THE SPECIAL 5-TERM OR 1.5 YEAR A-LEVEL COURSE
Last updated Dec 2020
Mindful of the fact that students from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and some other countries end their academic year in November/December, tutorial colleges run a special 1½-year or 5-term A-level course for students from these countries. Students from other countries such as HK and PRC can and do join this course. he course starts in January and students join these colleges immediately after their O-level or SPM exams and December holidays. They skip 1 term and cover as much as possible of Year 1 or AS-level work in 2 terms, instead of 3 terms. Since the AS (Year 1) exams are not counted, although they are important for all girls and boys in countries which do not require national service, as the marks will be used to predict their likely full A-level performance. Students opting for this 5-term course must be academically strong and will have to work harder. Student are able to do well in this course because of the following reasons: -
a. UK students study fewer subjects than Singapore JC students; usually 3 or 4 subjects only and without General Paper, second language, and H3 papers, as shown below:
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Singapore
General Paper
2nd language
1st A-level subject
2nd A-level subject
3rd A-level subject
H3 papers
Project Work
Compulsory CCAs (commendable but take up a lot of time especially if the JC is keen to win national awards)
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UK
General paper not required
2nd language not required
1st A-level subject
2nd A-level subject
3rd A-level subject
4th A-level subject not required but recommended for medicine/dentistry/vet science and top universities
H3 papers not required
Project work not required
CCAs not compulsory
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b. Students get extra lessons or make-up classes.
c. Class size is small, averaging 9-12 per class, usually around 10, and thus students get personal attention from teachers.
d. Students are given excellent notes written by their tutors and are encouraged to study them before attending class which are used mainly to help students understand concepts and to apply them correctly.
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Incidentally, note that almost all UK universities, including even Oxford and Cambridge, normally require only 3 A-Levels for admission.
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How the special 5-term A-levels in UK compares with A-levels in SG and the STPM in MY in terms of duration
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If a student is in Sec 3 in 2020 and does JC in SG
Jan-Dec 2021 - Sec 4
Jan-Dec 2022 - JC, Year 1
Jan-Dec 2023 - JC, Year 2
Jan-Sep 2024 - Wait
Sep 2024 - Enter university
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If a student is in Sec 3 in 2020 and does A-levels in UK
Jan-Dec 2021 - Sec 4 (still in SG)
Jan-Jun 2022 - UK A-levels, Year 1
Sep 2022-Jun 2023 - UK A-levels, Year 2
Aug 2023 - Results out
Sep 2023 - Enter university one year earlier than peers in SG
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If a student is in Sec 4 in 2020 and does JC in SG
Jan-Dec 2021 - JC, Year 1
Jan-Dec 2022 - JC, Year 2
Jan-Sep 2023 - Wait
Sep 2023 - Enter university
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If a student is in Sec 4 in 2020 and does A-levels in UK
Jan-Jun 2021 - UK A-levels, Year 1
Sep 2021-Jun 2022 - UK A-levels, Year 2
Aug 2022 - Results out
Sep 2022 - Enter university one year earlier than peers in SG
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Note that in both cases, a Singapore student, who is a girl with no national service obligation, begins her university studies immediately after finishing her A-levels, thus starting one year earlier than her cohorts who do their A-levels in Singapore.
This saving of one year and starting university studies one year earlier applies to Singapore boys too, despite having to do their national service, provided they get into NS between end of June and mid September after their return from the UK. If your child is a boy, may I suggest you take a piece of paper and pen in and work this out yourself.