Does your teen have their heart set on going to a junior college (JC) after the O-Levels? Is this also your preferred pathway for them?

Currently, about half of the O-Level cohort will be posted to polytechnics for diploma courses, while about 40% will be posted to JCs or the Millennia Institute to do their A-Levels.

Although the polytechnic route is so common, we know that some parents and students continue to favour the JC pathway. Likely, it’s because most of the JC cohort will proceed to a university after the A-Levels. In comparison, only about 30 percent of polytechnic graduates will go on to a local university immediately after earning their diploma.

Regardless of university aspirations, some parents also believe that JCs are more prestigious, because they attract the better-performing students. This is somewhat true, because current JC cut-off points favour straight A students — in fact, more JCs have single-digit entry scores than double-digit entry scores. To enjoy the best selection of JC options, students would have to score an A1 or A2 for most of their subjects.

You don’t have much to worry about, if your teen has been performing consistently well throughout secondary school. But if this is not the case, then the JC goal may be trickier. You may need to consider other alternatives like entry via Direct School Admissions (DSA), or pathways such as a polytechnic or the Institute of Technical Education.

Read on to get a clear idea of JC cut-off scores in 2025, so that you can gauge your teen’s chances of qualifying for their preferred JCs!

Where to view JC cut-off points?

For the latest information on cut-off points or COPs, most parents and students will refer to the Ministry of Education’s SchoolFinder section.

On SchoolFinder, you will see these scores listed as the “JAE L1R5” or “JAE L1R4” aggregate:

• JAE refers to the Joint Admissions Exercise for O-Level holders to apply for their post-secondary pathway
• L1 refers to the language score for English or Higher Mother Tongue
• R4 and R5 refer to four or five relevant subjects respectively

It’s also good to look at historical data, to see how cut-off scores have fluctuated over the last two to three years. For this purpose, many students and parents refer to an unofficial guide with data spanning over a decade. But please note that this data is unverified.

What are the top JCs in Singapore for the Science stream?

Based on 2025 entry scores, the hardest JC to get into for the Science stream is Raffles Institution:

Regardless of school, it can be challenging to qualify for the Science stream. In 2025, 11 out of 16 JCs required single-digit scores for entry into their Science stream.

Without tapping into the “bonus points” system, where one can have points deducted for fulfilling co-curricular activity or language-related criteria, it would be impossible to qualify for schools where the cut-off scores are lower than 6 points.

Factor in affiliation advantages for schools like Anglo-Chinese Junior College and St. Andrew’s Junior College, and the competition is even stiffer, because affiliates get two bonus points deducted from their ‘raw’ score.

If your teen is an average performer in school, and they wish to focus on STEM subjects, they may be limited to Jurong Pioneer Junior College and Yishun Innova Junior College. They could also consider the Millennia Institute or polytechnics, which take into consideration five O-Level subjects for calculating the entry score. (For JC admissions, you need to total the scores for six subjects.) 

What are the top JCs in Singapore for the Arts stream?

For the 2025 cohort, the hardest JCs to get into for the Arts stream were Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Institution:

10 out of 16 JCs required single-digit scores to qualify for their arts stream.

Typically for JCs, the Arts stream is easier to qualify for than the Science stream, and this was the case for 2025 entry scores.

An important thing to note: although a broad requirement to qualify for JC is to score 20 points and below for 6 subjects, the JC with the most generous entry score this year was Yishun Innova Junior College with 18 points for the Science stream and 19 points for the Arts stream. This means that someone with 20 points (after deducting bonus points) would not have been posted to a junior college course.

JC entry scores will vary from year to year, but if your teen is at the edge of meeting the 20-point requirement, please consider alternative post-secondary pathways as well.

What are the top JCs in Singapore for the IB?

There are only two local schools offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme after the O-Levels. They are both considered high-performing schools:

Is your teen interested in the IB programme, but unable to meet these scores? The international IB schools in Singapore are an option, if you can afford the fees. Some of these schools may have scholarship opportunities.

How do I choose the right JC?

This is a question for your teen to think about.

If you need to support your teen, the first step is to use MOE’s SchoolFinder to view all JC options, with cut-off points. From there, you can click into individual schools to see the subjects offered, elective programmes, as well as DSA talent areas and co-curricular activities.

Apart from the ability to qualify for the JC, another major concern might be the subject combinations that each JC offers. In JCs, there are subject difficulty levels known as H1, H2, and H3 — H1 is considered the ‘lightest’ in terms of course content, while H3 is the most advanced.

Generally, JC students will take three H2 subjects and one H1 subject, and one of the four subjects must be from a "contrasting" stream. What this means is that if your child is a Science student, they must take one Arts subject, and vice versa.

Examples of A-Level subject combinations include:

• Science stream: BCME (Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Economics)
• Science stream: PCME (Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Economics)
• Arts stream: HELM (History, Economics, Literature, Maths)
• Arts stream: GELM (Geography, Economics, Literature, Maths)

For more information on subject combinations, it’s best to check the websites of your preferred JCs.

Not sure what questions to ask about subject combinations? St. Andrew’s Junior College has an FAQs section for their prospective students. Your teen can read this as a start, and compile their own questions for other JCs that they’re interested in.

Want to motivate your teen to do well in their studies, or plan for their future? Join our KSP Family Huddle in March, to learn about raising self-motivated children towards success!