Primary School Leaving Examination
The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) (Malay: Peperiksaan Tamat Sekolah Rendah, Chinese: 小六会考; pinyin: xiǎo lìu huì kǎo) is a national examination in Singapore that is administered by the Ministry of Education and taken by all students near the end of their sixth year in primary school before they move on to secondary school. The examination test students' proficiency in the English language, their respective mother tongue languages (typically Chinese, Malay or Tamil), mathematics and science. Students have about two hours to complete each subject paper except for certain components of language subjects. Students answer multiple choice questions by shading their responses on a standardized optical answer sheet (OAS) that uses optical mark recognition to detect answers or by writing their workings and/or answers on the question booklet itself for certain sections of the paper. From 2024 onwards, the Express, N(A) and N(T) streams will be removed. Students will be posted to secondary school through three Posting Groups - Posting Groups 1, 2, and 3. Posting Groups will only be used for the purposes of admitting students into secondary school and to guide the initial subject levels students can offer at the start of Secondary One. Throughout their secondary school education, students can take subjects at three subject levels, known as G1, G2, G3 (G stands for General), mapped from the previous N(T), N(A) and Express standards respectively. Students will have the flexibility to adjust their subject levels at appropriate junctures, based on their strengths, interests and learning needs. Achievement Levels (ALs)The PSLE T-Score will be replaced with wider scoring bands, known as Achievement Levels (ALs). Each PSLE subject will be scored using 8 ALs. Students who perform similarly will be placed in the same AL for each subject.
Scoring for Foundation Level SubjectsUnder the new AL system, if your child is taking foundation subjects, your child will be graded AL A to AL C. Like standard subject ALs, the Foundation subject ALs will reflect a student's level of achievement, rather than how they have performed relative to their peers. For the purpose of S1 posting, Foundation Level AL A to AL C will be mapped to a Standard Level subject equivalent of AL 6 to AL 8 respectively, to derive a student's overall PSLE Score.
Secondary school posting with Full Subject-Based BandingYour child will be posted to secondary school through three Posting Groups - Posting Groups 1, 2, and 3 - based on their PSLE score. Posting Groups will only be used for the purposes of admitting students into secondary school and to guide the initial subject levels students can offer at the start of Secondary One. Throughout their secondary school education, students can take subjects at three subject levels, known as G1, G2, G3 (G stands for General), mapped from the previous N(T), N(A) and Express standards respectively. Students will have the flexibility to adjust their subject levels at appropriate junctures, based on their strengths, interests and learning needs. Students will subsequently access programmes and post-secondary pathways based on their various subjects and subject level combinations.
Scoring for Higher Mother Tongue Languages (HMTL)The grading and corresponding mark ranges for Higher Mother Tongue Languages (HMTL) (i.e. Higher Chinese Language (HCL), Higher Malay Language (HML) and Higher Tamil Language (HTL)) remain unchanged under the AL scoring system.
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