The Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level grades H1 and H2 subjects A, B, C, D and E (passes), then S (sub-pass) and U (ungraded). Each grade converts to rank points (an H2 A is worth 20, an H1 A is worth 10), and from university admission in 2026 the University Admission Score (UAS) is out of 70: your three H2 subjects (60) plus General Paper (10). A fourth content subject and H1 Mother Tongue are added only if they raise the score, and the total is then scaled back to 70.
At a glance
- Grades: A to E are passes. S (sub-pass) and U (ungraded) are not passes. This applies to both H1 and H2 subjects.
- Rank points: H2 A 20, B 17.5, C 15, D 12.5, E 10, S 5, U 0. H1 subjects are worth exactly half.
- UAS out of 70: three H2 subjects plus General Paper. Project Work is Pass/Fail and not counted, but a Pass is required for university.
- Fourth subject and H1 Mother Tongue: counted only if they improve the score. Adding one makes the total out of 80, adding both makes it out of 90, and either is scaled back to 70.
- Mark ranges: SEAB does not publish fixed mark cut-offs for A-Level grades.
- Next results: the 2026 A-Level results are due between 19 and 23 February 2027 (tentative, per MOE).
Reviewed by Theon Teo, Founder of The Singapore Syllabus · last reviewed 3 October 2026. Editorial process documented at /editorial-policy.
For one-to-one help, see our H2 Math tuition and JC tuition, and estimate your score with the A-Level rank points calculator.
The A-Level grading system
SEAB's official explanatory notes for the A-Level list A, B, C, D and E as the pass grades for H1 and H2 subjects, with A the highest and E the lowest. A candidate can also be awarded S (sub-pass) or U (ungraded), and SEAB states that both mean the candidate did not obtain a pass in that subject. H3 subjects use a different scale: Distinction, Merit and Pass.
Each grade converts to rank points, and an H1 subject is worth half an H2 subject:
| Grade | What it means | H2 rank points | H1 rank points |
|---|
| A | Pass (highest) | 20 | 10 |
| B | Pass | 17.5 | 8.75 |
| C | Pass | 15 | 7.5 |
| D | Pass | 12.5 | 6.25 |
| E | Pass (lowest) | 10 | 5 |
| S | Sub-pass, not a pass | 5 | 2.5 |
| U | Ungraded, not a pass | 0 | 0 |
What does an S grade mean?
An S grade is a sub-pass: the result sits below E, so it does not count as a pass in that subject, but it is better than ungraded. SEAB awards S in both H1 and H2 subjects. It still earns a few rank points (5 for an H2 subject, 2.5 for an H1 subject), so it is not worth zero in the score. One practical point: NUS accepts at least an S grade in H1 Mother Tongue as meeting its Mother Tongue requirement for admission.
What marks do you need for an A?
SEAB does not publish fixed mark cut-offs for A-Level grades. Its official explanatory notes and certificate pages list the grades and what they mean, but not the marks behind them. Mark ranges you may see online, such as "70 and above for an A", do not appear on SEAB or MOE pages, so treat them as rough rules of thumb, not official thresholds. If you want to check this yourself, the SEAB A-Level explanatory notes are the official description of the grades.
How the University Admission Score works
Admission to the local universities, NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, SUSS and SIT, is built on the University Admission Score (UAS). MOE's rules from university admission in 2026 (that is, for students who sat the A-Level in 2025 or later):
| What counts | Maximum points |
|---|
| Three H2 content subjects (20 each) | 60 |
| H1 General Paper | 10 |
| UAS maximum | 70 |
| Fourth content subject (H1 or H2) | Added only if it improves the UAS |
| H1 Mother Tongue | Added only if it improves the UAS |
| Project Work | Pass/Fail, not counted, but a Pass is required |
A few details parents often miss:
- Four H2 subjects. MOE treats the lowest-scoring H2 subject as the fourth content subject, so it is the subject that is added only if it helps.
- H2 Knowledge and Inquiry (KI). From AY2026, NUS no longer accepts H2 KI in place of General Paper. If taken, it counts as an H2 content subject.
- Project Work. From AY2026, applicants presenting local A-Level results need a Pass in Project Work to be eligible for university. NUS states that private candidates and students exempted from Project Work are not subject to this requirement.
- H3 subjects are not part of the 70-point score. NTU, for example, states it does not consider H3 programmes in the UAS.
Our guide to the new 70-point UAS goes deeper into how the change came about.
The rebasing rule, with a worked example
When a fourth subject or H1 Mother Tongue is added, the raw total grows beyond 70, so it is scaled back:
- One extra subject added: raw total out of 80, then multiplied by 70/80.
- Both added: raw total out of 90, then multiplied by 70/90.
Each is used only if it gives a higher score than the 70-point base.
Worked example. A student scores A, A, B in H2, B in General Paper, A in the H1 contrasting subject and C in H1 Mother Tongue.
| Option | Calculation | UAS |
|---|
| Base (3 H2 + GP) | 20 + 20 + 17.5 + 8.75 | 66.25 |
| Add H1 subject (A) | (66.25 + 10) x 70/80 | 66.72 |
| Add H1 Mother Tongue (C) | (66.25 + 7.5) x 70/80 | 64.53 |
| Add both | (66.25 + 10 + 7.5) x 70/90 | 65.14 |
The best result is 66.72, so the H1 A is counted and the Mother Tongue C is left out. The C did not hurt this student, because it is simply not used.
A quick rule of thumb. An extra H1-level subject helps only when its points out of 10 are higher, as a percentage, than your base score out of 70. A student on 66.25 out of 70 (about 95%) needs more than 9.46 out of 10, so only an A helps. A student on 61.25 out of 70 (87.5%, for example BBB with a B in GP) needs more than 8.75, so a B adds nothing and only an A raises the score.
Older A-Level results (2024 and earlier)
Students who sat the A-Level in 2024 or earlier and apply for university in AY2026 or AY2027 have Project Work and their H1 subject included, with the score worked out on the old 90-point scale and then proportionately weighted to 70. NUS states that from AY2028, every applicant's score is computed on the 70-point scale and Project Work grades are no longer counted.
H1, H2 and H3, the depth tiers
A-Level subjects are taken at one of three depth levels, and this is the part worth getting straight:
| Tier | What it is |
|---|
| H1 | Same A-Level standard as H2, but half the curriculum time |
| H2 | The full subject; the main currency of the A-Level |
| H3 | An advanced extension, taken on top of an H2 subject by stronger students |
SEAB states that H1 and H2 subjects both meet the rigour of the A-Level, and H2 subjects have greater scope and need twice the curriculum time. A typical JC student takes three H2 subjects, one contrasting H1 subject, H1 General Paper, and Project Work. Students must offer four content subjects, at least three of them at H2, with at least one contrasting subject from outside their main area. The contrasting subject means a science student takes something from the arts, or the reverse, to keep a broad base. Common H2 groupings include PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) and BCM (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics) for the sciences, and combinations of Economics, History, Literature and Geography for the arts. The revised H2 sciences examined from 2026 carry new syllabus codes: Chemistry 9476, Physics 9478 and Biology 9477. Our glossary has the full definitions.
What is a good University Admission Score?
It depends on the course. Competitive courses such as Medicine, Law and the popular Computing and Business programmes expect scores very close to the maximum, which is why H2 grades carry so much weight. The universities publish an Indicative Grade Profile (IGP) for each course, and NUS and NTU now point applicants to the three H2 grades in the IGP as the guide to how competitive a course is.
General Paper is easy to underrate. It is an H1 subject that feeds the admission score like any other, and a weak GP grade can quietly cost a place. NUS Law, for example, asks for at least a B in General Paper. GP rewards reading widely and writing clearly, and it is worth genuine attention rather than being treated as the subject that looks after itself.
For context, MOE reported that 10,977 candidates sat the 2025 A-Level, the first cohort under the 70-point score, and 10,393 (94.7%) achieved at least three H2 passes with a pass in General Paper.
Choosing a subject combination
The H2 combination chosen at the start of JC1 shapes which degrees are open later. Medicine and the life sciences lean on Chemistry and a second science; engineering leans on Physics and Mathematics; the social sciences and law are more flexible but reward strong Economics and a humanities subject. A student genuinely unsure of direction is usually safer keeping Mathematics in the combination, because it keeps the widest set of quantitative degrees open. Because the fourth content subject now counts only if it helps, students can pick it more by interest. The choice is not irreversible, but changing it after JC1 is disruptive, so it is worth thinking through early.
The JC1-JC2 timeline
- JC1 introduces the foundational content. The jump from O-Level depth to H2 depth is significant and catches many students off guard in the first few months.
- The December break between JC1 and JC2 is genuinely useful. Students who preview JC2 content over that holiday start the harder year prepared rather than overwhelmed.
- JC2 layers on the most demanding content and runs toward the prelims. Mid-year examinations were removed for JC students starting with the cohort that entered JC in 2024. The JC1-to-JC2 step is one of the steepest in the whole Singapore system.
- Results: the 2026 A-Level results are due between Friday 19 February and Tuesday 23 February 2027 (tentative, per MOE).
Where students take the A-Level
- Junior colleges run a two-year course from JC1 to JC2, and are where most students sit the A-Level.
- Millennia Institute runs a three-year course leading to the same examination.
- Integrated Programme schools take students from Sec 1 through to the A-Level in six years, without sitting the O-Level.
- Private candidates can register with SEAB to sit the examination outside a school.
After the O-Level, places in junior colleges and Millennia Institute are allocated through the Joint Admissions Exercise using the O-Level L1R5 aggregate. From 2028, SEC students apply through the Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise (PSE) instead, and JC admission uses L1R4.
How to study for the A-Levels
- Start from the syllabus, not the textbook. Each subject's SEAB syllabus lists exactly what can be examined, so revise against it topic by topic.
- Protect the three H2 subjects. They carry 60 of the 70 rank points, so a weak H2 grade is the most expensive gap.
- Practise under exam conditions from JC1. Timed past papers and school prelim papers build the speed the real papers demand.
- Read for General Paper all year. GP rewards wide reading and clear argument, which cannot be crammed in JC2.
- Keep a mistakes log. Record every lost mark by type, and revisit the log before each common test and the prelims.
- Use the December holiday. Previewing JC2 content between JC1 and JC2 means the harder year starts prepared.
From our coaching desk. Dion writes from ten years tutoring Singapore students as an MOE-registered Chemistry & Science tutor with The Singapore Syllabus. We update this guide whenever SEAB or MOE changes the rules, and the official sources we cite are at the foot of the page.
How we check this guide
Every rule in this guide is checked against SEAB, MOE or university admissions pages. If an official source disagrees with our text, the official source wins and we update the article.
What we see in lessons. In our experience, students improve most when each week's revision is checked against the SEAB syllabus and past-paper marking, not when they simply add more hours.
Tuition by JC subject: H2 Math, H2 Chemistry, H2 Physics, H2 Biology and H2 Economics.
More JC help: General Paper tuition, and the JC and A-Level tuition overview for every H1 and H2 subject.
Common questions
What is the maximum University Admission Score?
70 rank points, from university admission in 2026: three H2 subjects at up to 20 each and General Paper at up to 10. Before this, the maximum was 90 because Project Work and the H1 content subject were always counted.
What marks do you need for an A at A-Level?
SEAB does not publish fixed mark cut-offs for A-Level grades. Mark ranges quoted online are not official.
Is an S grade a pass?
No. SEAB states that S (sub-pass) and U (ungraded) both mean the candidate did not pass that subject. An S still earns 5 rank points at H2 and 2.5 at H1.
Does H1 Mother Tongue count in the UAS?
Only if it raises the score. When it is added, the total is scaled back to 70, so a Mother Tongue grade below your current average is simply left out.
What is a good University Admission Score?
The most competitive courses effectively require near-perfect scores out of 70; many strong courses are open with a few points dropped. Check the Indicative Grade Profile for the course your child is aiming at.
How is the A-Level different from the IB?
The A-Level is subject-depth focused, a small number of subjects studied deeply at H2. The International Baccalaureate Diploma spreads across six subjects plus core components. Both are respected; the choice usually follows the school a student attends.
Can a student recover from a weak JC1?
Often, yes. JC1 is foundational, and a focused JC2 with proper past-paper volume can move grades. What does not work is treating JC1 results as final and coasting.
What is H3, and does my child need it?
H3 subjects are advanced extensions taken on top of an H2 subject, graded Distinction, Merit or Pass. They are optional and do not count in the 70-point score; most students do well without one.
Does Project Work matter for university admission?
Project Work is graded Pass/Fail and no longer adds points to the University Admission Score, but students presenting local A-Level results need a Pass to be eligible for university.
Our H2 tuition programmes, including H2 Math and H2 Chemistry, are built around the JC1-JC2 arc, and you can request a tutor first. The A-Level rewards students who respect the JC1-to-JC2 jump and prepare for it deliberately, rather than meeting it by surprise.
Singapore exam terms used in this guide
- GCE, General Certificate of Education, the Singapore-Cambridge examination series (O-Level, A-Level).
- SEAB, Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, the national body that runs the GCE examinations and the PSLE. SEAB, MOE and Cambridge International Education are the joint examining authorities for the A-Level.
- MOE, Ministry of Education, Singapore.
- JC, Junior College, the two-year post-secondary track leading to the A-Level.
- JAE, Joint Admissions Exercise, the centralised post-O-Level admission to JC, MI and polytechnic. From 2028, SEC students apply through the Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise (PSE) instead.
- UAS, University Admission Score, the rank-point score out of 70 used by the local universities.
- Rebasing, scaling a total out of 80 or 90 back to 70 when a fourth subject or H1 Mother Tongue is added.
- H1, An A-Level subject with half the curriculum time of an H2.
- H2, The standard A-Level subject depth, three or four of which form a JC student's main academic load.
- H3, An advanced extension built on an H2 subject, usually taken in JC2.
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Official sources
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