SINGAPORE - In Singapore's best showing in at least 20 years, 83.3 per cent of students who took the O-level examinations last year scored five passes or more.
Last year, 82.7 per cent of the cohort that sat the examinations in 2013 had at least five passes, matching the record set by the batch who took the 2004 exams.
In the years in between, the figure had stayed below 82 per cent, with 81.3 per cent being the previous mark set in the 2012 exam.
Prior to 2004, the figure for the proportion of students with at least five O-level passes hovered between 70 and 81 per cent.
The Education Ministry said on Monday that 95.9 per cent of the 30,964 students in the Class of 2014 scored at least three passes, while 99.9 per cent passed at least one subject. These results were similar to the previous batch's 95.7 per cent and 99.9 per cent respectively.
The performance of Normal (Academic) students and private candidates, however, slipped.
Of the 3,949 Normal (Academic) students who took their O-level papers last year, 87.9 per cent passed at least one subject, the Education Ministry said. This figure is lower than that of the previous batch's 90.3 per cent.
Of the 2,133 private candidates who also took the exam, 89.5 per cent got at least one pass. This was also slightly worse than the previous batch's 90.3 per cent.
Students went back to their secondary schools at 2pm on Monday to collect their results slips.
They can visit ecareers.sg - an education and career guidance portal hosted by MOE that provides information on the options available to them.
