How Sec 1 Posting Works: PSLE AL Score, Posting Groups, and How Your 6 School Choices Are Used

Short answer

MOE posts students by PSLE score first. Your six school choices, in the order you list them, come in when students on the same score compete for the last places in a school. That makes choice order a tie-breaker, not a shortcut, and the score still decides most outcomes.

Results are tentatively out on Tuesday 24 or Wednesday 25 November at 11am, so this is worth understanding before results day. For every date in one place, see our P6 to Sec 1 timeline.

Step 1: your PSLE score

Your child's PSLE score is the sum of their four Achievement Levels (AL), one each for English, Math, Science and Mother Tongue. Each AL runs from 1 (best) to 8, so a lower score is better and the range is 4 to 32. If you want the AL bands in detail, read our PSLE AL scoring guide.

Step 2: your Posting Group

Your child's score places them in Posting Group 1, 2 or 3. This replaces the old Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) courses under Full Subject-Based Banding, and it guides the subject levels your child starts Sec 1 with. Here is MOE's mapping.

PSLE score	Posting Group	Most subjects at Sec 1
4 to 20	3	G3
21 to 22	2 or 3	G2 or G3
23 to 24	2	G2
25	1 or 2	G1 or G2
26 to 30*	1	G1

*With AL7 or better in English Language and Mathematics. Students in Posting Groups 1 and 2 can take some subjects at a more demanding level if they did well in them at PSLE. We explain how this works in our subject-based banding guide.

Source: MOE, What are Posting Groups (updated 1 Oct 2026)

Step 3: how your six choices are used

You list six secondary schools in order of preference. MOE then posts students by PSLE score, using choice order and each school's vacancies to place them. Each school fills its places by Posting Group, so your child is competing with students in the same group.

What a cut-off point (COP) is: the PSLE score of the last student posted to a school in each Posting Group. MOE publishes the previous year's score ranges on SchoolFinder.

• Use them as a reference only. They reflect last year's cohort and last year's school choices.

• Expect movement. MOE says a shift of 1 point is typical, and 2 or 3 points is possible.

• Meeting a COP is not a guarantee. Tie-breakers may still apply.

Source: MOE, Understand the PSLE score ranges; MOE, How posting works

Step 4: the tie-breakers

When students with the same score compete for the last place in a school, MOE applies these tie-breakers in order.

Order	Tie-breaker
1st	Citizenship (Singapore Citizens, then Permanent Residents, then international students)
2nd	Choice order of the school
3rd	Computerised balloting

Source: MOE, Changes to S1 posting; MOE, How posting works

Why choice order matters

Choice order only comes in when students share the same score and citizenship. In that case, the student who ranked the school higher gets priority before balloting. So rank your schools in the order your child really wants them, not in the order you think is safest.

If you want a school your child is affiliated with, MOE says to list it as your first choice. Students who cannot be placed in any of their six schools are posted to a school with vacancies, based on their registered address.

Not sure how to build the six? Start with our 8 questions every parent should ask when choosing a secondary school and our open house guide.

What about DSA-Sec

Students who took part in Direct School Admission (DSA-Sec) get their school allocation result together with their PSLE results. Students who did not take part in DSA-Sec, or whose DSA-Sec application was unsuccessful, go through S1 posting and submit school choices as above.

Source: MOE, National examinations dates; MOE, Secondary 1 posting (updated 14 Oct 2026)

Your first hour on results day

Results come out at 11am (tentative). The S1 Portal opens at 11.30am and stays open 24 hours a day for seven calendar days, so you do not need to submit in the first hour.

1. Read the score properly: check the four ALs and the total before anything else.

2. Find the Posting Group: use the table above to see which group your child falls in.

3. Compare with SchoolFinder: look at last year's score ranges for your shortlist, keeping in mind the 1 to 3 point movement.

4. Agree the order with your child: write the six schools down in order before opening the portal.

5. Submit before the window closes: it closes at 4.30pm on the last day. MOE tentatively releases the posting results on Friday 18 December.

Source: MOE, Secondary 1 posting (updated 14 Oct 2026)

Sources

• MOE, What are Posting Groups (updated 1 Oct 2026)

• MOE, Understand the PSLE score ranges

• MOE, Changes to S1 posting

• MOE, How posting works

• MOE, Secondary 1 posting (updated 14 Oct 2026)

• MOE, National examinations dates

Last verified: 2 November 2026. Written by Overmugged.

Free webinar for P6 parents

P6 to Sec 1 Parents' Webinar, Wed 25 Nov, 8pm (Zoom). We walk through results day, how your six choices work and what Sec 1 is really like. Free to attend.