JC & MI To Scrap Mid-Year Exams Gradually, 4th Content-Based Subject Excluded From A-Level Rank Points

MOE To Gradually Scrap Mid-Year Exams For JC & MI Students From 2024

From 2024, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will gradually scrap mid-year examinations for all junior college (JC) and Millennia Institute (MI) students, in line with the changes made last year for primary and secondary school students.

Announcing the move on Wednesday (1 Mar), Education Minister Chan Chun Sing assured students that the mid-year exams will not be replaced by more school-based assessments.

In addition to the gradual removal of mid-year exams, JC and MI students will no longer need to factor in their fourth content-based subject for university admissions unless it improves their score.

Mid-year exams for JCs & MI won’t be replaced with more assessments

Speaking during MOE’s budget debate on Wednesday (1 Mar), Education Minister Chan Chun Sing announced the gradual phasing out of mid-year exams for JC and MI students from 2024.

The aim of the change is to reportedly shift away from an over-emphasis on testing and academic results.

MOE previously announced a similar change for primary and secondary schools last year, scrapping mid-year exams completely by 2023.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Chan reassured students that the mid-year exams will not be replaced by more school-based assessments.

Additionally, JCs and MI will not be administering more than one weighted assessment per subject per term.

4th content-based subject only included if it improves uni admission score

Besides school exams, Mr Chan also announced further changes to the A-Level curriculum load during his ministry’s budget speech.

From 2026, students’ 4th content-based subject will only be factored into their university admission score if it improves the overall figure.

This will apparently give students more freedom to choose their last content-based subject according to interest, without worrying too much about their exam grades.

Currently, JC and MI students take the following combination of subjects:

• 4 content-based subjects (4 H2 subjects or 3 H2 + 1 H1 subject)
• General Paper (GP)
• Project Work (PW)
• Mother Tongue Language (MTL) (optional)

Their performance across all the above subjects at the GCE ‘A’ Level exams determines their admission into Autonomous Universities.

PW will also become a pass/fail subject starting from the 2024 JC1/Pre-U2 intake. The maximum possible rank points will thus fall to 70, down from the current 90.

This will hopefully encourage students to “explore their ideas and interest in issues with real-world applications”.

However, a ‘Pass’ grade is still necessary for university applications.

With the change, students who take the ‘A’ Level exams will only have to factor the following into their rank points:

• 3 content-based subjects (3 H2 subjects or 2 H2 subjects + 1 H1 subject)
• GP
• MTL (optional)

They may include MTL and a fourth subject and rebase the total points to 70 if it improves their score.

GP will be compulsory for all from 2024

Similarly from next year, GP will become a compulsory subject for all JC and MI students.

This means that even students who qualify for Knowledge & Inquiry (KI) will not be able to take it in lieu of GP, as they do currently.

KI will remain a ‘contrasting subject’ for JC and MI students.

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Featured image adapted from Ministry of Education, Singapore on Facebook.