KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Hi forum, just would like to ask. My son next year yr 3, he chose triple humanities as his subject combination. As i did not study in singapore, im not really sure about the education system here. Can anyone tell me triple science or triple humanities better? Like what uni courses requires the study of humanities and what requires the study of sciences? And future job options? Thanks a lot for any help.

I didn't even know one can take triple humanities.. Sorry to break it to you, but NO university course requires you to have taken the respective humanities as a prerequisite. You can do econs in uni without having taken econs in JC. HOWEVER many science courses require the respective science as a prerequisite. For eg. medicine requires H2 chem and H2 bio/physics. Most engineering courses require H2 chem and H2 physics. I would really advise your child to take up at least double science so that his uni options are not severely limited.

EDIT: Unless your child is really 100% sure on an arts related career, then go ahead with triple humanities. To my knowledge, the only "prestigious' arts related career is LAW. However please note that students who did science in jc can also apply to any arts course including law whereas arts students are limited to only arts courses.

The downside of triple humanities is that if your son later on wants to take up a science that he didn't take in Sec 3 & 4, he will not be allowed to. Of course, if he is sure he doesn't want to take science at A levels, then that's not a problem.

Many science-type university courses required Chem, and some may require Physics or Bio. Most humanities courses do not have prerequisites and science students can apply to them too, which is why studying sciences is more flexible. However, if it is a choice between good grades in humanities and poor grades in sciences, getting good grades is better than poor grades.

I wouldn't worry about jobs yet - there are lots of options whatever courses your son takes, even if they are not the obvious doctor/lawyer/accountant type. More important is that he in interested in his courses as he will more likely do well.

My daughter is also going into sec 3 next year so we have gone through the same reasoning process. We decided on triple science because she has absolutely no clue what she would want to do at A levels, and she doesn't have a preference for sciences vs humanities, so we went for flexibility. Hope this helps.

Skyed wrote:I didn't even know one can take triple humanities.. Sorry to break it to you, but NO university course requires you to have taken the respective humanities as a prerequisite. You can do econs in uni without having taken econs in JC. HOWEVER many science courses require the respective science as a prerequisite. For eg. medicine requires H2 chem and H2 bio/physics. Most engineering courses require H2 chem and H2 physics. I would really advise your child to take up at least double science so that his uni options are not severely limited.

EDIT: Unless your child is really 100% sure on an arts related career, then go ahead with triple humanities. To my knowledge, the only "prestigious' arts related career is LAW. However please note that students who did science in jc can also apply to any arts course including law whereas arts students are limited to only arts courses.

My son's subject combination is chem+bio+history+english literature+singapore studies
He studying in ip school.

slmkhoo wrote:The downside of triple humanities is that if your son later on wants to take up a science that he didn't take in Sec 3 & 4, he will not be allowed to. Of course, if he is sure he doesn't want to take science at A levels, then that's not a problem.

Many science-type university courses required Chem, and some may require Physics or Bio. Most humanities courses do not have prerequisites and science students can apply to them too, which is why studying sciences is more flexible. However, if it is a choice between good grades in humanities and poor grades in sciences, getting good grades is better than poor grades.

I wouldn't worry about jobs yet - there are lots of options whatever courses your son takes, even if they are not the obvious doctor/lawyer/accountant type. More important is that he in interested in his courses as he will more likely do well.

My daughter is also going into sec 3 next year so we have gone through the same reasoning process. We decided on triple science because she has absolutely no clue what she would want to do at A levels, and she doesn't have a preference for sciences vs humanities, so we went for flexibility. Hope this helps.

My son quite poor in math and sciences both only b3. But his humanities also not that stable although he can get a2 for all his humanities.

NormalPerson wrote:

Skyed wrote:I didn't even know one can take triple humanities.. Sorry to break it to you, but NO university course requires you to have taken the respective humanities as a prerequisite. You can do econs in uni without having taken econs in JC. HOWEVER many science courses require the respective science as a prerequisite. For eg. medicine requires H2 chem and H2 bio/physics. Most engineering courses require H2 chem and H2 physics. I would really advise your child to take up at least double science so that his uni options are not severely limited.

EDIT: Unless your child is really 100% sure on an arts related career, then go ahead with triple humanities. To my knowledge, the only "prestigious' arts related career is LAW. However please note that students who did science in jc can also apply to any arts course including law whereas arts students are limited to only arts courses.

My son's subject combination is chem+bio+history+english literature+singapore studies
He studying in ip school.

that's fine then. from the way you posted I thought he wasn't doing any sciences at all. The combi will allow for H2 chem and H2 bio at jc level, bio is a prerequisite for most life science courses. Physics is usually the requirement for engineering courses, but if he's not open to physics and doesn't plan on going into engineering then the combi is fine.

EDIT; you mentioned that your kid is weak in math, would recommend seeking help with that because even in JC if you go arts stream most jcs require h2/h1 math as the contrasting subject. if going science then math is compulsory.

Skyed wrote:

NormalPerson wrote:

Skyed wrote:I didn't even know one can take triple humanities.. Sorry to break it to you, but NO university course requires you to have taken the respective humanities as a prerequisite. You can do econs in uni without having taken econs in JC. HOWEVER many science courses require the respective science as a prerequisite. For eg. medicine requires H2 chem and H2 bio/physics. Most engineering courses require H2 chem and H2 physics. I would really advise your child to take up at least double science so that his uni options are not severely limited.

EDIT: Unless your child is really 100% sure on an arts related career, then go ahead with triple humanities. To my knowledge, the only "prestigious' arts related career is LAW. However please note that students who did science in jc can also apply to any arts course including law whereas arts students are limited to only arts courses.

My son's subject combination is chem+bio+history+english literature+singapore studies
He studying in ip school.

that's fine then. from the way you posted I thought he wasn't doing any sciences at all. The combi will allow for H2 chem and H2 bio at jc level, bio is a prerequisite for most life science courses. Physics is usually the requirement for engineering courses, but if he's not open to physics and doesn't plan on going into engineering then the combi is fine.

But like that is it quite limiting for him? Quite a lot of courses in uni is engineering.

NormalPerson wrote:

But like that is it quite limiting for him? Quite a lot of courses in uni is
engineering.

Well if he knows he has no interest or aptitude for it then there's no point in forcing it. I personally took trip science and double humans in secondary but my physics has been gone case since start of sec 3 (took it mainly for the prestige and options) got b3 for it at o levels. Whereas now in jc i'm doing h2 chem bio econs math. usually the point of triple science is so that it gives you the choice of bio OR physics at jc because you can only do 2 sciences in jc of which 1 must be chem if you're in science course. if you have no aptitude for physics (like me) don't force it unless you want to confirm go engineering.

NormalPerson wrote:My son quite poor in math and sciences both only b3. But his humanities also not that stable although he can get a2 for all his humanities.

Again, I would say that interest is more important than past grades. If he is interested, he should be willing to put in the effort to improve. Also, for many students, humanities will improve as they get older as maturity helps. In any case, in an IP school, because there are no O levels to face, it doesn't matter as much if the grades at Yr 4 are not so good as long as he can get into the combination of his choice in Yr 5. That's what we think for our daughter anyway - she is in IP as well.

slmkhoo wrote:

NormalPerson wrote:My son quite poor in math and sciences both only b3. But his humanities also not that stable although he can get a2 for all his humanities.

Again, I would say that interest is more important than past grades. If he is interested, he should be willing to put in the effort to improve. Also, for many students, humanities will improve as they get older as maturity helps. In any case, in an IP school, because there are no O levels to face, it doesn't matter as much if the grades at Yr 4 are not so good as long as he can get into the combination of his choice in Yr 5. That's what we think for our daughter anyway - she is in IP as well.

Which means can still sort of study 'science' in yr 5? Like he take chem+bio+math+hist/e lit?