With regards to location, the population in Canada and Australia is much more concentrated in a handful of cities than it is in the US (I’d guess that the UK is somewhere in the middle). Hence, the exchange universities there are more likely to be in a city comparable to Singapore.

Outside of the big names, the US has some very good universities, but not all of them are in the main cities and a fair number of them are in college towns (rural areas or smaller cities with not much there besides the school).

For the UK, London is probably on a short list of global cities for which there are very few peers. I’m not sure what it is like elsewhere in the UK.

The rest of Europe and Asia all have their own language/cultural nuances.

For a semester or year, I also don’t think it matters very much. The underlying experience will be similar. Hence, target where you like, but ultimately be happy with what you can get or what works with respect to courses.

There are probably other considerations if the child is looking at working abroad for a few years or potentially seeking residency. Socially, culturally, and politically, I think most of the English-speaking countries are fairly similar.

I think this was announced a few years ago. Nice to see they ramped up the intake from 120 students to 500 students (I think the first year had over 1,500 applicants).

I guess this is the difference between learning for fun and learning for a grade. Probably 1/2 of the people in the traditional track drop L3 within a year.

Yes. See here.

https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20250306-infosheet-1-revised-jc-admission-criteria

I see, you may be correct. For Lit, I feel the poetry and drama sections can be a bit foreign/awkward at first/you may not know what you are getting into. For one of my kids, Lit (either embedded in English or standalone) has consistently been the lowest scoring component/subject across everything. I guess others may feel the same way about the History questions.

Either way, I think both are good for reading and writing, neither of which seem like they are over practiced these days.

I guess it would be even worse for the non-science kids that want to take 2 humanities (1 full and 1 split with ss). At the As, I guess you could take whichever one you took in upper sec, Econ, and then ELL? Or take a swing at History (if you took EL Lit in upper secondary)? If one didn’t take in upper secondary, I feel like History is probably easier than Lit to take at the As.

Computing probably has a large self-selection bias of kids that can already do most of the stuff. I don’t think that many schools have a full computing class in upper secondary (I believe many have modules or ways to gain some exposure).

I’m also for more breadth at the secondary level. Unfortunately, the focus tends to gravitate towards exam scoring or perceived stress/workload rather than actual learning/acquiring different skills/knowledge.

Yikes, that is unfortunate. However, I can’t say it’s surprising (despite all of the people saying those who want to do more still can do so).

Good thing is that there are many online resources these days, but this just favours those who are in the know, resourceful, self-motivated, etc.

I take it the standard will be seven subjects?

Skype is shutdown now!

Try traveling (even a short trip) or going out to eat with just one of them (kids). My experience is that you tend to “hear” more.

We don’t celebrate much either, but recently we’ve tried to make more time to do things together.

I think this was announced a few years ago. Nice to see they ramped up the intake from 120 students to 500 students (I think the first year had over 1,500 applicants).

I guess this is the difference between learning for fun and learning for a grade. Probably 1/2 of the people in the traditional track drop L3 within a year.

@bbbay said in New L1R4 system for JC entry:

IMHO The observation has been Diploma certs are more valued than A level certs by employers. There isn’t a GP or contrasting subjects requirement in Polytechnics’ specialised courses. My take is, the core subjects are the fried rice that filled you. GP and interdisciplinary studies are sauces than enhance the fried rice. A single bottle of sauce is good for enhancing many plates of fried rice. Sauces are the leaders and we don’t need too many of it? Think NUSC’s been highly selective and interdisciplinary?

I don’t think we can compare (immediate) employment for a diploma and an A level certificate; the former wasn’t designed to seek employment with that certificate itself?

Anyways, I disagree on the core subjects. If we look at PCM/BCM, how many students actually make use of all three of them in their job, or even university for that matter? Medicine? OK. Chemical Engineering? OK. Econ, Business, Law, CS? More than half of the core would never be touched again.

The two subjects/skills you can’t get around? Math and English. There are some things you just can’t do without math, but if I had to be great in one and terrible in the other, I’d pick being great in English.

This is why I think the contrasting subject should have been kept in the calculation. Not for the score itself but for the additional attention/effort a required subject gathers and the underlying skill development. Or, if they wanted to reduce the calculation to three subjects, the contrasting subject should have been one of them (although this would have been a problem for those who take the contrasting at H1 level).

@doodbug said in New L1R4 system for JC entry:

My take is probably different. The Singapore A level content is very hard and onerous to me.

Between RP70 and RP90, for the top A level kids, this is not going to make any difference to the ambitions and stress levels as they will be doing more than excelling at the A levels.

But this may sound very broad brushed, but I do believe for the middle and weaker performers, RP70 is far less stressful than RP90. Being able to drop one subject and sans burden of PW do make a significant difference.

You may be right. I agree with your second paragraph, not as sure on the last paragraph (it will probably depend on the person). I think many are going to find out that the distribution just became more bunched and relative standing is still what matters (not entirely but largely so). Of course, some will be able to do better with three main subjects vs. than they could have done with four main subjects, so they may feel better/less stress.

Just as another example, we can look at Western education systems or the Int’l school system here in Singapore. Generally speaking, the curriculum may not be as intense and there usually isn’t as much focus on one’s ranking/standing to determine where you go. Also, there is often more encouragement for exploration and finding one’s interests. Perhaps these are desirable.

However, if you look at the top quarter to top third of those cohorts (perhaps the entire cohort in some schools), most of those kids and parents face the same dilemma and anxiety; all of them are trying to go to the same universities and not all of them can get accepted. And if you are really talking about the most selective stuff, many of those kids will have courseloads/work that is at or above what’s done here.

On the other hand, if you just don’t care or care but are willing to make the most out of whatever is available, you’ll be fine (some stress but hardly unbearable). Regardless, the reasons why (many) people eschew the latter have little to do with the number of exams, scoring system, or curriculum.

@doodbug said in New L1R4 system for JC entry:

MOE will probably say A level stress is already alleviated moving from 90RP to 70RP, which in a way, I cannot disagree.

My kids are all under the 90RP system so I am not able to compare if things are easier or lighter or less stressful under the 70RP system.

IMO, the stress isn’t from the A Level content or scoring system itself. It has been said before that the A Level content isn’t “that hard.” Instead, it is that the competition within the A Level is very high, and students know that the results shape what options you have available (unlike secondary school where you just need to hit the promo criteria).

Both of my kids will be under RP 70, so like you I cannot compare (I can tell you that t-score or AL makes no difference though).

Again, RP 70 is fine, I don’t think anyone believes we should allocate all university spots strictly on A level scores.

Still, I think this is a bit like reducing the number of exams. Doing so may make for a better schooling experience with other activities and whatnot. But you still have an EOY where you get a percentage. It still is as stressful or stress-free as any one person makes it out to be.