Counting whole-number percentage scores across four Standard-level subjects, a set of results with a PSLE Score of 20 can sum to 296 percentage points, while one scoring 10 can sum to as little as 290, on our arithmetic. The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) does not add percentages. Under the rules of Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE), each subject's percentage falls in one of eight Achievement Levels (ALs) and the four ALs are added, so MOE's scoring page gives a range "from 4 to 32", with 4 the best, and counts 29 possible scores. In our enumeration of Standard-level subjects, 344 of 4,096 subject profiles add up to 18, against one each for 4 and 32. Ties for a school's last places in Secondary 1 (S1) posting are in most cases broken by citizenship, then choice order, then a computerised ballot.
Narrow bands bunch the upper Achievement Levels together
MOE bands each subject by "Percentage Score Range (%)", a system introduced in 2021 to replace the T-score. The widths are ours.
| Level | Percentage score (MOE) | Width in points (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| AL1 | 90 and above | 10 |
| AL2 | 85–89 | 5 |
| AL3 | 80–84 | 5 |
| AL4 | 75–79 | 5 |
| AL5 | 65–74 | 10 |
| AL6 | 45–64 | 20 |
| AL7 | 20–44 | 25 |
| AL8 | below 20 | 20 |
MOE's reason: "As we expect slightly less than half of the PSLE cohort to score AL 1-4 for Standard subjects, the upper AL bands have comparatively narrower ranges." Yet AL1 and AL5 are both ten points wide, and the widest band is AL7, second from the bottom.
Subject profiles pile up in the middle of the scale
Eight levels in four subjects give 4,096 ordered profiles, which land on exactly MOE's 29 scores, symmetrically about 18, and on our count every score from 13 to 23 is reached by at least 200 of them. MOE's posting FAQs note "only 29 possible PSLE Scores compared to more than 200 aggregates under the previous T-score system."
Our figures count combinations of grades. We found no MOE figure for how many children receive each score. The 344 also assumes all four subjects at Standard level. With Foundation grades A, B and C counted separately there are 14,641 profiles; 1,002 add up to 18, and the most crowded score moves to 22, at 1,224.
Percentage totals scatter over a 126-point range behind a single score
Behind a score of 18, four whole-number percentages can sum to anything from 180 to 306, on our arithmetic. So two sets of results can point opposite ways. With no AL8 anywhere, AL1 in three subjects and AL7 in the fourth scores 10 on at least 290. AL5 in all four scores 20 on up to 296.
Allow an AL8 and the gap widens to eleven points: AL1, AL1, AL1 and AL8 score 11 on as little as 270, while AL5, AL5, AL6 and AL6 score 22 on up to 276. These bounds need very uneven results, and they follow from the band design MOE describes.
Foundation grades collect at the bottom of the Standard scale
"For the purpose of S1 posting, Foundation level AL A to AL C will be mapped to AL 6 to AL 8 of Standard level subjects respectively", MOE says, with A covering 75 to 100, B 30 to 74 and C below 30. English can be Foundation too: MOE's page on subject-based banding in primary school lists "4 foundation subjects" among the options, which puts an all-Foundation score between 24 and 32, by our arithmetic. Students exempted from MTL (Mother Tongue Language) "will receive an assigned MTL score between AL 6 to 8".
Until 14 October 2026 our PSLE AL score calculator offered no Foundation option for English, so no profile with Foundation English could be entered. The revision made that day accepts Foundation grades in all four subjects and quotes MOE for students outside every Posting Group, where the page had described an "MOE assessment". The arithmetic was sound: across all 14,641 grade combinations, including 3,993 with Foundation English, the scoring matched MOE's table in total and Posting Group.
Posting Groups gather the same score ranges the streams used
MOE's Posting Groups page puts scores of 4 to 20 in Group 3 and 23 to 24 in Group 2. Scores of 21 and 22 can take Group 2 or 3, and 25 can take Group 1 or 2. A score of 26 to 30 is in Group 1 with "AL7 or better in English Language and Mathematics".
The groups arrived with Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB), which removed the Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express streams from the 2024 S1 cohort. In the words of MOE's Full SBB page, the ranges "will be mapped from the previous N(T), N(A) and Express streams respectively". MOE's Full SBB FAQ adds that the new Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) "will apply from the 2024 Secondary One cohort onwards."
Against Group 1's condition, of the 84 Standard-level profiles scoring 26, 49 have AL8 in English or Mathematics; at 30 it is 9 of 10, on our count. MOE sets no such condition at 25 or below, and does not say how a Foundation grade in either subject is read against it. Students outside every group, its PSLE FAQs say, "would be offered the option to repeat the PSLE, or progress to NorthLight School or Assumption Pathway School with their principal's endorsement."
Ties for a school's last place break up by citizenship first
On MOE's page on how posting works, better scores come first. When students on the same score "vie for the last available vacancies in a school", the tie-breakers run in order: citizenship status (Singapore Citizen, Permanent Resident, International Student), choice order of schools, and computerised balloting, which happens only when all three match.
Choice order is the newest. MOE's 2021 posting changes introduced it; under the T-score, a ballot settled the last place. At Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools, Higher Chinese Language (HCL) with a score of 14 or better earns an advantage that "applies before the tie-breakers". Affiliation priority has a limit: "At least 20% of vacancies in each posting group of each school will be allocated to students who do not benefit from affiliation priority."
MOE's two ballot figures measure different things. Its PSLE FAQs cite a projection: "based on MOE's simulations, about 9 in 10 students will not need to undergo balloting." Separately, for the 2022 Secondary 1 posting, its posting FAQs report that "Students who required tie-breaking were mostly tie-broken by citizenship and school choice order, and the proportion of students who underwent computerised balloting was around 1 in 10."
A cut-off point boils down to the last student a school admitted
MOE lists the 2026 PSLE results for 24 or 25 November 2026 and posting results for 18 December 2026, both tentative. Its score ranges page says "Fluctuations of +/- 1 are typical but +/- 2 or 3 could be possible", and its posting page that "Meeting a school's COP does not guarantee admission, as tie-breakers may apply." A cut-off point, or COP, records one past exercise: "For each school, the COPs are determined by the PSLE score of the last student posted to that school in each Posting Group."
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