Post- Secondary Pathways

1. ITE is transitioning all its Nitec courses to the enhanced three-year curricular structure leading directly to a Higher Nitec certification. ITE will continue to monitor the outcomes of this implementation, and is on track to complete the transition by Academic Year 2026.
   
   

2. Starting from the Academic Year 2028:

• The admission requirements for entry to 3-year Higher Nitec courses will be set at G1. 

• The admission requirements for direct entry into 2-year Higher Nitec courses will be set at G2. 

• Students taking a combination of G3 and G2 subjects can apply for 2-year Higher Nitec with ELMAB3 aggregate score of 19 points or less.

1. From the 2028 Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE), the JC admission criteria will be adjusted from L1R5 ≤ 20 to L1R4 ≤ 16. This reduces the number of subjects required for JC admission from six to five, allowing students to have greater flexibility to adjust their curriculum load by offering one fewer subject, and to use the freed-up time to strengthen their development of 21st Century Competencies and pursue other interests.

The admission criteria will continue to be based on G3 subjects to ensure students can cope with the academic rigour of the A-Level curriculum. The computation of the L1R4 aggregate continues to require three subjects from both the Mathematics/Science and Humanities subject groups. This ensures that students have an adequate foundation in the disciplines.

2. Millennia Institute (MI)'s L1R4 subject requirements will also be updated to require three subjects from both the Mathematics/Science and Humanities subject groups, with the qualifying threshold remaining at 20.

3. MOE will lower the cap on bonus points from a maximum of four points to three points for JC/MI admission.

1. Starting from the Academic Year 2024 intake, the PFP has been expanded to allow a wider group of students to benefit from a practice-based preparatory pathway to a polytechnic education, while ensuring that they are able to cope with the curriculum, by:

• Relaxing the grade requirement of two 'Best' subjects in ELMAB3 (English Language, Mathematics, Best 3 subjects), from G2 Grade 3 to Grade 4.

• While retaining ELMAB3 (English Language, Mathematics, Best 3 subjects) at a raw aggregate score of 12 points of better (excluding CCA bonus points); and the subject requirements for English Language and 'Relevant' subjects.

2. Starting from the Academic Year 2026 intake, admissions to the PFP will be restructured to a cluster-based approach:

• Students in the PFP can enter one of three key broad clusters: (i) Sciences (ii) Design, Engineering & Technology or (iii) Humanities, Art, Media and Business, before posting to a specific diploma course based on their interest and PFP performance. 

• Diploma-specific admission will apply for the Diploma in Nursing, Diploma in Early Childhood Development & Education and Diploma in Tamil Studies with Early Education.

3. Starting from the Academic Year 2028 intake, the PFP will be expanded to also allow students taking G3 subjects, or a mix of G2 and G3 subjects to access PFP by mapping their G3 grade to the G2 equivalent – thus removing the current stream-based admission which is limited to today's N(A) students.

4. For admission to Polytechnic Year 1, starting from the Academic Year 2028 intake, 

• students can offer one [B] subject taken at either G2 or G3 in their ELR2B2 aggregate score. 

• The remaining four subjects must continue to be offered at G3 to ensure that students can cope with the academic rigour in the polytechnics. Students who offer both [B] subjects at G3 will have their [B] subject with a lower grade mapped from G3 to G2.

5. Correspondingly, the net aggregate cut-off for admission to Polytechnic Year 1 will be adjusted from 26 points to 22 points. For Nursing courses, the net aggregate cut-off for admission will be adjusted from 28 points to 24 points.

The option of a fifth year in secondary school will continue to be available for eligible students to pace their learning and take subjects at a more demanding level to access more post-secondary pathways.

Students will be eligible for the fifth year if they meet either one of the following criteria:

• 3 or more G3 Passes, and not qualify for JC/MI/Poly Year 1

  • Students do not qualify for admission to Polytechnic Year 1 if they fail to meet the minimum entry requirements for any polytechnic diploma courses or if their net ELR2B2 aggregate score is 23 points or higher (after accounting for CCA bonus points).

• 2 or fewer G3 Passes, and attain a gross ELMAB3 ≤ 21, ELB3 ≤ 14 or MAB3 ≤ 14, computed at G2

  • Students will need at least Grade 5 at G2 for all subjects used in computation of aggregate.

Only students with a gross ELMAB3 (at least Grade 5 for all subjects computed at G2) of 19 points or better can offer all their subjects at G3 in the fifth year.