Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board

The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (Abbreviation: SEAB; Chinese: 新加坡考试与评鉴局; Malay: Lembaga Peperiksaan Singapura) was established on 1 April 2004 as a statutory board under the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore.

SEAB, which was formerly the Examinations Division under MOE, was formed to develop and conduct national examinations in Singapore and to provide other examination and assessment services, both locally and as well as overseas. The board also publishes examination results for the major exams such as the Primary School Leaving Examination, GCE 'O' Level and GCE 'A' Level. It is also trying to position itself to become a regional centre for testing and assessment services, and contribute to Singapore's development as an education hub. Its current Chief Executive is Miss Tan Lay Choo, PPA(P).

PSLE
The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is a national examination, which a pupil sits at the end of primary education to assess pupils' suitability for secondary education and also to place them in appropriate secondary school courses, which match their learning pace, ability and inclination. Based on their results, candidates are streamed into three different courses: Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical).

iPSLE
The iPSLE examination is offered to Singaporeans studying abroad and whose school has adopted a curriculum similar to that offered in Singapore. Like the PSLE, students take the exam after six years of primary education. The examination format is similar to that of the PSLE. The iPSLE is also used by some schools abroad as a benchmarking tool to assess their standard of education compared with Singapore.

GCE 'N' Level
The GCE 'N' Level examinations, otherwise known as the 'N' Levels, are conducted annually in Singapore. It is taken after four years in the normal academic or normal technical stream (secondary education). For subjects examined in English, foreign languages and Non-Tamil Indian Languages, the examining authority is the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. For subjects such as mother tongue languages, most commonly Chinese, the examining authority is the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

GCE N(T) Level
The GCE N(T)Level-Normal Technical Level,is taken by Normal Technical students after four years of secondary school education.This will eventually lead them to the ITE or Institute of Technical Education.Alternatively,if they did well in the school examination in Secondary One,they may be offered to the Secondary 2 N(A)-Normal Academic stream if applicable.Students are also offered to take N(A) subjects(maximum 2) if applicable.The curriculum is geared towards strengthening students’ proficiency in English and Mathematics. Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.The aggregate used for the GCE N(T) Level is L1B2(English and best 2 subjects).The grades are as following:

NT levels grades:

A: 75% and above

B: 70% to 74%

C: 60% to 69%

D: 50% to 59%

U: Below 50%, considered Un-graded, or failed

GCE N(A) Level
The GCE N(A)Level-Normal Academic Level,is taken by Normal Academic students after four years of secondary school education.This may lead to a possibility of moving on to the Secondary 5N(A)stream to take their 'O'-Levels.Alternatively,they may take the O-Levels without taking the N(A)-Level.In the Normal (Academic) course, students offer 6-8 subjects in the GCE ‘N’ Level examination. They have, as compulsory subjects, English Language, Mother Tongue and Mathematics. For upper secondary, Combined Humanities and a Science subject are also compulsory.The aggreagate used for this stream is ELMAB3(English,Mathematics and Best 3 subjects)for admission to Secondary 5 N(A) and L1B2(English and Best 2 subjects for admission to the Institute of Technical Education.The N(A) grades are as following:

NA levels grade

1: 75% and above

2: 70% to 74%

3: 65% to 69%

4: 60% to 64%

5: 50% to 59%

U: Below 50%, considered Un-graded, or failed

N(A) students may be offered to take the more challenging 'O'-level subjects(maximum 2) if they did well enough for that subject after Secondary Two.The grades will be converted to the N(A)-Level grades by the following:

A1-B3(O)-      1(NA)

B4-C6(O)-      2(NA)

D7-E8(O)-      3(NA)

F9(O)-         4(NA)

Polytechnic Foundation Programme(PFP)

Polytechnic Foundation Programme(PFP)is a programme that is for Secondary 4N(A) students.It was implemented in 2012 by the Ministry of Education(MOE).It is to provide more pathways to the tertiary education for the Secondary 4 N(A) students instead of going Secondary 5N to take the O-Level.To be eligible,a student must get at least a Grade 3 for the ELMAB3 subjects,getting no more than 11 points(excluding CCA points) and expected to be the top 10% cohort in the whole cohort of Singapore.This programme will only commence estimatedly during the month of April.Students are expected to pass all modules to advance to Year-One of polytechnic to take their diploma.

GCE 'O' Level
The GCE 'O' Level examinations, or more commonly known as 'O' Levels, are conducted annually in Singapore. Like the 'N' Levels, it is done after four years of express or five years of normal academic secondary education and is under the same examining authority. However, the 'B' syllabus for mother tongue subjects will not be counted towards the total aggregate score.

Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' Level
The Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examination, like the other examinations, is conducted annually. It is taken before the completion of 2 years of Junior College or 3 years at Millenia Institute (tertiary education) at the post-secondary level. Like the GCE 'O' Levels, the 'B' syllabus subjects are not counted towards the total aggregate score.

The GCE 'A' Level examinations require students to read a compulsory H1 General Paper subject or alternative-H2 Knowledge and Inquiry (KI) alongside with 3 Higher-2 and 1 Higher-1 subjects (minimum of 10 Academic Units (A.U)). One out of the 4 content-based subject must be of a cross-disciplinary nature.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the common subjects offered at GCE 'A' Level Examinations:

Arts-based: Economics, Geography, History, English Literature, Theatre Studies and Drama* (only offered at H2 level and at selected institutions)

Science-based: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Geoengineering