posting results on Wednesday.
MOE said these results "are comparable to previous years", including the 2020 cohort, which had taken their PSLE using the old T-score system.
A new tie-breaker, the choice order of schools, was also introduced in this year’s Secondary 1 posting exercise.
This means that if two or more students with the same PSLE score and citizenship status are vying for a spot in the school, the student who ranked the school higher will be considered first.
Under the new PSLE scoring system first announced in 2016, each standard-level PSLE subject is scored using eight bands known as Achievement Levels (ALs).
Each pupil is given AL scores from 1 to 8 for each subject, instead of grades like A* to E.
Instead of the previous T-scores, a pupil's total PSLE score is now the sum of the AL of each of the four subjects, with the best possible total score being 4.
The new system is meant to be less stressful for pupils as they do not have to chase the last mark in a bid to outperform their peers.
MOE added that the cut-off point (COP) - the PSLE score of the last student posted to a particular school for each course - was largely stable compared with the indicative COPs published by MOE earlier this year.
The majority of the schools' COPs were the same as their indicative ones.
"Schools that had fluctuations mostly saw a change of 1 AL in their COPs compared with their indicative COPs. No school has a COP of 4 or 5," MOE said.
Students do not need to report immediately to their posted secondary schools after receiving their posting results.
They should refer to their posted schools' websites from Wednesday for more information such as instructions on online purchase of books and uniforms, booklist and the reporting details.
Parents of the incoming secondary one cohort who are on Parents Gateway will also receive information from the posted schools.
Students who are unable to report to their posted secondary school on the first day of school on Jan 4 next year may contact their posted secondary school directly to confirm that they are taking up the place.
The school will reserve the place for them.
More information on the secondary one posting is available at the MOE website.
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