How to Fill In Your 6 Secondary 1 Choices: Reach, Match and Safe
After PSLE results come out, families have about six days to submit six school choices. Understanding how posting works first makes most of the agonising go away.
How posting works
MOE admits students in order of PSLE score, best first. When it is your turn, the system looks at your first choice and goes down the list; you are posted to the first school that still has a place.
That leads to an important conclusion: ranking by your true preference is the best strategy. Putting harder schools first does not hurt your later choices; putting a safe school first only throws away your chance at the reach schools.
Reach, match and safe
We classify schools using three years of non-affiliated cut-off points:
- Reach: your score is 1–2 points worse than the latest cut-off. Cut-offs move a little each year, so there is a chance, but don't count on it.
- Match: your score meets the latest cut-off, but not with room to spare every year. At the cut-off, ties are decided by citizenship and choice order, then a computerised ballot.
- Safe: at least 1 point better than the cut-off in every year with data, or the school did not fill this group in past years.
A suggested mix
| Position | Type | How many |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Reach | 1–2 schools |
| 3–4 | Match | 2 schools |
| 5–6 | Safe | 2 schools |
MOE itself recommends at least 2–3 safe choices. If all six fail, the system posts you to a nearby school that still has places, which is usually not what you want.
Common pitfalls
- Reputation over distance: secondary school lasts 4–6 years. An extra hour of travel each day is an hour less sleep.
- Ignoring the Posting Group choice: scores of AL 21, 22 and 25 can choose between two groups, and the schools within reach are completely different.
- IP and PG3 are two choices: the Integrated Programme and the PG3 course at the same school have separate places and cut-offs.
- Higher Chinese at SAP schools: ties are decided by the Higher Chinese grade.
Picking reach schools
Look for schools whose cut-off matched your score in one of the three years. Some schools tighten sharply one year, parents shy away the next, and the cut-off falls back; those reaches succeed more often.
To save time, get a personalised school report: enter your score and postal code and get six choices ranked by distance and three years of data.