With the Secondary School posting now concluded, parent groups on the internet are now abuzz with the cut-off points for various secondary schools in Singapore. The cut-off points are useful for those who are appealing to another school, as well as parents with kids who are entering their PSLE year soon.
Trends in Secondary school COP
This year, there is a noticeable trend of lowered COPs across the board. A significant proportion of schools have lower COPs compared to the previous year, indicating increased competition in this year’s secondary school selection exercise.
One likely reason is the larger-than-usual cohort size due to 2024’s batch being of the Dragon Year. There tends to be a peak in births during the Dragon Year in Singapore. This resulted in 40,894 pupils taking the PSLE in 2024, more than the 38,088 who sat the exam in in 2023, and 37,095 in 2022.
As a result of the drop in COPs, some parents have reported that their child did not get accepted into any of their 6 choices, despite checking that their child’s scores were within the COP of previous years, and having added ‘safety net’ options within their choices.
However, MOE assured parents that such cases were an exception rather than the norm. Over 80% of students managed to get into a school within their top 3 choices, while 90% were posted to a school that was amongst their 6 choices.