Are you a first-time PSLE parent, or simply new to the updated scoring system? You may have a few questions on your mind. Read our quick guide for the information that you need to know!

“How do I read the new PSLE results? What does AL mean?”

In PSLE lingo, AL stands for “Achievement Levels.” For each subject, your child will receive a raw score of 1 to 100, and this will be converted to an AL grade of 1–8:

To get your child’s PSLE score, add the sum of your child’s Achievement Level or AL scores for each of the four PSLE subjects — English, Mother Tongue Language (MTL), Maths, and Science.

• Example 1:  If your child scores AL1 (i.e. 90 and above) for all four subjects, he or she will have the highest possible PSLE score of 4 (1 + 1 + 1 + 1). 
• Example 2: If your child is taking four Foundation subjects and scores A for everything, this is equivalent to an AL6 per subject, and a PSLE score of 24 (6 + 6 + 6 + 6).

Your child’s PSLE score will determine his or her next course of study. From 2024, these courses will be known as “posting groups” instead of streams:

You can look up secondary schools on the Ministry of Education’s SchoolFinder page to see what the entry scores for specific secondary schools are. These are known as cut-off points or COP. 

“Are ‘posting groups’ the same as ‘streams?’”

They’re supposed to be quite different. 

The purpose of the new posting groups is to give students access to a fluid learning pathway, where they can take some subjects at a more demanding level if they’re good at it. (Subjects will be offered at three levels, G1 to G3, with G3 being the most challenging.) It also gives students a broader social network, as they will spend one-third of their curriculum time in mixed-ability environments, taking common subjects like art and physical education classes together. 

“What’s a good PSLE or AL score?”

For context, here’s the nationwide PSLE performance for 2022:

• 68.4% qualified for the Express stream
• 18.7% qualified for the Normal (Academic) stream
• 11.3% qualified for the Normal (Technical) stream

As we move into a new system without the above labels, some parents may still cling to the mindset that “Express is best.” Others might even feel that a PSLE score is only ‘good’ if it allows one to qualify for the Integrated Programme (typically a single-digit PSLE score). 

For your child’s sake, do broaden your perspective — set a realistic PSLE score target and celebrate it if the score is met, regardless of how your child’s peers are performing. If the target is not met, focus on celebrating your child’s efforts instead.

With this in mind, what’s the best way to approach PSLE goal setting with your child? As a rule, a 10% increase in grades is considered a reasonable academic goal. Going by the AL system, someone scoring between AL2 and AL4 for school-based exams could aim for a jump to the next grade.

However, if your child is currently scoring AL5 and below, these scoring bands are broader, and it may be demoralising to set a goal based on ALs. Instead, your child can focus on productivity goals, such as “I aim to revise each subject for 30 minutes at home each day, by working on practice questions.” Your child can also set targets for getting higher scores on these practice questions.

“I’ve heard of kids making a secondary school’s cut-off point or COP but not being posted to the school. Why is this so?”

Unfortunately, this can happen when a group of students with the same PSLE score are vying for the last available places in a school. This is when tie-breakers are applied to decide who can gain entry. 

In order of importance, these tie-breakers are:

1. Citizenship status (Singapore Citizens have priority)
2. School choice order (so pick your schools wisely!)
3. Computerised balloting

“How will I know what’s the cut-off point for the year? If my child meets the cut-off point for a secondary school but doesn’t get posted there, can we appeal?”

You won’t know this year’s cut-off points until after the school postings have taken place, so you’ll need to use the indicative scores (from last year) to choose schools. 

The best and quickest way to get information on this year’s cut-off points is to call your desired secondary schools on the day that school posting results are released. You can definitely appeal if your child meets the school’s cut-off point, but entry will be subject to available vacancies, as well as any other admission criteria that the school might have. It probably helps if your child has good co-curricular activity records (e.g. school team representation) or school leadership experience. 

However, please be prepared that the appeal may not be successful — you may have to take the lead in helping your child to deal with this disappointment, as well as adjust to the new school year. 

“If a child meets last year’s cut-off point for a particular secondary school but doesn’t gain entry, can he or she appeal?”

Sadly no. The Ministry of Education has stated that meeting the previous year’s cut-off point for a secondary school does not guarantee admission. That’s because the previous year’s cut-off points were based on the PSLE scores and school choice patterns of the previous year’s cohort — they serve as a guide, but things will fluctuate from year to year. 

Although Primary 6 students are free to select up to six schools during the Secondary 1 posting process, the Ministry of Education’s advice is to choose at least two to three schools where your child’s PSLE score is better than the school’s cut-off point. They have also stated before that cut-off points will typically fluctuate by 1 point — meaning that if a school’s cut-off point was 8 last year, this year it could be either 7 or 9.

If you are a risk-averse parent, you might want to list a ‘dream’ school as the first choice, followed by safety schools for the remaining five choices. But again, ease of entry would depend on the popularity of the schools that your child is applying for.

To avoid stress, don’t overthink the process. In 2022, more than 80% of students were posted to one of their first three secondary school choices, and only 10% of pupils underwent computerised balloting. So the most important thing is to choose schools that your child has a good chance of qualifying for, and make sure that your child is happy with the final list of six!

Want to chat with other parents about the PSLE? Join the conversation on the KiasuParents Forum.