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What Is the Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level?
The GCE Ordinary Level examination is taken at the end of Secondary 4 in the Express stream, or Secondary 5 in the Normal (Academic) stream. Results determine eligibility for junior college, polytechnic and Millennia Institute pathways, with admission decided on aggregate scores such as L1R5 for JC and the ELR2B2 groupings for polytechnic courses.
Because admission runs on aggregates rather than individual passes, a single weak subject can outweigh several strong ones. Most students gain more from lifting a weak subject out of the C and D bands than from pushing a strong subject from A2 to A1 β which makes diagnosing that subject early the highest-value thing a Secondary 4 student can do.