will be based on students\u2019 performance in five G3-level subjects<\/span><\/a> instead of six. The current Sec 3 cohort will be the first to enter JC under this new scoring criteria.<\/p>\nIn response to queries from The Straits Times, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said the share of Sec 3 students taking eight or more G3-level subjects in 2026 has more than halved from 34 per cent in 2025 to 14 per cent currently.<\/p>\n
Subjects can be taken at G1, G2 or G3 levels, which are broadly mapped from the Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express standards respectively.<\/p>\n
From 2025 to 2026, the proportion of students taking seven subjects rose slightly from 54 per cent to 57 per cent, while those offering six or fewer subjects more than doubled, from 12 per cent to 29 per cent.<\/p>\n
Among students offering six or fewer G3-level subjects, one in five also offered at least one subject at a less demanding level \u2013 G2 or G1.<\/p>\n
From 2028, JC admission will be computed using a new L1R4 (one language and four relevant subjects) aggregate score, capped at 16, instead of L1R5. This reduces the required number of G3-level subjects from six to five.<\/p>\n
The change is intended to give students \u201cmore autonomy to recalibrate their curriculum load\u201d, Education Minister Desmond Lee said in Parliament in August, in response to a question from Jalan Besar GRC MP Shawn Loh.<\/p>\n
Taking one fewer subject means that students can use the freed-up time for broader development, he said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, students who aspire to enter JC are still required to take two languages and three subjects from mathematics or science and the humanities subject groups to maintain a \u201cbroad-based\u201d education, he added.<\/p>\n
Under the new policy, fewer students in the first cohort are enrolling in geography, physics and principles of accounts.<\/p>\n
MOE said students remain exposed to these disciplines elsewhere in the curriculum, such as through combined science for physics. And while enrolment for principles of accounts has dipped, the ministry said it remains a popular elective subject.<\/p>\n
It added that the rise in students offering six or fewer subjects may also reflect revised polytechnic admission criteria for 2028, which will consider four G3-level subjects and one G2-level subject, instead of five G3 subjects.<\/p>\n