Posted on October 1, 2008
Under english, humantities
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Admission Criteria to Junior Colleges
L1R5: For JC Courses
| L1 |
R5 |
| First Language – English/ Higher Mother Tongue |
Relevant Subject 1 – Humanities/ Higher Art/ Higher Music
Relevant Subject 2 – Mathematics/ Science
Relevant Subject 3 – Humanities/ Higher Art/ Higher Music/ Mathematics/ Science
Relevant Subject 4 – Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects (except Religious Knowledge and CCA)
Relevant Subject 5 – Any GCE ‘O’ Level subjects (except Religious Knowledge and CCA) |
Source: Joint Admissions Exercise 2008 Booklet
An L1R5 aggregate score of not more than 20 points must be obtained in order to qualify for admission to Junior Colleges.
From the table above, we can see that there are certain subjects that are compulsory when computing the aggregate score.
L1 stands for the first Language, and this can be either English or Higher Mother Tongue. For students who do not take Higher Mother Tongue, English will be an important subject as it will definitely be considered.
R5 stands for the other five Relevant subjects. There are 3 critical relevant subjects as these subjects are required to be considered for the computation of the aggregate score.
The first relevant subject is Humanities, Higher Art or Higher Music. For students who do not take Higher Art or Higher Music, Humanities will be the subject to be considered. Most students take a combined Humanities subject and a pure Humanities subject. Thus, students must definitely do well in one of the Humanities subjects.
The second relevant subject is Mathematics or Science. Here Mathematics could either be Elementary or Additional Mathematics. Since Mathematics is a subject that is a prerequisite to almost all the courses in tertiary education, this is a subject that students must definitely do well in.
The third relevant subject is Humanities, Higher Art, Higher Music, Mathematics or Science. For students who take two humanities subjects, they can take the second humanities subject after the first humanities subject is considered for the first relevant subject. For students who take Additional Mathematics, this can also be considered. Alternatively, students can take a Science subject, Higher Art or Higher Music.
The remaining two relevant subjects can be the next two best subjects after considering the first three relevant subjects.
Thus, both English and a Humanities subject are required for the computation of the L1R5 aggregate score for admission to Junior College.
Gone are the days when Humanities are subjects where students only need to memorize the facts and reproduce them during their examinations. With the MOE’s move towards a thinking Nation, new elements such as source based questions and questions that require inferential skills are introduced for the O levels in 2008. Many students especially those weak in their English Language will attest to the fact that they are struggling with the new Syllabus.
Flo Tuition aims to bridge this gap by inculcating skills in students that will allow them to deal with such questions in a simplified and systematic manner. English and Humanities are subjects that are complementary towards one another, as a good command of English will definitely aid students in tackling questions in Humanities.
