KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Ok, I am trying to find some "A Levels for Dummies" guide.

Where can i find a link to know of the following:

Ok, I only know that in A Levels, students take 4 subjects to enter Uni.

QUESTIONS:

a) How does marks in A Levels calculated to enter Uni ?

b) How come if student take 4 subjects, I read that student getting 9 distinction ?

c) How come the results of some are shown as 9 Distinctions ? I thought it is supposed to be grades like A, B, C or D ? No ?

d) What does Perfect scores means ?

e) What does H2 passes or H2 Distinctions means ?

f) What does Principal paper & subsidiary paper means ?

g) What is Special Paper ?

Thanks. Sorry for being blur. Sorry if these have been asked before.

Thanks again ....

Cheers

b) 4 A level subjects, 3 S papers, GP and CL

ooptimizer wrote:b) 4 A level subjects, 3 S papers, GP and CL

Please read this:
http://www.rjc.edu.sg/new/attachments/P ... ficial.pdf

what does Perfect scores means ?

you have listed 9 subjects but isn't 9 distinction perfect scores ?

what are S paper ?

Thanks

//Editor's note: Topic selected & edited for Portal publication.

I'll try to answer some of the questions.

a) How does marks in A Levels calculated to enter Uni ?

A-level grades are calculated on a lettered grading scale (A, B, C, D, E, S, U). Universities convert those grades on a scale into ranking points. Therefore, your 3 H2 (full A-level subjects), 1 H1 (AO-level subject or worst H2 subject if you are taking 4 H2 subjects) and H1 General Paper are taken into account.

For the H2 subjects:
A = 20
B = 17.5
C = 15
etc...

For the H1 subject (or your worst H2 subject) and General Paper
A = 10
B = 8.75
C = 7.5
etc...

When you sum up all the points, you get the university ranking points which is considered for admissions to local universities.

b) How come if student take 4 subjects, I read that student getting 9 distinction ?

You take more than 4 subjects in A-levels. You just take 4 academic subjects. For instance, you could take the following combination to get 9 distinctions while staying within 12 academic units:

H2 Mathematics - A
H2 Physics - A
H2 Chemistry - A
H1 Economics - A
H3 Physics - Distinction
H3 Chemistry - Distinction
H1 General Paper - A
H1 Project Work - A
H1 Chinese (Mother Tongue) - A

c) How come the results of some are shown as 9 Distinctions ? I thought it is supposed to be grades like A, B, C or D ? No ?

An "A" is considered a Distinction.

d) What does Perfect scores means ?

It means you have scored A for every single paper you took.

e) What does H2 passes or H2 Distinctions means ?

H2 distinctions just means scoring A in the H2 subject.

f) What does Principal paper & subsidiary paper means ?

No idea. I don't think we use that term any more.

g) What is Special Paper ?

It used to mean Paper 0 - a more difficult subject paper of the same subject. It has been superseded by "H3"-level subjects.

frankchn wrote:I'll try to answer some of the questions.

Thanks frankchn, I really appreciate it. I have some questions below in RED:

a) How does marks in A Levels calculated to enter Uni ?

A-level grades are calculated on a lettered grading scale (A, B, C, D, E, S, U). Universities convert those grades on a scale into ranking points. Therefore, your 3 H2 (full A-level subjects), 1 H1 (AO-level subject or worst H2 subject if you are taking 4 H2 subjects) and H1 General Paper are taken into account.

For the H2 subjects:
A = 20
B = 17.5
C = 15
etc...

Is it correct to say that:
D = 12.5
E = 10
S = 7.5
U = 5

What does S & U means ?


For the H1 subject (or your worst H2 subject) and General Paper
A = 10
B = 8.75
C = 7.5
etc...

Is it correct to say that:
D = 5
E = 2.5
S = 0
U = 0



When you sum up all the points, you get the university ranking points which is considered for admissions to local universities.

b) How come if student take 4 subjects, I read that student getting 9 distinction ?

You take more than 4 subjects in A-levels. You just take 4 academic subjects. For instance, you could take the following combination to get 9 distinctions while staying within 12 academic units:

H2 Mathematics - A
H2 Physics - A
H2 Chemistry - A
H1 Economics - A
H3 Physics - Distinction
H3 Chemistry - Distinction
H1 General Paper - A
H1 Project Work - A
H1 Chinese (Mother Tongue) - A

What do you mean by 12 academic units ?


c) How come the results of some are shown as 9 Distinctions ? I thought it is supposed to be grades like A, B, C or D ? No ?

An "A" is considered a Distinction.

d) What does Perfect scores means ?

It means you have scored A for every single paper you took.

What are the maximum papers one can take ?


e) What does H2 passes or H2 Distinctions means ?

H2 distinctions just means scoring A in the H2 subject.

f) What does Principal paper & subsidiary paper means ?

No idea. I don't think we use that term any more.

g) What is Special Paper ?

It used to mean Paper 0 - a more difficult subject paper of the same subject. It has been superseded by "H3"-level subjects.

How many H3 subjects are there on offer ? Anyone can take ? Is it like Higher Mother Tougue in PSLE ?

THANKS

I am a dummy too. How does the teacher mark their exam paper in the school ? graded A,B,C or upon 100 ?

Is it correct to say that:
D = 12.5
E = 10
S = 7.5
U = 5

I am actually not certain about the exactly points assigned to each of the grades since they are not disclosed so treat what I said with a grain of salt.

What does S & U means ?

S means a sub-pass or pass at O-levels. U means failure (even at O-levels). S and U are failing grades at A-levels.

What do you mean by 12 academic units? What are the maximum papers one can take?

Each subject at A-levels is assigned a point value. MOE allows you to take up to 12 points (or on special appeal - 13 points). All H2 subjects are assigned 2 points and all H1 and H3 subjects are assigned 1 point each.

You have to take H1 General Paper (unless you take H2 Knowledge & Inquiry), H1 Project Work and H1 Mother Tongue (you are exempted from actually taking the H1 MT paper if you passed HCL in secondary school but it still counts as one point). That leaves you with 9 points to play with. Most people at top schools will choose 4 H2 subjects and 1 H3 subject.

H1 PW = 1 point
H1 MT = 1 point
H1 GP = 1 point
H2 Physics = 2 points
H2 Chemistry = 2 points
H2 Mathematics = 2 points
H2 Economics = 2 points
H3 Essentials of Modern Physics = 1 point

Total: 12 points (or academic units as MOE calls them).

You must also take subjects from both arts and science. For instance, you cannot take Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology - which are all science subjects.

How many H3 subjects are there on offer ? Anyone can take ? Is it like Higher Mother Tougue in PSLE ?

A lot of H3 Subjects are on offer (see http://www.hci.sg/newsEvents/h3/ for example) but you have to get good grades and meet school criteria to be able to take it. Most H3 subjects start at the beginning of J2. It is like HMT in PSLE in a sense that it is optional and more advanced than your normal subjects. You would also have to take the corresponding H2 subject to take a H3 (for instance - you cannot take H3 Essentials of Modern Physics without taking H2 Physics, that would be like taking Higher Chinese without taking Chinese).

frankchn and VitoRelax, thank you both very much in providing the above Q & A. me also dummy pertaining to all those questions posted by VitoRelax.

Need to know a bit otherwise cannot communicate with dd on the said topic then she might feel I'm out dated, communication breakdown. must mark this thread so to come back to refer when I forget hor

Mods, sticky pls.

heutistmeintag wrote:Mods, sticky pls.

Thanks for making this Sticky