Five non-scientific trend we observed from the top secondary school ranking in Singapore based on PSLE cut-off scores

The unofficial ranking list of the top secondary school in Singapore based on PSLE cut-off scores is available online and we showed it to some parents to get their feedback. Here are five non-scientific, casual observations which they came up with.

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Girls are smarter than boys in Singapore (at least at PSLE level)

The top three secondary schools in Singapore based on PSLE cut-off scores are all all-girls school – namely, Nanyang Girls’ High School IP SAP, Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) IB and Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) IP.

Scientifically though, this is probably due to the fact that girls generally reach puberty earlier than boys and are more mature in their thinking at the same age.

All-girls school dominate the top positions

Out of the top ten schools, five are all-girls, three are all-boys and two are co-eds. As you go down the list, it is still noticeable that all-girls schools tend to rank pretty well overall versus all-boys and co-eds.

For instance, even if you remove al the special program schools (IP, IB and SAP) and strip down the list to just O-levels schools, all-girls schools still dominate the top of the list.

All-boys or all-girls schools generally rank better than co-ed schools

Perhaps there’s some truth about not letting kids getting to know about the birds and the bees too early – it is very noticeable from the list that the all-girls and all-boys schools tend to clutter within the top 50 ranking, with the exception of a few outliers like Montfort Secondary languishing at 98.

Some O-levels schools are even harder to get in than the special programs IB or IP schools

Some parents obviously do not see it as a must for their kids to enter into the special 6-years program schools offering IP or IB fast-track to skip the O-levels, even if they had the grades to get in. There are pockets of O-levels schools that ranked better than IB and IP schools.

These include Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) O-levels, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School O-levels SAP, Catholic High School O-levels SAP, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary), Singapore Chinese Girls’ School O-levels, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) O-levels and Cedar Girls’ Secondary School O-levels, which all rank above the lowest rank special program school, Temasek Junior College IP at number 23 on the list.

Name of school seems indicative of ranking

Generally speaking, schools with heartlanderish names that are synonymous with HDB estates, particularly those in the suburban areas tend to rank lower on the list. Note that this is just a casual observation and is not scientific.

There are exceptions of course, with Anderson Secondary School and Bukit Panjang Govt. High School ranked a very respectable 25th and 26th on the list.

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Do you have other observations of your own to add about the ranking list? Please share them with us in the comments below.

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