Candidates taking the GCE A-level examination last year turned in the second-best performance since the curriculum was revised about 12 years ago.
Of the 12,502 students who sat last year's examinations as school candidates, 11,624 received at least three H2 passes, as well as a pass in General Paper or Knowledge and Inquiry, said the Ministry of Education and Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board yesterday.
Last year's pass rate of 93 per cent improved on the 92.6 per cent achieved by the 2016 cohort.
Students in 2015 set the benchmark for the highest pass rate since the curriculum was revised in 2006, at 93.1 per cent.
Pioneer Junior College student Lee Zhi Xuan, 19, was one candidate whose grit and determination were duly rewarded yesterday.
He nearly dropped out at the end of his first year in JC when his father was diagnosed with colon cancer - the same disease that had claimed his mother's life three years earlier.
"I wanted to take a break from school and spend whatever time I had with him," he said. But his father encouraged him to carry on.
REARRANGING PRIORITIES I dropped my external basketball commitments, kept up with my tutorials and paid more attention in class. MILLENNIA INSTITUTE STUDENT GWEN TAN, on how she managed to improve her grades in the A-level examinations.
So Zhi Xuan would accompany his father to chemotherapy sessions after school, bringing along his books to study when his father was hospitalised during the examination period.
"I just kept pushing on and didn't give up," he said, adding that his teachers also encouraged him.
He was rewarded for his resilience and perseverance today when he scored five As and a B.
His results make him eligible for a pharmacy course at the National University of Singapore that he hopes to pursue. Spending time in hospital with his parents inspired him to want to be an oncology pharmacist.
"I saw patients slowly recovering every day and it made me happy to see them get healthy again. I want to be a part of that journey," he said.
His father has gone into remission and is now recovering.
Millennia Institute student Gwen Tan, 21, took a longer road to graduation than most of her peers.
In her first year, she spent almost every day training for basketball matches. This left her with little time and energy to concentrate on her schoolwork, causing her grades to drop.
She ended up repeating the school year, but resolved to be more diligent.
Yesterday, Miss Tan, the elder of two daughters of an accountant and a factory manager, scored two As, a vast improvement from the failing grades she got in her first promotional exam four years ago. She plans to pursue her studies in science or sociology in August.
In a Facebook post yesterday morning, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wished candidates waiting for their A-level results "all the best".
"Whatever your results are, remember that this is just one step in your lifelong learning journey," he wrote. "We are not only defined by result slips or certificates, but by what we achieve in life and what impact we make on those around us."
SINGAPORE - Candidates taking the GCE A-level examination last year turned in the second-best performance since the curriculum was revised about 12 years ago.
Of the 12,502 students who sat last year's examinations as school candidates, 11,624 received at least three H2 passes, as well as a pass in General Paper or Knowledge and Inquiry, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) on Friday (Feb 23).
Last year's passing rate of 93 per cent improved on the 92.6 per cent achieved by the 2016 cohort. Students in 2015 set the benchmark for the highest pass rate since the curriculum was revised in 2006, at 93.1 per cent.
Candidates' wait for their results ended at 2.30pm on Friday, with most collecting them from their schools.
Private candidates will receive their results by post, but those with SingPass accounts can obtain them through the Internet Examination Results Release System (iERRS) on www.seab.gov.sg immediately.
Pioneer Junior College student Lee Zhi Xuan, 19, was one candidate whose grit and determination were duly rewarded today.
At the end of his first year, he almost dropped out of school after his father was diagnosed with colon cancer — the same disease that had claimed his mother’s life just three years earlier.
“I wanted to take a break from school and spend whatever time I had left with him,” he said. But at the assurance and encouragement of his father, he decided to continue with his education.
The older of two sons tried at the same time to support his father, often accompanying him to chemotherapy sessions after school and even bringing his books to the hospital to study when his father was hospitalised during the examination period.
“I just kept pushing on and didn’t give up,” he said, adding that his teachers were also sources of encouragement.
He was rewarded for his resilience and perseverance today when he received five As and a B.
His results make him eligible for the pharmacy course at the National University of Singapore that he hopes to pursue. His desire to become an oncology pharmacist was ignited during the time he spent in the hospital with his parents.
“I saw patients slowly recovering every day and it made me happy to see them being healthy again. I want to be a part of that journey next time,” he said. His father has gone into remission and is now recovering.
Looking back on how far he has come, he added: “I feel like the struggle was worth it. The sacrifices I had to make, like time with friends, having to set aside my emotions... everything was worth it in the end.”
Another student, Ms Gwen Tan, 21, took a longer road to graduation than most of her peers, but had something to celebrate at the end of it.
In her first year at Millennia Institute, she spent close to every day of the week on basketball practice. This left her with little time and energy to concentrate on her work, and her results suffered as a result.
She ended up having to repeat the school year, but resolved to be more diligent.
“I dropped my external basketball commitments, kept up with my tutorials and paid more attention in class,” she said.
Yesterday, the elder of two daughters of an accountant and factory manager scored two As, a vast improvement from failing all her exams in her first promotional exam four years ago. She plans to pursue a course in either science or sociology at a local university this August.
In a Facebook post on Friday morning, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wished candidates waiting to hear how they did, "all the best".
"Whatever your results are, remember that this is just one step in your lifelong learning journey," he wrote.
"We are not only defined by result slips or certificates, but by what we achieve in life and what impact we make on those around us."
While some said they would take the “rare second chance” to improve their A-Level grade by retaking the paper, others said they were content with the grades awarded.
SINGAPORE: When former Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) student Lim Zhong Zhi was told to stay behind for a special briefing after he collected his A-Level results on Friday (Feb 23), he did not know what to expect.
“They told us someone stole our exam papers from a courier in the UK, and we were like, is this a heist movie now,” he said. “We always joke about what would happen if our papers get stolen. And now that it really happened, we were like ... wow.”
Zhong Zhi was one of the 238 students whose H2 Chemistry answer scripts were stolen. The scripts, which were for Paper 3, were stolen in the United Kingdom before the papers were delivered to the examiners. Paper 3 consists of free-response questions and carries a weightage of 35 per cent of the entire H2 Chemistry examinations.
The students are from four junior colleges: Anderson JC, ACJC, Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) and Nanyang JC.
In announcing the incident, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) explained that the final grades for the students were derived through a projection.
Affected students will also be given the opportunity to resit Paper 3, if they wish. Those who opt for the re-examination will have the better of their two grades recorded in their result slip and certificate.
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A "RARE SECOND CHANCE" TO IMPROVE THEIR RESULTS: AFFECTED STUDENTS
For Zhong Zhi and some of his affected peers, the opportunity to resit the paper was a “rare second chance” to improve their grades.
“They did mention that they will take the better of the two grades,” said Zhong Zhi, who got a B in the subject. “So there’s really no incentive for you not to take the second exam.”
“ACJC told us that our subject tutors would try their best to assist us,” he added. “And I think we’ll be even more committed to this retake, because if you know your results are kind of bad, that’s even more motivation for you to study even harder for it.”
A former HCI student, who did not want to be named, said she is also likely to retake the paper. She reasoned that despite getting a B for the subject in her school’s preliminary examinations, she had worked hard for the A-Levels and had expected to get an A for the subject.
“It would take a lot of time, but I would do it for my grades,” she said. “I do believe that I’d have done better with Paper 3, because 35 per cent is not a small percentage.
“There’s no harm, since we will be able to use the better of both grades.”
But if she had a choice, she added, she would not want to go through the exam alone, and is checking if any of her friends will also be retaking the paper.
However, other affected students said they were not likely to retake the paper.
“I wasn’t that good in Chemistry, so I think even if my Paper 3 wasn’t stolen, I would probably have gotten the same grade,” said former ACJC student Manoharan Ajay Anand, who got a B in the subject.
“Besides, I don’t think I have a chance to improve,” he added. “I took the A-Levels in November and the entire time (from then to now), I wasn’t studying at all.
“Those two years were intensive preparation and now I’ve had a huge break.”
The affected students also had no complaints about the way the situation was handled by their schools and SEAB.
“I was shocked at first, but impressed by how professional SEAB, MOE and the other parties were, in the sense that they assured us that they had our interests at heart,” said former HCI student Chan Yi Xuan.
A parent of an HCI student, who declined to be named, added that she was satisfied by the way it was handled. “In any case, she (her daughter) is not penalised because this is the grade we expected.”
STUDENTS NOT AFFECTED SAID IT’S "NOT VERY FAIR"; PAPER 3 USUALLY CONSIDERED MORE CHALLENGING
As for the students who were not affected, they felt that it was not very fair for the rest to be given a second chance, especially for a paper they felt was more difficult compared to the other components.
Students walking out of Hwa Chong Institution after collecting their A-Level results. (Photo: Jalelah Abu Baker)
Students Channel NewsAsia spoke to - both affected and unaffected by the theft - concurred that Paper 3 is generally considered to be more challenging than the rest of the examination.
“I don’t think it’s very fair to everyone else, because they might not have done as well, or they might have done better than the rest who had normal papers, although I don’t know how else Cambridge could have handled it,” said former ACJC student Eugene Hadjisophocleous.
He also felt that as the theft was “quite a big deal”, the school should also have made a public announcement to students about the incident.
Echoing the sentiment, former HCI student Hu Yu Xin said: “We are not privy to the actual methodology. Maybe they should have told everyone about it, so it will be fair to all.”
Still, another recent graduate from HCI, Neo Ting Ming, said that while it was unfortunate that it happened, projecting the results was a good solution.
“As the setters of the paper, they would have known how hard or easy the paper was, and moderated and projected the results accordingly. It should be quite fair,” he said.
He added that Paper 3 would not necessarily have been the most difficult portion for everyone, as some people find it relatively easy.
“People would do differently depending on where their strengths lie, so it’s hard to say if their results would have been better or worse with Paper 3,” he said.
"MOST" WILL NOT CONSIDER TAKING PAPER AGAIN: HCI
For HCI at least, the school said most of its affected students have indicated that they will not consider retaking the paper.
"We are heartened that the affected students and their parents have been understanding," said an HCI spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Nanyang JC's principal Low Chun Meng told Channel NewsAsia that most of its affected students "have done well", and were calm upon receiving the news of the stolen papers.
"This is no doubt an unfortunate incident but we believe that SEAB has taken the necessary actions to manage the situation based on the processes they have shared with us," said Mr Low.
"For students who are keen on the re-examination, we will do what we can to help these students, be it in terms of providing consultations or access to the school’s facilities."
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