KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Hi,

Wonder if anyone knows what happens in this Secondary School selection scenario :

If there are 10 places left in School A and 20 pupils with EXACTLY the same PSLE score apply, how does MOE decide which 10 to take into the school. Does it matter in this case whether the child had put School A as the first choice?

This impacts what schools to put as 1st and 2nd choice - whether the common advise of putting the dream school which is just out of range of the child's mark is a wise thing to do.

Please advise. Thanks.

Low

You may want to read the following for more details.
http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissi ... g/process/

According to my colleague's daughter principal, even though there may be a lot of students with the same score, MOE will still rank them in all the decimals places. Eg though a lot of 222s, there will be 222.11111 or 222.111112. So order of priority you put is not important as they will still go down from top to bottom and give those who score marginally higher their choices first.

I think you have to watch out for point 3 in the chart -

3. Pupils from primary schools which has an affiliation will take priority in posting to its affiliated secondary school if they have opted for that school as the first choice.

If you have the "privilege", take advantage of it. Otherwise, consider its impact on the number of available vacanies left for "non-affiliated" students.

heutistmeintag,

Quote from MOE website:
Note: Affiliation aside, a pupil with a better PSLE aggregate score who chooses a non-affiliated secondary school as his later choice e.g. 5th or 6th choice will not be put at a disadvantage as compared to another pupil who chose the same school as his earlier choice e.g. 1st choice. This is because the pupil who has the better PSLE score will be considered for posting to each of his choices first.
Unquote

So, not true that one with lower T-score would get into the affiliated sch.

But what we won't know under limited vacanies, how to allocate to those who have same T-score.

ok, I think you misunderstood me.

Yes, non affiliated students compete on merits but the affiliated students get the 1st bite before non affiliated students are considered. If you look at the aggregate range for affiliated students, they tend to be lower and it meant that affiliated students with lower score can get in based on their affiliation. Look at http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/SIS_S ... ARY+SCHOOL. There is a difference of 40+ points.

Anyway, my original point is that there may be a scenario of where all vacanies could be taken up by affiliated students from the feeder primary schools. On the other hand, someone mentioned to me that there is an estimated 30% reserved for non affiliated students. I called MOE and was told that there isnt such benchmark. Maybe someone could shed some light on this.

So if Low is considering chances of entering a dream school and the school is affiliated, then chances could be further reduced.

For a moment, when I read the posting process, I think it is logical to post based on merit. Meaning, one with higher T-score choosing non affialiated sch as 2nd choice onwards vs one with lower T-score who puts affialiated sch as first choice, then the one with higher T-score would get in.

The next moment, is limited vacancies, how to allocate. Then luanee shed light that based on individual's merit (ie I interpret as 2 person having same T-score, one may have higher raw score? or decimal behind the T-score)

The next moment, yes, I do notice that most of affialiated sch have 20 points difference between exteral & internal students. It comes to me naturally that the sch must have set aside certain % of vacancies for internal students. So for this, I believe MOE can't give benchmark because different sch different percentage? Or they don't want to be transparent for fear of questioning?

I am looking at St. Margaret Sec Sch.

Quote from SMSS website:
For Secondary 1 Admission
Qns: What is the cut-off point for affiliated / non-affiliated students?
Ans: For affiliated students, there is no cut-off point. So long as St. Margaret's is the first choice, the student will get a place. For non-affiliated students, the cut-off was 240 in 2008.

Qns: Does St. Margaret's have an affiliated primary school?
Ans: Yes. St. Margaret's Primary School

Qns: Are other Anglican schools affiliated?
Ans: Yes. St. Margaret's is also affiliated to St. Andrew's Junior College.

Qns: What are the chances for a non-affiliated student gaining admission into St. Margaret's?
Ans: A student would enjoy a fair chance if she scores above 240 and puts St. Margaret's as a 1st choice.

Qns: What is the percentage of SMPS students in St. Margaret's?
Ans: More than 50% of our students come from SMPS. There will always be places for students from other schools who meet the qualifying cut-off point.
Unquote


So, based on above, SMSS reserve at least 50% for internal students. But as to how to determine cut off for non affialiated students, it is not explicit. I guess the sch & MOE do have certain parameters that we do not know.

All school is different. No one school is the same.

I have taught students from different school. There is such a huge gap, very large.

hope this web app can help: schoolpicker.sg