r/SGExams

Disclaimer: I’m not looking down on anyone for trying or caring about their grades.

I have a cousin who’s stressing about his final year in Poly. When I asked him what he was worried about, he told me he had a tough module and that his current cGPA is around 2.5/4.0.

It got me thinking about something I noticed even when I was in Poly about 7 years ago: people with relatively low cGPAs would still be extremely stressed about their grades in their final year.

Maybe my perspective is warped, but I’ve always looked at it quite pragmatically.

If your goal is a local university, roughly speaking:
3.6+ — you have a realistic shot at SMU/NUS/NTU/SUTD, depending on the course.

3.0–3.5 — SIT/SUSS and some other local pathways may still be realistic, although admissions have become more competitive.

Well below 3.0 — your options become considerably narrower, and private universities or overseas universities, if you can afford them, become more likely routes.

So to me, the people who should really be stressing in their final year are the people sitting around 3.4–3.7, where one strong semester could genuinely change which universities or courses they can get into.

But if you’re sitting at something like 2.5 in your final year, mathematically, your cumulative GPA isn’t going to suddenly become 3.5.

At that point, why destroy yourself stressing over whether you get a B or B+?

Obviously, still pass your modules, finish your diploma properly and do your best. A higher GPA is always better than a lower one.

But from a purely utilitarian perspective, the marginal benefit of squeezing every last decimal point out of your GPA has fallen massively.

Your energy might be better spent enjoying your last year in Poly, building friendships, doing internships, picking up useful skills, figuring out what you actually want to do next, and preparing for whatever pathway is realistically available to you.
Maybe that’s a cold way of looking at it, but my thinking is basically:

If the outcome you’re stressing about is already mathematically out of reach, stop treating every remaining grade like it’s life or death.

Apparently my friend from a Singapore polytechnic has gotten herself into a pretty serious disciplinary situation. She has two Level 3 offences:

1. The first was accidentally bringing her phone into an exam hall.
2. he second involved an incident during her internship/work attachment involving company property (keeping the details vague for privacy).

She’s now really worried that she might be dismissed from the polytechnic. I know nobody here can predict the outcome, but does having two Level 3 offences usually mean dismissal, or is it still decided based on the severity and circumstances of each case?

What should she do at this point? Should she proactively speak to her lecturer/counsellor/disciplinary staff and explain the circumstances?

There’s also another concern. She has been struggling with her mental health since Year 1 and has previously mentioned having thoughts of self-harm. She tends to be very negative and seems to be under a lot of pressure right now, so I’m worried that this disciplinary situation could make things worse for her.

If anyone has been through a similar disciplinary process in poly, what would you recommend she do now?

For context I scored the grades CCA for A-Levels.(2 Cs and 1 A)

I feel I am truly crazy and stuck up for retaking A-Levels just so I can score straight As with 1B and get into a fixated course in NUS.

There hasn't been a day where I didn't feel guilty and miserable for not just going to a lower-tier uni and completing my studies or even do an engineering course in ntu like I truly don't understand why I couldn't swallow up my pride and just go to uni. Although my family is not struggling with money, we are not exactly rich either and when I think of that one year that i have wasted where I could earned, I just feel rly bad.

Instead, I took the decision to redo my A-Levels with the hopes to get into my dream course and while I am having mixed feelings whether I will improve because I truly have been working hard and seeing major improvements in work, i feel like my mental health is really deterioating because every single day I feel guilty that I am wasting money because not only do I have tuition(just for one subject), I feel like it's one whole year.

Another major thing for my decision was because i was from high-tier jc where many people did tremendously well so I just couldn't see myself doing a course i didn't like or going to a uni that is ranked lower...like I truly truly wish I didn't have such an elitist mind but i do know for a fact that I will regret forever for not trying A-Levels one more time since I made a lot of mistakes in my study plan last year.

One more thing for any j2s reading this, please listen to my advice, if you are able to afford tuition for any subjects that u feel u need major help, please don't hesitate because I had the mindset that tuition was not worth due to the cost but when I think about it, I could have easily earned back that money with a part-time job and I truly regret not getting tuition for one subject last year.

I just felt like ranting and will go back to studying soon :/

GUYS PLS ENLIGHTEN ME WITH SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH O LEVEL STORIES.

Rant : Scroll down to skip and get to main point if u dw to read. Genuinely I feel so hopeless with English. Like no matter how much I write for compo and practised for compre, I cant get my desired score. And it doesnt help the fact that I flunked my oral liao (like I stuttered so much, finished PR before 2 mins, didnt think answer is sufficient, examiners were side eyeing me). And now that I am in the midst of prelims, I dont think I did well either. And I am genuinely terrified because English really matters to me and I hope to achieve at least a2, (or atp at least pass bro I swear I hate english with all my guts). I cant really ask my teacher for consult because idk I cant really rely on him? Consult sessions did not feel useful (I did at least 10 consults ok, and I'm pretty sure he is sick of me), and no matter how much I asked reddit for advice, I STILL CANT GET ENGLISH FOR THE SAKE OF MY LIFE. Genuinely if I fail english its the end of the world im gonna kms (ok mybe not but u get it, this js vry IMPORTANT, like i genuinely dk what to do if I fail my english).

MAIN POINT : Did anyone magically got As in english despite doing bad in school? Context my grades rn are :

- 22/30 for oral prelim (but o level oral I think I might actually fail it was so bad :((((( )

- P1

• Editing around 6-8/10,

• SW around 19-21/30

• CW around 20-22/30

-P2 around 25-30/50

•2-4/5 for sec A

•8-13/20 for sec B

• 6-8/10 for sec C

• 8-11/15 for summary

Listening compre I'm not so sure but usually around 23-26/30

Ya and with this score I'll prob get C/B, and what makes it worse is I really cant predict eng and can just fail eng and ruin my life forever, and I am very SCARED, esp the fact that I flunked my oral alr.

ALSO is it true english A1 is not 75 but actually lower? (Moderation)

PLS HELP ME GIVE TIPS AND TRICKS IDK WHAT TO DO OMD I've been asking claude ai to check my descriptive writing but it is always 19-21.

Hello so I am receiving my o level Chinese results tomorrow and I’m absolutely losing my MINDD over tomorrow. So for context in sec 1 and sec 3 I’ve been like amazing at Chinese and got A’s for all my Chinese exams in lower sec but my full papers were always B3. Sec 3 EOY was B3. And for my prelims, I absolutely fumbled it and got a B4. But that’s because I fked up my oral and paper 2 but I manage to fix those 2 for o levels.

But during o levels, paper 1 went fine, except Dian you went a bit hay wired. But ig it’s still fine. But for paper 2, I fumbled the first part so bad bro esp the 词语替换 which I got a grand total of 2/10 🥳 and I also fumbled the first part idk wtf it’s called but I got 2/5. For the compre mcq I got 16-18/20. Compre open ended I find it q okay tho maybe 25-28/35
For LC I got 18/20
For oral bro istg my lang du went so horrible like I swear to god it wasn’t fluent at all I could read almost all the words but ITS SO UNFLUENT (idk if that’s even a word but idc at this point) but the 会话 I think it’s generally okay but the tchr did ask me 2-3 follow up qns (in total 5-6 qns) but I think overall it’s fine. Esp cuz the lang du was about some person who moved to England w her sister and the guy in front of me could only read 姐姐 in the whole passage so… hopefully that plays a part?
Oral I predict 37/50?

I’m absolutely scared out of my wits and I’m losing my mind man I rlly want to get an A1(D) because bro istg I rlly dw retake… does anyone have a rough idea if I have a chance and can yall share your miracle stories? Tia

- an EXTREMELY scared sec 4 who is literally spiralling like some siao lang now

Ps: sorry for the terrible paragraphing im dying rn

do yall know if we’re allowed to bring in normal medication (panadol, neurofen etc) into a level exams without aa? haven’t seen this being mentioned by schools or online. thanks sm 😭😭😭😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 a levels is so stressful gang

So teacher's day is soon and i know like cash or anything cash equivalent isn't allowed to gift to teachers. But are like steam codes allowed to gift to teachers for teachers day, because theres this one teacher that i know will love the game im thinking of gifting her

im blinded everytime i watch my lectures pls moe hq staff see this and integrate dark mode into sls

if now still dont have i hope the new updated sls hud coming in september gives us the option to turn on dark mode

Currently my sister is studying in RJC. She's going to take her A levels later this year. Right now, she's going to have her prelims. As her brother, I believe that she will fail both the upcoming prelims and A levels.

I'm not going to be some saint sitting on top of a mountain saying I'm a much better person than her whether in character or in academics. Because right now I'm in uni. I've also failed 2 math mods. But after I failed them and remodded , I did whatever I could to ensure I never fail again and maintain the remaining GPA I've left.

One of the things I've done is study is never fully rely on either professors or friends. Because the way they teach and explain the theory confuses me. So YouTube and AI became my haven. For example I needed to learn Discrete Maths, I'd go to the The Chemistry Tutor or Kimberly Brehm youtube channel and watch the whole series. Even after watching videos when I didn't understand or kept getting confused, I'd ask Deepseek, Qwen and Gemini for clarifications. I'd ask 3 AIs the same question to ensure the clarifications they'd provide are correct and consistent. And I wrote pages and pages of explanations as while people understand things quickly, I need to work harder to understand the same thing. Cleared the 2 math mods on second attempt

Now going back to my sister, she has consistently failed from the time back when she was RGS. She failed every single subject other than Literature and English. When it was time for her to to RJC at Year 5, a competency evaluation was conducted on her to see if she could even be allowed to move to RJC. But somehow she made it through.

After that, in her first year of JC1 in 2024 she failed every subject. RJC decided to make her redo JC1 and she did in 2025. But her attitude didn't change at all and she failed almost every subject again back then. I guess RJC got sick and tired of her and just wanted her to finish A levels get her out of their hair.

I don't have much contact with her. Just the occasional hi hello and she locks herself in the room. As a brother I was worried at the start. Back in January 2026, when I asked her about the status of her studies and if she needed any help, she squeezed my shoulder and assured me she'll do well this time and she's studying hard. So I was reassured

But in July 2026, when she got back her results for the mid year papers, she has again failed for every paper. From Chemistry, Biology, Maths and now even English. Wtf. Now I don't care anymore. Because she has never listened to me nor my parents.

I've consistently told her if you need tuition go take it. But that alone isn't going to solve your problems. You need to consistently write, redo and repractice. But whenever I tell her to watch YouTube videos and use AI, she reacts very violently and negatively. Tells me AI is unreliable for studying A level subjects. How true is that? I've used it myself and I haven't faced much issues other than the occasional hallucination.

Especially now that there's Qwen 3.7, Gemini 3.6 etc which have helped me study for a mod and got me B+ this time. I completely relied on AI to teach me because profs were literally coming to the class and playing league and not teaching anything at all. I've got results to prove to her that AI can be used as a teaching aide. I even sent her the prompt I used for the AIs. But she told me to fuck off and shove the AI up my arse.

Now with the upcoming prelims paper starting soon, I don't know whats gonna happen to her. I don't care about her anymore because she takes every suggestion from me and my parents and tosses it out. Her future is her own hands. I'm charting my own path. I can only say and do till a certain limit, but if she doesn't want it, what can I do right?

im currently a j1 doing PCME and considering a h3 next year. so far im choosing between h3 math, h3 chem, and h3 SMU game theory, but h3 phys and other external ones are also on the table (anyone has the full list?)

ive been hearing people say, ‘just follow your interests’ or ‘look at what career you wanna do next time’. but tbh i have very wide interests (especially in my PCME subjects) so it’s hard to choose lah. and ive looked through a couple of careers and just can‘t decide between them. so ideally i wanna keep my options open for both stem and social sci (like econs, and maybe even stuff like law)

with that said, a lot of people have been telling me to worry about promos first (which im doing lol) but just really really curious about h3. so far my grades are decent, everything B and above except for econs which is D 💀

so yeah basically wanted to hear what yall think and personally did + reflections/advice for future generations. please help a junior out 🙏🙏

P.S. feel free to share even if your h3 wasn’t PCME!

How hard is it to apply for a clinic assistant part time job? I have been sending application for it but no one had yet to respond to my email nor the platform i used.

Is it because i am a student, many applicants or are they looking for females instead? I thought studying something related to healthcare would be an advantage, but it doesn’t seem to be.

Hi, not sure which sub to post this in but, I’m looking to do a part time Nursing degree in either NUS or SIM soon
I’ve heard from some colleagues that NUS is quite selective and hard to get in, they had also rejected my friend who otherwise did quite well and met the GPA requirement of 3.0. My diploma GPA is just borderline 2.99 (fked up in year 2 Lol) but I’ve my advanced diploma GPA 3.34.
Does anyone know if universities in general will look at the advanced diploma results when considering admission?

Reason that I picked SIM other than NUS is because it seems to be more widely recognised compared to other schools (Curtin, MDIS, King’s College etc.) and also distance from work/house (West).
However my parents do not quite like the idea of me going to SIM and insist I try to get into NUS first. Mentioned that I should not be following suit with my colleagues who did obtain their degree from private unis as it is “sia suay”. Which led me to wonder why do the oldies think this way about universities that aren’t NUS/NTU Lol.

btw this a rant.

Hi, I’m a graduating student from Unity Secondary, and I can honestly say that I have grown to deeply resent my experience here.
I understand that schools are implementing Electronic Device Lockers (EDLs) to encourage students to focus and become more productive in class. And, to be fair, I have seen my grades improve. However, the way my school has implemented these measures has gone far beyond encouraging productivity. It has increasingly controlled how students are allowed to learn.
Take our Personal Learning Devices. We were given Chromebooks with a three-year warranty despite having four years of secondary education, with Secondary 4 being arguably the most important academic year. By Secondary 3, many devices are already deteriorating from ordinary use. The school loaned alternatives are hardly better, with flimsy screens, missing styluses and limited functionality.
Then there is Mobile Guardian. I understand restricting gaming sites and other distractions, but legitimate educational platforms are also blocked because of blanket security restrictions. Not every student who misuses a device should determine what every other student is allowed to access.
The problem is that learning is not one-size-fits-all.
Personally, I find an iPad far more useful for revision because I can read, annotate, write notes and organise my work in one place. Yet because the school has decided that Chromebooks are the preferred device, students are expected to adapt to a system that may not actually work best for them.
And now that teachers have noticed students relying on other devices instead of the school issued Chromebook, the response is to confiscate them?
At what point does discipline stop being about helping students learn and start becoming about controlling how they learn?
Unfortunately, the issue does not end with our devices. Even the physical learning environment seems to reflect the same misplaced priorities.
The school has a habit of renovating things that, frankly, do not seem to be the most urgent. We have had the school's colours revamped, only for the paint to peel easily. The toilets were given new colours that have, in my opinion, made them feel even more claustrophobic. Meanwhile, renovations to areas such as the lift and staff rooms have created significant inconvenience for students, particularly performance CCAs.
Choir and dance have had to relocate to places such as the hall and music room for training. This is not merely an inconvenience, having an appropriate space directly affects the quality and effectiveness of training.
Then came the rat infestation.
Students did not cause it, yet students are the ones bearing the consequences. Students are not allowed into the staff room, and restrictions on leaving school to get food mean that we are increasingly dependent on school canteen options, despite many students finding them unhealthy or unsatisfactory.
How is it fair that students have to suffer the consequences of a problem we did not create?
For years, I have also heard promises about improvements such as air conditioning in the hall. I have been hearing about it since I was 13. Now, as I am finally graduating, those improvements are only beginning to happen.
Four years is a long time to wait for something that directly affects students' daily comfortability especially towards the humid environment we live in daily.
And that is what frustrates me most. If resources are limited, why are we spending them on changes that are largely cosmetic while improvements that directly affect students' comfort and learning take years to materialise?
A school does not become better simply because it looks newer.
A better school is one where students can study comfortably, train properly, access the resources they need and have some autonomy over how they learn.
And yet, while these issues remain, the school seems more concerned with policing the smallest details of our appearance.
I understand having reasonable rules regarding attire and hair. There should be a standard of decorum in school. But some of the rules go beyond maintaining a professional appearance and become restrictions for the sake of restriction.
What difference does it make if a student's socks have a small Nike logo on them instead of being completely plain white or bearing the Unity school logo? What difference does a black hair tie make compared to one of another colour?
Absolutely none.
These rules do not improve a student's character, academic ability or behaviour. If anything, a student's conduct should matter far more than whether their socks have a logo on them.
And this becomes especially frustrating when the school is so particular about our appearance while the actual hygiene and food standards that students experience every day are, in my view, far more concerning.
I have heard numerous complaints about the cleanliness of the canteen, both regarding the tables and the food itself. A friend of mine even reported finding worms in her food. Is this really the standard of food students are expected to eat?
The school tells us to make healthier choices, yet the options provided to us often feel like the complete opposite. The snack store can feel overwhelmingly high in sodium, while some food stalls appear to prioritise quantity and cost over nutrition.
Even the way food is handled raises concerns. For example, items such as kimchi and marinated cucumbers being left exposed rather than properly refrigerated and sealed is concerning from a basic food hygiene perspective.
Then there is the issue of affordability.
At the Chinese stall, why should a student who only has $2.80 be unable to purchase a $3 meal? The difference may seem insignificant to an adult, but to a student who is working within a fixed daily allowance, 20 cents can determine whether they can afford a proper meal.
The irony is difficult to ignore.
We are expected to maintain perfect decorum, perfectly plain socks, perfectly black hair accessories, perfectly regulated attire, while the standards that actually affect our health and wellbeing do not always seem to receive the same level of scrutiny.
Why are we so concerned about what students look like when we should be more concerned about what students are actually experiencing?
Singapore's education system is already demanding enough. Students are exhausted, stressed and under immense academic pressure. The least a school can do is make learning and daily life more accessible, not more difficult.
We are constantly told that these rules and changes are being made for the students.
But at some point, you have to ask:
Are you actually listening to the students?
Because we are not asking for fewer rules simply because we dislike them.
We are asking for an environment that genuinely allows us to learn, eat, train and exist comfortably.
We don't need a school that merely looks better.
We need a school that actually feels better to be in.

So an advice; Unity should be at the bottom most lowest option to go to when considering secondary school choices.

The HORRENDOUS treatment from my school and internship has now affected my grades. I have just been informed that the change in supervisor has not officially taken effect, and my midterm internship grade has been finalised and given by L (the borderline abusive and biased supervisor I had). I can do nothing but rant on this platform as it seems like NO ONE is willing to help and nothing else can be done. I’m not allowed to quit, and there’s also no sense of urgency in effectively removing me from the shitty abusive environment I was in. Wtaf is this system?! Students get ZERO protection and are forced to stay in unhealthy environments because no one is arsed to do the paperwork or go through the processes when I went through every bureaucratic procedure and proper channel to get something to change.

Currently in J2 and have just started seriously studying (i had a bad past two years, and lack of self discipline which I already know is my fault) and prelims is right round the corner.

I went from 0% to 100% studying immediately and I can feel the toll its taking on me, especially mentally. I already know my prelims will be absolutely horrible, but I cant seem to think beyond prelims and I feel like my 2 years of JC is a waste. Should I set aside my worry for prelims and focus on Alevels, or should i consider alternative route (like transferring to poly or are there other options?)

Sorry if this was hard to read or confusing I have been in a very bad mental state the past week and its showing

Also my schools prelims seem so much later than others, wont that give me less time for A levels or am i seriously tripping rn

IM TRYING TO DO THE PRACTICE PRELIM PAPERS WHY DO SO MANY SCHOOLS MAKE IT SO RIDICULOUSLY DIFFICULT WHY DO ALL OF THE QUADRATIC FUNCTIONS HAVE SOME STUPID UNKNOWN WHY IS IT WHEN I TYPE IN THE EQUATIONS FOR THE VALUES OF THE COEFFICIENTS OF A B AND C I GET SOME LONG DECIMAL PLACE THAT WOULD FILL UP THE WHOLE PAGE??? WORST PART IS WHEN THE QUESTION ASKS ME TO STATE THE VALUES OF A B C AND D JUST BY LOOKING AT THE GRAPH??? WHY DO I HAVE TO DRAW RECTANGLES TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS ANYWAY??? THIS IS H2 MATH NOT H2 ART IF I WANTED TO DRAW I WOULD HAVE TAKEN IT INSTEAD ALSO WHATS THE POINT OF HAVING TO DRAWING RECTANGLES WHEN YOU CAN JUST INTEGRATE???? SOMETIMES WHEN THE QUESTION GIVES SOME WEIRD GRAPH WITH BARELY ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND EXPECTS ME TO KNOW HOW TO FIND THE COEFFICIENTS OF THE X TERMS JUST BY LOOKING AT IT??? ALSO FOR PRELIMS IS UPCOMING IN A WEEK AND IM GENUINELY GOING TO FAIL AT THIS POINT WITH HOW ABSURDLY DIFFICULT SCHOOLS LIKE TO SET THEIR PAPERS?? DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE 3HRS TIME LIMIT THAT THEY PROVIDE WHICH IS BARELY ENOUGH TO FINISH??? IM SUPPOSED TO BE EXPECTED TO DO EVERY SINGLE QUESTION AT GODSPEED, FIND OUT WHAT IM SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO DO STRAIGHTAWAY WITHOUT MAKING ANY CARELESS MISTAKES AT ALL IN THE SPAN OF 3 HOURS?IF A LEVEL STANDARD THIS YEAR IS LIKE THIS (CAUSE LAST YEAR A LEVEL PAPER WAS ACTUALLY EASY AND THE ONLY THING I THINK I COULD EVER BE ABLE TO DO WELL IN) IM ACTUALLY SO DONE FML

I am a sec 4NA student who is an aspiring fashion designer, planning to PFP into Temasek poly fashion and then later go to a fashion/art Uni overseas. However, I am concerned that if I go for PFP, and skip O levels, my application(when I apply for Uni) may be overlooked. will it? How about unis (overseas &local) in general? Do they require O levels?

has anyone here taken the risk of js not studying for a certain subject in o level and relied on all ur other subjects that u actually locked in for and actually succeeded

I plan on taking a media course which absolutely does not require science but at the same time im afraid that my o level results might not be as good for the course and I might have to find a diff course only to discover it requires science. And I actually haven't studied for anything even tho it's literally prelims now but I'm definitely gonna lock in

I'm lowk js planning on not doing anything for humanities and science cuz those r the subjects I hate and can never do well since sec 3 and rely on my other subjects

Anyone can share some stories 😞

so currently its prelims season, and i can definitely say its not going that well.... so im here to seek inspiration haha- after prelims, i may probably dedicate myself to at least 1 consult per week and start to do more timed practices.

those who took a lvls already, do yall mind sharing how much yall improved from prelims to a lvls, and also what yall did during the post-prelim and pre-a lvls time period? thanks!