Cut Off Points For Secondary Schools 2025: What My Child Should Aim For Their PSLE Results This Year!

2023 marked the end of another good academic year, with just about 98.4% of candidates reaching secondary cut-off, not changing much from the past years.

But don’t drop your laurels! 2024 brings about a whole new wave of change and vastly different sets of cut off points for secondary school admissions! So if you’re a parent looking to continue that success for your child getting ready for PSLE this year, be prepared!

We’re here to keep you updated on the ins and outs of qualification requirements, as well as changes made towards your child’s PSLE results this year!

Before We Begin: Understanding the Changes to the PSLE Scoring System

Let’s start off with the preface that PSLE has since changed their T-score scoring system since 2021. If you’ve not been caught up, here’s the gist!

​If your child is born from 2009 onwards, they will be scored using the new system with wider scoring bands! 

Achievement Level (AL4-32)

Each subject will now be scored using 8 bands known as the Achievement Levels, or AL for short.

AL1 is the best score, down to AL8 as the lowest. Your child’s total PSLE score will be the sum of their subject scores (English, Math, Mother Tongue, Science) combined. This means PSLE Scores will now range from 4 being the best, to 32 as the lowest.

The change was implemented so that students would be graded based more on their individual performance as compared to their peers.

[shhkca.com.sg]

Changes to Streaming Labels

Secondly, subject streaming via Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams have become a thing of the past. 

We now use something called Posting Groups, or Subject-Based Banding (SBB) with three different admission scores. Your child will be given an admission score of G3, G2 or G1 corresponding to the old Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams respectively.

[CNA]

The difference here is that the Posting Group is only used during school admissions to guide your child’s initial level of subjects. The change creates and simplifies the process to increase or decrease their subject level according to their academic performance, and sometimes preference!

If you’d like to read more about this, you can look up MOE’s score calculator here!

What Should My Child Aim For Their PSLE Results in 2024?

[MOE]

It’s never a bad thing to be competitive and push your child with the drive to succeed academically.

What’s not conducive is to always have the Asian mindset of wanting to ‘beat’ one’s relatives and peers just for the sake of appearances!

Of course, the higher your child scores, the better. But understanding limits, setting realistic expectations, and giving genuine support out of their well-being can go a long way when it comes to your child’s mental health. Push their potential to the fullest limit, but never at the expense of a possible burnout! 

That said, ask these questions as guidelines to gauge what kind of goals you should be setting for your child’s PSLE results this year!

What Subjects Are My Child Good or Bad At?

[Freepik]

Understand your child. Find their strengths, and capitalise on them. At Primary Six, most of their potential should’ve been revealed during their latter school years. Work with the school teacher, tutors so that you’re kept up to date with your child’s academic performance.

Knowing if they’re good with calculation, or if they’re good at rearranging words and writing fluently can allow you to decide what to prioritise when it comes to areas or subjects that they are falling behind on instead.

Assessing the Current Level: What Grades Are My Child Getting Now?

[Freepik]

Next, you should get records on how well your child is doing currently in their school year. Are they struggling with a particular subject? Or are they finding close to no issues during their revision? 

A close understanding of their current level, as well as the time left to your child’s PSLE, will allow you to craft an action plan that is tailored for either long-term or short-term improvements for the end-of-year examination.

In this way, employing a tutor or having your child partake in after-school tuition classes can help you with that action plan.

Setting Realistic Goals: How Much Time and Effort Should My Child Invest in This Subject?

[Freepik]

With a good understanding of what to improve on, and how much improvement is needed, you should get a good measure of both time and effort required to meet your expectations.

Is there enough time? Will my child be able to handle the added stress of pushing themselves to score just a little better? Ask yourself these questions before they invest completely into the action plan that you’ve created for them.

Primary six students are usually very busy because of their exam prep, but you MUST always be realistic with your goals for your child.

What School Do You Want Your Child to Get Into for 2025?

Knowing what to aim for also helps with planning out the kind of PSLE results that you can expect or work towards.

The 2024 List of Secondary Schools (for reference!)

While the cut off points may change next year, the current year values are strong indicators of the requirements for next year’s cohort. 

Deciding on a school carries other heavy factors besides just the qualification to enter! Do reference this list for each school’s cut off points, along with their location and monthly fees for consideration.

[FreeTestPapers]

What Are These Schools Known For?

Parents look at academic reputation the most when they decide on a school they want their child to enter.

Well, it makes sense. The harder it is to get into, the stronger the foundation of academics in the school. With more conscientious learners, we get less bad company within the school. This in turn creates a conducive and supportive environment to learn. It is a positive feedback cycle that can only mean good things for your child if you want them to grow up well with a good academic background.

This doesn’t mean that it’s all over if it’s unrealistic per se, to aim for a school like Raffles’. Equal factors like the roster of teachers, the facilities and resources provided have to be considered! 

If you intend to develop your child in their talents in sports, consider schools for their co-curricular activities and involvement in intra-school or national competitions as well!

Conclusion: A Final Word of Advice

[Freepik]

No matter what school you choose, ensure that your expectations are within reason. Cut-off points are created by schools not as a means of discrimination, but as a realistic gauge of difficulty to prevent your child from meshing with the wrong weight class.

Every child has the opportunity to grow, but they all have their varying learning speeds. Accepting and supporting them to achieve realistic but satisfying goals is the right approach when planning out you and your child’s expectations for the end-of-year exam this year.

Good luck!