O-level results will be out on Monday

THE results of last year's O-level examinations will be released next Monday.

Students will be able to collect their results from their secondary schools at 2pm, while private candidates will be informed of their results by post.

Results can also be accessed through the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board website at www.seab.gov.sg from 2pm on Monday.

Students can apply for places in junior colleges, Millennia Institute - which offers a three-year A- level programme - polytechnics, as well as the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), via both the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) and the Joint Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise (JPSAE) using their GCE O-level results.

Students can take part in both the admission exercises. If they are offered courses under both, they can decide which to accept during the enrolment period set by the polytechnics.

For more details on the JAE, refer to www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/jae; or MOE Customer Service Centre at 6872-2220 during office hours.

More details on the JPSAE can be found at www.polytechnic.edu.sg/jpsae or the respective polytechnics' websites.

School posting results will be available around Jan 30.

The results are out earlier than usual this year because of a change in the junior college calendar. From this year, JCs will have only one intake of students, beginning on Feb 2.

The previous structure of two intakes - the first in January based on the results of the Secondary 4 preliminary exams, and the second in March based on the actual O-level results - caused problems for teachers and administrators.

'Churning', where students leave a JC after the first three months - either because they did better in the O levels and wanted to move to a better school or because they did not perform as well and had to leave - raised several problems.

Besides giving rise to administrative and scheduling headaches, 'churning' also resulted in classes being re-taught for the benefit of incoming students.