By now, your secondary school teen should have received their year-end exam results. As a parent, you might be wondering how to respond to their grades — should you give them space to set their own goals for improvement, or do they still need close supervision and guidance?

Here’s our take on this: unless your teen is a highly independent learner, there are strong reasons to keep an eye on their grades in secondary school. Here are some considerations:

What/where does your teen want to study after secondary school? What are the grades needed to qualify for the desired course or school?

What subject combination does your teen want to choose at the end of Secondary 2? What are the grades needed to be eligible to choose that subject combination?

Is tutoring needed for any subject, in order to achieve the desired grades?

Read on to find out how you can discuss secondary school results and goal setting with your teen!

Planning to Go To JC?

If your teen says they would like to apply for a junior college or JC after secondary school, do find out why. Sometimes, this can be due to the misconception that junior colleges are ‘better’ than polytechnics, and this is a myth that well-meaning family members may also perpetuate.

As a parent, here’s what you should know: typically, in a cohort of over 20,000 O-Level students, more than 40 percent will qualify for a JC, while about half will head to a polytechnic. Most likely, your teen will be considering either of these two options. The remaining students will either apply to the Institute of Technical Education — which offers hands-on and practical learning — or move on to private education.

From the JC cohort, about 70 percent will proceed to a university after their milestone exams. In comparison, only about 30 percent of polytechnic graduates will go on to a university immediately after earning their diploma. This is due to multiple reasons, such as polytechnic graduates preferring to gain working experience before pursuing a degree. It doesn’t mean that a university degree is out of reach for polytechnic graduates.

What are good reasons for wanting to enter a JC? Ideally, your teen should be keen on the programmes offered by the school. Perhaps they know that a school is strong in a certain subject, or they are eying one of the school’s co-curricular activities. They may also be drawn by vibrant school cultures, or they may want the prestige of studying in a top school. Some students also prefer JCs as they are not ready to specialise in a certain field and want to keep their options open. All of these are valid reasons, and what’s important is that your teen can articulate why they have their heart set on a particular school.

If you are not familiar with JC cut-off points or COPs, you can use an unofficial guide for a quick overview. Academically stronger students will generally aim for an O-Level score of between six to eight points for six subjects — this means they should be scoring A1s (above 75) for most of their subjects, and A2 (70 to 74) for one or two ‘weaker’ subjects.

For straight A students, competition is currently the stiffest for the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), as well as the science programmes at Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution. We should add that it’s impossible to make the cut for these courses without ‘bonus’ point deductions, which requires strategic thinking as well as active participation in school.

What if your teen is scoring a mix of As, Bs, and Cs? They are likely to attain a double-digit O-Level score, and these JCs might be within range:

• Anderson Junior College
• Catholic Junior College
• Jurong Pioneer Junior College
• Millennia Institute
• St. Andrew’s Junior College (arts)
• Tampines Meridian Junior College
• Yishun-Innova Junior College

Of the JCs listed above, Yishun-Innova JC is usually the easiest to qualify for — its COPs typically range from 18 to 20. If your child’s grades are in this range, and they are very keen on the A-Levels pathway, they can also consider the Millennia Institute, which offers a three-year programme to prepare for the A-Levels instead of the usual two years. What’s more, to qualify for a course at the Millennia Institute, students only need to add up their points for five O-Level subjects, compared to six subjects for a conventional JC.

Bear in mind that these COPs are not meant to discourage your teen. Instead, they provide clarity on the results that your teen has to achieve, in order to reach their desired outcome. If attaining these scores is challenging, your teen will either need additional support in the form of tutoring, or it may be time to consider other education pathways.

Keen on a Poly Course?

If your teen has specific interests, a polytechnic education might be a good fit. Here are two key benefits of applying to polytechnics:

• Polytechnic entry requirements are less demanding than JCs, as the entry score is totalled from five O-Level subjects versus six for JCs.
• There are hundreds of polytechnic courses to choose from, with a range of COPs catering for different learners.

However, if your teen is interested in a sought-after course like biomedical science, you should be aware that COPs tend to be in the single-digit range. If your teen is struggling with their grades but has a strong preference for a certain field, you can look up Republic Polytechnic’s range of courses, as their COPs are generally more generous. For instance, this year’s COP for some of their engineering and infocomm courses is 26 for five subjects.

If you think that a polytechnic education can open up new doors for your teen, here’s what you can ask to gauge their interests:

• Is there a subject or school project you’ve enjoyed recently? What was it, and why did you like it?
• Think about the jobs or activities you know about. Are there any that sound exciting or seem like something you’d want to try yourself?
• When you work on a project or assignment, do you enjoy working with your hands, using technology, or finding creative solutions?
• Are there any careers you’ve come across on TV, online, or from people you know that interest you? What’s appealing about these careers?

After which, look at polytechnic COPs together, and compare this against your teen’s current score for five subjects — do note that your teen’s English score will need to be included in the total, even if they did not do well. From this, you will have a starting point to see what your teen needs to improve in, in order to qualify for a course that they’re interested in.

Want to chat with other secondary school parents? Join the conversation on the KSP forum!