Graded on your own marks — not against other students. Lower total = better.
Fixed mark bands, same every year — drawn to scale below (darker = better). Note how uneven they are: narrow at the top, very wide in the middle.
MOE drew the boundaries expecting slightly under half the cohort to score 75+ (AL1–4) in a Standard subject. That makes 75 marks roughly the cohort’s upper-half line: AL4 or better ≈ above average for that subject, while AL5–6 is the broad middle. The top bands are narrow because many students cluster there; and one careless mark no longer swings the result the way the old T-score did.
The PSLE Score decides the secondary school Posting Group (streaming was removed in 2024) and which schools are within reach. Tier labels below are informal, based on published school cut-off points.
| PSLE Score | Posting Group | Subject level at Sec 1 | Old stream equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 – 20 | PG 3 | G3 (most demanding) | Express |
| 21 – 22 | PG 2 or 3 — student’s choice | G2 or G3 | Express / N(A) |
| 23 – 24 | PG 2 | G2 | Normal (Academic) |
| 25 | PG 1 or 2 — student’s choice | G1 or G2 | N(A) / N(T) |
| 26 – 30 (needs AL7+ in English & Maths) | PG 1 | G1 | Normal (Technical) |
Scores of 31–32 are possible on paper but fall outside the direct Sec 1 posting criteria — those students are advised on other options. In 2025, 98.5% of the cohort qualified to progress to secondary school.
Subject difficulty levels in secondary school under Full Subject-Based Banding (since 2024). They replaced the old streams — but they apply per subject, not to the whole student.
The PSLE Score only sets the starting levels. A child posted through PG2 can still start a strong subject at G3 (e.g. AL5 or better in that subject), and one who did a subject at Foundation level starts it at G2 with a grade A. Levels can also be adjusted upward during Sec 1–2 based on performance — so a student might end up taking G3 Maths, G3 Science and G2 English at the same time.
The PSLE score doesn’t just pick a school — it picks which kind of track is available:
G1/G2/G3 subjects → the SEC exam at Sec 4 (replaces O- and N-Levels from 2027) → then JC, Millennia, Poly or ITE based on results.
Entry
Any posting group — PSLE 4 to 30.
Why choose it
Keeps every option open, with a national certificate in hand at 16.
Secondary + pre-university in one run, skipping the SEC exam entirely. At the end of Year 6, the school’s chosen exam:
Entry
The most selective: cut-offs roughly PSLE 4–8, or DSA. Caveat: leave mid-way and there is no SEC certificate to fall back on.
For a child who is struggling to cope with the Standard syllabus in a particular subject. From P5 they take that subject with a simpler syllabus at a gentler pace — decided per subject at the end of P4 (school together with parents), not a separate class. At PSLE it is graded A/B/C instead of AL1–8:
| Foundation grade | Counts as |
|---|---|
| A (75–100) | AL6 |
| B (30–74) | AL7 |
| C (< 30) | AL8 |
So AL6 is the ceiling for any Foundation subject — four Foundation A’s = a PSLE Score of 24. Not a dead end: grade A lets the child start that subject at G2 in secondary, and moving up levels stays possible.