How to choose a Secondary school with AL score : Tips on choosing the right school for 2024

 

After PSLE results, it is time to choose your secondary school.

Picking a secondary school should depend on a child's strengths, interests, and learning styles, as well as the school's facilities, resources and distance. While all these can be subjective and differ from child to child, the AL score will ultimately matter when shortlisting schools. The cut-off Point (COP) of each school will help in the school selection.

See the latest COP for 2023 

How are AL Score prioritised?

The S1 Option form has 6  schools for a student to choose from. You are to list the school choices in order of preference using each school's 4-digit code.

Citizenship
Singapore citizens will get top priority, then Permanent Residents(PR) and followed by International Students. If a Singapore Citizen and a PR score the same AL and apply for the same school as the top priority, if there is only 1 spot, it will go to the Singapore Citizen.

Order of School Choice
All order things equal (same AL, same Citizenship), students who listed schools as their 1st choice will get priority over the other students who list it as 2nd choice.

Computerised Balloting
If more than one student is vying for one spot and the AL scores, citizenship, and school choice are the same, ballots will be cast to determine who will take the school's place.

Important points to note

•  For dual track schools offering an Integrated Programme (IP) and an O-level Programme, affiliation consideration will only be given for the O-level programme.
• At least 20% of the schools with affiliation will be allocated to students without affiliation priority.
• Schools with IP and O-Level programs will have different codes.
• Home distance from school is NOT a criterion to determine priority
• there will no longer be Express, Normal(NA) or Normal(NT) Classes. Instead, it will be changed to G3, G2 and G1, respectively. 

You can learn more about the changes to Secondary Schools in 2024 here.

Tips on Choosing Secondary School

Fill up all 6 choices

You will have 6 choices for school selection. Unless you are super confident (Eg, AL 6 choosing a school with cut-off points of AL 19), you should fill up all 6 schools. If not, in some extreme cases, you may end up in a random school that is not on your list of schools you wish to attend. Try not to put throwaway choices. For example, if the AL is 12 and you put an AL 6 as your sixth choice, it is as good as throwing away the choice.

Have a Safety Net

We know that some parents like to choose schools with similar AL scores. Some even choose schools that match the child's AL point only. For a safety net, at least one option on the 6 choices must have a buffer of at least 3 points. Based on last year's result, a few schools swing by 2 or more points. In these cases, having a safety net is essential. An ideal situation would be to choose schools with a wide range of AL scores.

Eg: AL score 12

Scenerio 1 - Safety Net

COP for first choice: 11
COP for 2nd choice: 14
COP for 3rd choice: 15

This scenario has a buffer in case you miss your first choice. You can also take a small risk by choosing a school with a slightly lower COP as a first choice.

Scenerio 2 - No Safety Net

COP for first choice: 11
COP for 2nd to 6 choice: 12

For Scenerio 2, even if your child meets the COP of 2nd to 6 choices, they will not be given priority admission as long as it is not the first choice. This could result in either balloting or missing out on the school of choice entirely. 

In this case, it may be wiser to drop school 1 and place school 2 as the first choice. In the event of a tie-breaker, the ranking of schools will be vital as it is part of the criteria. Students who rank the school higher will have priority over the other in the event of a tie. 

In any case, have at least 1 SAFE school on the list. A SAFE school would have a COP of at least 2-3 points higher than the PSLE score. If not, in the event of no schools allocated based on the options provided, the student will not have any choice in the school allocated. So, for this case, at least 1 choice must meet this criterion.

Consider taking advantage of primary schools' affiliation with secondary schools

Suppose you meet the affiliate minimum requirement and wish to be posted to the affiliated secondary school. In that case, it is necessary to list the school as the top choice to enjoy priority.

Ready to choose?

If you are a parent reading this, discuss their choice with the child. While it is an excellent intention to select schools for them, sometimes a child would prefer other options for the school of their choice. Given that they will spend the next formative phase of their life in the school, getting their buy-in is essential.