Where will you retire?

[Lisafuller]

I and a C/T (civics tutorial group) mate from Hwa Chong got admitted to Cornell in JC1 and another C/T mate got admitted to MIT in JC2. However this was in the mid 80s and admissions departments tightened up requirements after that.
Personally, I think O levels were enough academically but it is not easy socially when you are younger than everyone else.


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Wow, very impressive! What would have compelled you to apply to an ivy so early on?

[Lisafuller]

I remember you telling me that O levels are good enough for comm college. My wife doesn't believe it and she teaches at an American school here!

after O-Levels in Singapore she went straight to university in the US.

I can confirm that too. My friend dropped out of JC and enrolled in a uni in Wisconsin with just her O Level cert. That was back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

So interesting, not sure it would be as easy to do so now, although still possible.

[Swn4]

I and a C/T (civics tutorial group) mate from Hwa Chong got admitted to Cornell in JC1 and another C/T mate got admitted to MIT in JC2. However this was in the mid 80s and admissions departments tightened up requirements after that.
Personally, I think O levels were enough academically but it is not easy socially when you are younger than everyone else.


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Wow, very impressive! What would have compelled you to apply to an ivy so early on?

This was the 80s with no WWW so very little information available about competitiveness or the weather(!). I just applied to a list of schools from the Barron’s guide which meant very skewed to schools in the New England states.


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[malcontent]

True, some schools will take O level results but the better, more competitive ones do not accept just O level results. If the student is hoping to gain admission into a more exclusive school, A level results would certainly be helpful.

That’s right. And for my daughter, she is very ambitious and driven. She just got her Sec 4 results back — straight A’s. I’d bet she could already get into an excellent university as it is, but she is an IP student, so she’s skipping O-Level and going straight to JC.

[PNGMK]

IP student?

[malcontent]

IP student?

Yes, she is an IP (Integrated program) student.

IP is unique to Singapore, and is a recent, somewhat controversial development in the local education system here. It allows top performing students (generally top 10% of PSLE scorers; cut-off points vary by school) to skip O-Levels and go straight to A-level after Sec 4.

The idea is that by not having to study for O-Levels, it frees up students to broaden their educational exposure. She wanted IP and has no regrets.

[MOCHS]

IP student?

Integrated Programme. Also known as “zhi tong che” in Mandarin which means “through train”.

The student skips O levels after PSLE and goes straight to A levels. That means they spend 6 years in a secondary school-JC environment. Though if they fail A levels, they’ll only have a PSLE cert…

But from my knowledge the teachers will assess them around Sec 3 to see if they can make it to A levels without the O levels. If they can’t, they are persuaded to drop the IP and take O levels.

[malcontent]

IP student?

Integrated Programme. Also known as “zhi tong che” in Mandarin which means “through train”.

The student skips O levels after PSLE and goes straight to A levels. That means they spend 6 years in a secondary school-JC environment. Though if they fail A levels, they’ll only have a PSLE cert…

But from my knowledge the teachers will assess them around Sec 3 to see if they can make it to A levels without the O levels. If they can’t, they are persuaded to drop the IP and take O levels.

That is correct. A friend of my daughter was moved from IP back to O-Level. So I think they are careful to avoid that risk.

For my daughter, she will study university in the US, so her A-level results won’t matter, and won’t even be available when she applies.

[Lisafuller]

I and a C/T (civics tutorial group) mate from Hwa Chong got admitted to Cornell in JC1 and another C/T mate got admitted to MIT in JC2. However this was in the mid 80s and admissions departments tightened up requirements after that.
Personally, I think O levels were enough academically but it is not easy socially when you are younger than everyone else.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow, very impressive! What would have compelled you to apply to an ivy so early on?

This was the 80s with no WWW so very little information available about competitiveness or the weather(!). I just applied to a list of schools from the Barron’s guide which meant very skewed to schools in the New England states.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow, still amazing that they took you so early on. What made you apply to college at such a young age?

[Lisafuller]

IP student?

Integrated Programme. Also known as “zhi tong che” in Mandarin which means “through train”.

The student skips O levels after PSLE and goes straight to A levels. That means they spend 6 years in a secondary school-JC environment. Though if they fail A levels, they’ll only have a PSLE cert…

But from my knowledge the teachers will assess them around Sec 3 to see if they can make it to A levels without the O levels. If they can’t, they are persuaded to drop the IP and take O levels.

That is correct. A friend of my daughter was moved from IP back to O-Level. So I think they are careful to avoid that risk.

For my daughter, she will study university in the US, so her A-level results won’t matter, and won’t even be available when she applies.

If she’s applying RD to any schools, the results will be relevant. But on a whole, relatively meaningless.

[Lisafuller]

True, some schools will take O level results but the better, more competitive ones do not accept just O level results. If the student is hoping to gain admission into a more exclusive school, A level results would certainly be helpful.

That’s right. And for my daughter, she is very ambitious and driven. She just got her Sec 4 results back — straight A’s. I’d bet she could already get into an excellent university as it is, but she is an IP student, so she’s skipping O-Level and going straight to JC.

Excellent, good for her! My daughter does IP as well, she just graduated from Raffles and is waiting to take her A levels. Where does your daughter go?

[Lisafuller]

IP student?

Yes, she is an IP (Integrated program) student.

IP is unique to Singapore, and is a recent, somewhat controversial development in the local education system here. It allows top performing students (generally top 10% of PSLE scorers; cut-off points vary by school) to skip O-Levels and go straight to A-level after Sec 4.

The idea is that by not having to study for O-Levels, it frees up students to broaden their educational exposure. She wanted IP and has no regrets.

Same with my daughter, she just wanted a guaranteed spot in a top JC, and didn’t want to have to worry about studying for O levels.

[Lisafuller]

IP student?

Integrated Programme. Also known as “zhi tong che” in Mandarin which means “through train”.

The student skips O levels after PSLE and goes straight to A levels. That means they spend 6 years in a secondary school-JC environment. Though if they fail A levels, they’ll only have a PSLE cert…

But from my knowledge the teachers will assess them around Sec 3 to see if they can make it to A levels without the O levels. If they can’t, they are persuaded to drop the IP and take O levels.

Its a relatively safe gamble to take most times. Most students in the IP program are relatively studious and able to pull through to A levels.

[Swn4]

Wow, very impressive! What would have compelled you to apply to an ivy so early on?

This was the 80s with no WWW so very little information available about competitiveness or the weather(!). I just applied to a list of schools from the Barron’s guide which meant very skewed to schools in the New England states.


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Wow, still amazing that they took you so early on. What made you apply to college at such a young age?

Because other people were doing the same. And a huge dose of being too young to know better.
With hindsight, I’d recommend to slow down.


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[Lisafuller]

This was the 80s with no WWW so very little information available about competitiveness or the weather(!). I just applied to a list of schools from the Barron’s guide which meant very skewed to schools in the New England states.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow, still amazing that they took you so early on. What made you apply to college at such a young age?

Because other people were doing the same. And a huge dose of being too young to know better.
With hindsight, I’d recommend to slow down.


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Wow, nowadays barely anybody does that. I agree with you, being ready for college is more than just being academically ready, there’s also a level of maturity that one must have in order to thrive.