For many families in Singapore, the Direct School Admission or DSA pathway can feel both promising and confusing.

The DSA offers another route into secondary school, but it also raises practical questions, such as: Is your child suited for this path? How much preparation is needed? What happens after they get in? And what if they get an offer, but decide that the school or pathway is not the right fit?

To help parents think through these questions, we recently hosted a KiasuParents Huddle webinar, featuring students, parents, and an educator. They talked about their experiences relating to DSA pathways for visual arts, rugby, and the School of Science and Technology (SST).

If you didn’t manage to catch our KiasuParents Huddle webinar, below are some highlights. Do note that the conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

Is the DSA the right path for every child?

Carol Loi: The DSA to secondary schools is not a pathway that suits every student. It is meant to help students to get admission into a secondary school based on their interests, their aptitude, and potential. 

So what are they interested in? What are they able to do? And what is their potential beyond their performance at PSLE? 

Children can be interested in many things, but if their interests cannot be tied in with ability or potential, then actually, there are many other pathways through which they can still grow as a teenager in secondary school, without going through the DSA.

What was one student’s experience with the visual arts DSA?

Vera: I “DSA-ed” art, to St. Margaret’s and CHIJ Katong Convent. I think I wanted to apply because I really enjoy art as a hobby, and I did regular art classes and had built up a portfolio. So it was natural to apply for an art DSA.

Honestly, I think what is important is to prepare for the interviews. Preparing interview skills, and knowing what are your strengths and weaknesses, as well as knowing your journey in whatever you’re going to DSA in.

Don’t be nervous, and just speak confidently as well. I think they’re also looking for that, and they might also be looking for personality. I would say definitely present yourself well, so be neatly groomed. Your uniform should look tidy.

I did remember it being a bit stressful, especially because it was one of my first few times going through an interview. They do ask questions like, what are your strengths? They also like to ask about your primary school experience, such as, how was your experience working with other people in primary school group work?

Mine were solo interviews with the principals of the schools.

Why might a student turn down a DSA offer?

Vera: I felt that my grades were okay, and I could probably get into a school of my choice.

In the end, I was offered the DSA for the two schools that I applied to. But I turned them down because I felt that I liked art as a hobby, and it was very pressurising to have to do it as a DSA for four years. Especially because as a DSA student, you’ll be expected to perform better.

How can parents support a child through the DSA process?

Vera: I think my parents helped by not putting pressure on me, so I didn’t have too much performance anxiety. That helped me to stay calm and speak better. Parents definitely shouldn’t stress their kids out too much over the interview, but can prepare them beforehand.

How did one family think through the visual arts DSA journey?

June Yong: Vera started her art journey when she was maybe in P1, P2, just showing such an interest in drawing, painting, doodling, anything art- and craft-related.

It was a journey that started out as a hobby. And we didn’t really look into the future and think that, "oh, this could be potentially a DSA option for her," until the time drew near, around P5. I think that was when we started the conversation with her to sound her out, and to see if this is something that she would really want to take forward. 

There were things that were important to consider. For example, the types of schools that offer Art DSA. We then talked to friends whose daughter attended School of the Arts (SOTA), just to get an idea of what does it really mean or look like if Vera were to pursue that option. We heard things like, it would require a lot of discipline. Because the students in SOTA, they spend around half of their time pursuing their art form. And then the other half of the day is spent on academics. So it means that you have to balance your time very well. The students often say that the visual arts students are the most busy.

Though Vera is very motivated, and she’s very driven in general when it comes to her schoolwork and her performance in school, she does take more time to get things done. She’s more detail-oriented, so speed is not her thing. And we thought that this time crunch would then be quite stressful for her.  

So we have to look at the DSA holistically, consider our child’s makeup, temperament, and not just their love for the art form or for the sport. Maybe passion can bring you so far, it can get you through the gates of the school, but then will you be able to sustain it? I think that’s another question to consider.

How should families treat a DSA offer, if it happens?

June Yong: I think we approached the DSA with an open mind and open heart: let’s see where this goes, and if the offers come, then we can sit down and discuss this again.

So at each step, we were never like, “oh, must do this, or must do that,” or “if we don’t get it, wow, then it’s very terrible, that’s the worst thing ever.” We didn’t see it that way, we just looked at it as, “oh, there’s an opportunity, let’s try if you are up for it, and if you think that this is something that you would enjoy.”

With that kind of mindset and approach, it helped us to hold the offer quite loosely. She looked at the two schools, she thought about it, and she felt that, okay, there’s also an IP school near our home that she would really want to try for. She was feeling quite comfortable, so she decided, “I might have a chance to get into this IP school, so I think I’ll forgo the Art DSA offers.”

How can parents think about portfolio building for visual arts?

June Yong: There’s no need to have any special compilation. It’s just a matter of taking good photos or scanning them well, so that you can submit artworks in digital form.

Vera went for art classes at various points in her life. There were times when she didn’t go for regular art class; she would go for classes only during the holidays. And there were times when we also found a neighbour who taught art. We thought that you don’t have to send your child far and wide to the so-called famous art schools or art classes to get the “best.” We just felt that we could expose her to different styles, and let her come to her own preference in terms of what kind of art she enjoyed.

It turned out that she was enjoying the pencil works the most. Part of her portfolio featured some of these pencil drawings and artworks. So not just all painting, or not just all sculpture and 3D. It was a mix of different forms within the visual art context.

What should parents watch out for, when it comes to their own mindsets?

June Yong: Make it a conversation with your child, rather than, “I think this is good for you, let’s go for it.” 

Even if a child loves an art form or hobby, the DSA may become another way of measuring their achievement and something to perform up to, which can be very pressurising for a child at the age of 12. So make it a conversation, and really keep it open, even if you have hopes of your own.

I experienced having hopes as well. And it can be difficult to put it aside, and to put your child’s wishes or preferences first. I think that is a real struggle that many parents may go through. So just being aware of that helps us to manage our own expectations. 

As much as possible, make the DSA a stress-free, family-centric experience. “Let’s go through this together, and even if we make it or don’t make it, it doesn’t say anything about your worth.” I think that’s an important message to send children.

What is the sports DSA really like?

Xander: Entering my P6 year, I started to get more serious with my sports, and I wanted to see where these sports could take me.

There were some schools that I’ve been eyeing since Primary 5, like SJI, and with my results at the time, I didn’t fully believe that I could trust only my PSLE score to get into these schools. So I looked towards DSA to see if there was this alternate route that could help me to get into the school of my choice.

For sports rugby, it’s a bit different. There’s a bit more preparation that goes into the sport itself. In the month of the trials, in June, I began to make my training a lot more intense, and started training a lot more often.

Also, just as a person, I tend to be very nervous when I go for one-on-one interviews, so I also spent a lot of time preparing for that, just one-on-one with my parents before the interviews, asking common questions that I thought were going to come out in the interview.

In my experience, there were three vice principals in the room, and they conducted the interview in a group setting, so I was in the room with around seven or eight other DSA applicants for rugby.

What happens after a sports DSA student gets an offer?

Xander: DSA is how you got into the school, but as soon as you get in, you also have to prove yourself again.

After I had gotten the DSA confirmed offer, integrating to the school was a whole different process. Luckily, my PSLE results were also good enough to get into SJI. But even with my results, there’s a very big jump in the academic sense, when you enter the school. Especially for some kids, they’re relying more on the DSA to get them into the school. The studying pressure was definitely a lot to take.

And also, at the time, the training intensity had gone up a lot more than what I was used to dealing with in primary school, and the coaches had higher expectations for the boys that came in via the DSA process. There’s a bit of pressure once you get into the school, to kind of show why they selected you. 

My Sec 1 year started off a bit rough, as I was not very used to how harsh the coaches would be, and how intense the academics were. It was just a lot to take at the time. However, towards the end of the year, I began to organise my schedule and find time to put my life together — time for studying and training, and finding the best balance that worked out for myself.

How important is academics after admission?

Xander: I had one classmate who had a relatively “high” AL score compared to the cutoff of SJI, and I noticed in his Sec 1 year, despite having a "DSA Care" option provided to him, he still struggled a lot with academics, to the point where the teacher invited other boys in my class, who were doing a bit better in academics, to reach out to him and try and help him a bit.

SJI, in my experience, is very strict on the fact that you cannot just have your sport to take you around. You need to also have your academics up to standard.

What helped one family to decide on the sports DSA?

Shara Downey: We had heard about DSA, we didn’t really know the process, but it was something in our vocabulary.

It was near the June holidays of P6, and for Xander specifically, his CCA at the time was a completely different sport. He had received an invitation letter from Raffles Institution to DSA for track and field, but he was passionate about rugby. And we said, “you have no history in rugby.” So we went to our club and asked some of the club leaders who’d had kids that were already through the DSA process. Really, we had to backtrack all the way to eight years old, and itemise tournaments he had been in, where he was man of the match, any of the overseas tours we had done, and just start to mark down everything he had experienced.

Xander said to us, “I know the school I want to go to.” He was passionate about SJI from P5. We then sat down as a family and said, “This is what it’s gonna take. You play one hour of rugby a week right now. You’re going to play three, six, nine hours of rugby a week, plus club, if you go to DSA. And what does this mean with studying? Because it is a four-year commitment.”

During the process, every step of the way, we had a trial at every school, and if you’re good, then they'll bring you back for a second trial. So that stress of preparing for a month during the June holidays: I was at the track every day doing sprint training, agility training, rugby training. My husband’s doing passing at nighttime while we’re also studying for the PSLE. So we really were stressing that the balance had to be between sport and academics. 

When Xander passed through to the interview phase, we had a better feeling that this could potentially progress, and so we then said, “Look, prepare for your interview, do your very best. If it’s successful, it’s successful, if it isn’t, it isn’t. But be confident in yourself that you did your best, and that’s all that we could really ask for.”

How does a 12-year-old find inspiration and focus?

Xander: I was inspired by one of the seniors in my primary school, who had done the exact same thing by “DSA-ing” into SJI just a year before me.

I came down to support him during his National School Games in his first year at SJI. I watched it, got inspired, and wanted to do the same thing myself. It was around this time where I was really starting to like rugby and enjoy playing it. 

Shara Downey: He was very passionate about SJI. We were invited by RI to DSA trial with them, and he said no, because he was so passionate about SJI. He researched the school, researched all about the history, so he would know what to answer in interviews. And that was all self-directed.

What does the DSA to SST involve?

Isaiah Low: For the SST, you have to go through two stages. For Phase 1, you have to do the academic written test. This test is about two hours. It’s not just based on the PSLE kind of questions; it’s higher-order questions. It’s supposed to be questions that test you on solving some real-world problems by applying your knowledge and skill. 

You must pass the first part before you are invited to the second phase, which is the interview, and the challenges. The challenge portion is testing you on your collaborative skills, and how much you can use your talents to showcase it to the teachers.

What should a child present for the SST interview?

Isaiah Low: Some students who came to me had no ideas of what to present. So I had to interview them, and “dig out” from them what is the interest that they have. From there, we came up with some form of presentation.

How should families think about school choice?

Isaiah Low: If you are interested in a particular school, you must visit their open house. I brought my son and my whole family to go to the SST open house, and we found that the student leaders were able to carry themselves very well. I asked myself, “Do I want to see my son like them?” The answer was yes.

What if a child does not have a clear DSA talent area?

June Yong: If there isn’t something that is very intuitive, if there isn’t any keen interest in something like STEM or an art or a sport, then I would say maybe don’t try to “squeeze” too hard. DSA may not be suitable in this context.

If your child needs more time, and prefers to have a broader base of exploration, then that is also good. I would rather not force-fit something, and then realise that, oh, actually she’s not that interested in it, but she has to carry the burden for at least four years.