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Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board
Press Releases

GCE Advanced Level Exam Results Release & Changes to Polytechnic Admission for A Level Graduates

15 February 2019

Read more below.

1. The results of the 2018 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination will be released on Friday, 22 February 2019. School candidates may collect their results from their respective schools from 2.30pm that day.

2. Private candidates will be notified of their results by post. The result slips will be mailed on 22 February 2019 to the postal address provided by the candidates during the registration period. Private candidates who have SingPass1 accounts can also use their SingPass to obtain their results online, via the internet Examination Results Release System (iERRS) on the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board’s website ( www.seab.gov.sg (opens in new tab)) from 2.30pm on 22 February 2019.

Changes to Polytechnic Admissions for A-Level graduates

3. From Academic Year (AY) 2019, A-Level graduates who are looking to further their studies at the polytechnics can look forward to obtaining a diploma within a shortened timeline for a greater number of courses. Currently, most A-Level graduates apply for and enroll in a polytechnic only one year after getting their GCE A-Level examination results. This is because most polytechnic admissions exercises would have closed by the time students receive their A-Level results.

4. Changes are at hand – eligible A-Level graduates can now be exempted from one semester of polytechnic studies and be admitted directly to Year 1 Semester 2 each October for 110 courses, up from the current nine. With this, they reduce their polytechnic course from 3 years to 2.5 years. The 110 courses make up about half the diploma courses offered by the five polytechnics, and span several course clusters.

5. With the one-semester exemption and entry into Year 1 Semester 2, A-Level graduates who are not enlisting in National Service will be able to enter the polytechnics in the same year that they receive their A-Level results. As a result, this group will be able to graduate one year earlier. An illustration of the shortened timeline is available in Annex A.

6. Interested A-Level graduates will be able to apply to the polytechnics directly for these 110 courses in mid-August 2019, for matriculation at the start of AY2019 Semester 2 in October 2019. More details will be available on the respective polytechnics’ websites by March 2019.

1 Private candidates can visit the SingPass website at www.singpass.gov.sg (opens in new tab) to find out if they are eligible for SingPass and to activate their SingPass Two-Factor Authentication if they have not done so.

Annex A

Infographic showing changes to polytechnic admissions for A-Level graduates, reducing graduation time.

Annex B

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON CHANGES TO POLYTECHNIC ADMISSIONS FOR A-LEVEL GRADUATES

  1. How many A-Level graduates are admitted to the polytechnics each year? What is the typical profile of these students?

    About 200 A-Level graduates are admitted to the polytechnics each year.

    These are students who are keen to pursue an applied pathway at the polytechnics, that matches their area of interest/ aptitude. It includes both A-level graduates who have applied and those who did not apply to the local Autonomous Universities.

  2. Currently, how and when do A-level students apply for admission into the polytechnics?

    Currently, A-Level graduates who are keen to enrol in the polytechnics can apply via the Joint Admissions Exercise, which takes place in January, using their O-Level results. They can also apply via the respective polytechnics’ Direct Admissions Exercise, which runs from December to March. For both of these exercises, admission is at the start of Year 1 Semester 1, in April.

    With the changes, eligible A-Level graduates can now be exempted from one semester of polytechnic studies and be admitted directly to Year 1 Semester 2 in October. This means they can apply for admission and enter the polytechnic in the same year that they receive their A-Level results.

  3. What are the requirements for A-Level graduates to receive module exemptions in the identified courses?

    For most courses, A-Level graduates would need passes in two relevant H2 subjects to receive module exemptions. These requirements may differ for specific courses, and details will be made available on the respective polytechnics's websites.

  4. How were the courses offering module exemption identified?

    Courses offering module exemption have sufficient commonalities between the A-Level and polytechnic course curriculum. The exemptions are mostly for polytechnic foundational modules. Exemptions from these modules would not compromise A-Level graduates’ learning outcomes in the polytechnic as students would have covered similar curriculum in preparing for the A-Levels.

    For example, A-Level graduates in Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Diploma in Information Technology may be exempted from the modules on ‘Computing Mathematics’ and ‘Programming 1’ if they have obtained passes in H2 Computing or Computing Science, and H2 Mathematics.

    Similarly, A-Level graduates in Temasek Polytechnic’s Common Engineering Programme may be exempted from the modules on ‘Engineering Mathematics 1’, ‘Engineering Physics’, ‘Digital Fundamentals 1’ and ‘Circuit Analysis’ if they have obtained passes in H2 Mathematics and H2 Physics.

  5. Will additional places be set aside in the polytechnics to cater to this group of A-Level graduates? How many places would be set aside?

    Places for A-Level graduates will be separately catered for. There will be no impact on places available for O-Level graduates or ITE graduates. The number of places for A- Level graduates will depend on the demand from and quality of applicants, and hence will vary from year to year.