To ALL Secondary Parents and Students: Important information on Streaming & JC/Poly entry requirements

Dear Parent/Students,

Over the years, we notice that parents and students are unaware of the criteria in choosing their child/your Sec 3 subject combinations and, the entry requirements to JC and Polytechnic courses. The lack of knowledge has resulted in many secondary students missing out opportunities to study for their most desired course and end up having to settle for the next best. This in turn affected their career path in the future.


These information are in fact available in many websites but are sometimes overwhelming and all over the place. Today, we will highlight the key notes coupled with examples, and at the same time, compile a concise list of important and useful information on Subject Combination (Streaming) and Entry requirements to JC/Poly for your easy reference

Qn: What is Secondary 2 Streaming and It's impact?

This streaming exercise occurs at the end of Secondary 2, after students receive their end-of-year results. Streaming determines the subject combination that students can take in Secondary 3, which is student's first stage of subject specialization. The combination that a student take will have a great impact on the choice of JC stream or polytechnic courses that he or she can take in future. This is regardless of how well your child score for O'level, as one may score all A1s during O'level, yet he or she may not be able to qualify for certain stream/course due to a lack of essential subject(s). This in turn affects the career path that a child can take.

Qn: What should you/your child do? 

As a responsible student, accountable to your own future growth, student must make efforts to find out important information on the following:

• The subject grade requirements in your school’s Sec 2 streaming exercise, which determine the Sec 3 subject combination that you can take. 

         For instance, to qualify for Sec 3 Additional Math or Pure Triple/Double Science subjects,
         some schools require students to obtain at least 70% or 75% in Sec 2 end-of-year results in
         Math and Science. On the other hand, for some schools, it is compulsory to take Additional
         Math or Pure Science subjects, regardless of whether the students are already struggling with
         Math/Science in Sec 1 or 2.

         Take note that without Additional Math and Pure Science subjects combination, you
         may not be able to take up certain subject combination at H2 level in JC, such as H2 Math or
         H2 Physics. H2 level subject combinations (Math/Science) are required for instance, for all
         engineering courses in NTU. Hence, it is importnat to think thoroughly your choices during the
         streaming exercise.

Crescent Girls' criteria in subject combination

CHIJ Secondary's criteria in subject combination

• The subject prerequisites and grades criteria of the desired JC / poly courses under your consideration. 

          For instance, to offer Physics, Chemistry or Biology at H2 level, most JCs require students to
          obtain a minimum of B3 in Pure Science subjects or A1/A2 in Combined science at O’level,
          while Additional math is a subject prerequisite for H2 Math in JC.

          In Poly, many courses require a minimum of B3/B4 for relevant subjects, such as Elementary
          math at O’level (some poly accept C6). Hence, not only does the L1R5 (JC aggregate score) or
          L1R2B2 (Poly aggregate score) matters, the individual grade in certain subjects also matters.
       

Extracted extracted from Eunoia JC - Subject Prerequisites

Image extracted from CJC - Subject Prerequisite

• Taking up Higher Mother Tongue (Higher Chinese, Higher Malay or Higher Tamil).

          Do you know that taking up a higher Mother Tongue is very useful in JC admission? First, you
          can use also use Higher Mother Language as L1 in the calculation of L1R5. This serves as an
          insurance, in case you didn't manage score so well in Englih. Second, by scoring between A1-
          C6 for both Higher Mother Tongue and English, you are awarded 2 bonus points which you
         can use to lower your L1R5 aggregate score to meet the COP of certain JCs.

Crescent Girl's requirement on offering HMT

Awarding of Bonus points, extracted from MOE website

Qn: What is considered a Good Subject Combination?

Basically, most students may not have an idea what they want to be in future. If you do not have interests in any specific subject, the best subject combination which can leave many doors open for you will be Triple Science and Double Math combination. If you are not qualified for Triple Science, the next best will be Double Science (Chemistry/Physics) and Double Math combination.

Qn: What is considered a Good L1R5 or L1R2B2?

10 points and below, excluding Bonus points. Many popular JCs have their L1R5's COP as 10 points and below for Science/Arts stream while some of the popular polytechnic courses, such as Biomedical Science, Mass communication, Accountancy, Business studies, etc requires 10 points and below in L1R2B2. 

JC 2019 L1R5 COP

Ngee Ann Poly Planned Intake 2020 and Range of ELR2B2

Singapore Poly Planned Intake 2020 and Range of ELR2B2

From the above, you may have already seen that the choice that you make as early as Sec 1(whether to take up a Higher Mother Tongue), can critically impact the choice of course in future. With better knowledge of these requirements, you can make a more informed decision. You can then set goal, plan and act towards it, leaving no regrets in life. Planning and Preparing Early is the first step towards success.

More information the entry requirements to JC / Poly can be found in Annex  1, information extracted from MOE website .

Cheers,
Teacher Clarice
Principal of BlueTree Secondary


Secondary E & A Math tuition, Secondary Science tuition
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Annex 1:

(A) Aggregate requirements to JC or Polytechnic, excluding Bonus Point

JAE Course Types	Requirements
Junior College L1R5	English/ Higher MT (L1)	5 relevant subjects (R5)	L1R5 range: 6 -20
Polytechnic L1R2B2	English (L1)	2 relevant subjects (R2)	2 Best Subjects (B2)

(B) Entry Requirements on core subjects for JC: English Language, Mother Tongue Language and

      Mathematics

Subject	Requirement
English Language	A1 to C6
Mother Tongue Language:
Chinese Language, Malay Language, Tamil Language *	A1 to D7
OR Higher Chinese Language, Higher Malay Language, Higher Tamil Language	A1 to E8
OR Chinese Language ‘B’ Syllabus (CLB), Malay Language ‘B’ Syllabus (MLB), Tamil Language ‘B’ Syllabus (TLB)	Merit or Pass
Mathematics:
Mathematics	A1 to D7
OR Additional Mathematics	A1 to D7

(C) Computation of Aggregate for JC

L1R5: For JC Course
L1	First Language – English / Higher Mother Tongue
R5	Relevant Subject 1 – Humanities / Higher Art / Higher Music / Malay (Special Programme) / Chinese (Special Programme) / Bahasa Indonesia
	Relevant Subject 2 – Mathematics / Science
	Relevant Subject 3 – Humanities / Higher Art / Higher Music / Mathematics / Science / Malay (Special Programme) / Chinese (Special Programme) / Bahasa Indonesia
	Relevant Subject 4 – Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects (except Religious Knowledge)
	Relevant Subject 4 – Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects (except Religious Knowledge)

(D) Computation of Aggregate for Polytechnic

L1R2B2: For Polytechnic Course
Course Type		Design (ELR2B2-A)	Business-related (ELR2B2-B)	Science-based (ELR2B2-S)	Technology (ELR2B2-T)
EL		English
R2	1st group of relevant subjects	Art, Business Studies, Economics, Humanities (pure, combined), etc *	Elementary Math Additional Math
	2nd group of relevant subjects	Elementary Math, Additional Math, Science (pure or combined), Humanities (pure or combined), Art, Music, etc *	Science (pure or combined), Humanities (pure or combined), Art, Design and Technology, Music, Commerce, Business Studies, Music, etc * .
B2		Best 2 other subjects, excluding CCA

    * For more specific details, please visit MOE website