Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level

All Special and Express stream students are required to take a minimum of six subjects, but are allowed to take up to a maximum of nine. Students who wish to take ten subjects must obtain permission from the Ministry of Education. All Special and Express students must take the following subjects:[6]

• English Language (includes listening comprehension and an oral examination)
• Mathematics
• Mother Tongue (includes listening comprehension and an oral examination)

(Second Language or Literature may be taken by foreign students in lieu of Mother Tongue such as Japanese, Indonesian and Arabic)

• Combined Humanities (Compulsory Social Studies with either Elective Geography, History or Literature in English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil).
• Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology)
  • Pure Science (includes the School-Based Science Practical Assessment (SPA) for school candidates); and/or
  • Combined Science (combinations of any two science subjects listed above, considered as one subject)

• Additional Mathematics
• Principles of Accounts (POA)
• Applied Subjects (Electronics, Computing, Drama and Exercise and Sports Science)
• Food and Nutrition/Food and Consumer Education (FCE)
• Art
• Music
• Applied Subjects (Biotechnology, Design Studies, Media Studies, Computer Science) (only for selected schools authorised to offer the subjects)
• Pure Humanities (Geography, History, Literature in English/Chinese/Malay/Tamil)
• Religious Knowledge (Bible Knowledge, Islamic Law)
• Foreign Languages (3rd Languages: Malay (Special Programme), Chinese (Special Programme), French, German, Japanese, Arabic, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian)
• Economics (only for selected schools authorised to offer the subject)

Students in the Normal (Academic) stream take four to seven subjects including:

• English Language (includes listening comprehension and an oral examination)
• Mathematics (Elementary Mathematics)
• Mother Tongue (includes listening comprehension and an oral examination)

(Second Language or Literature may be taken by foreign students in lieu of Mother Tongue such as Japanese, Indonesian and Arabic)

• Combined Humanities (Compulsory Social Studies with either Elective Geography, History or Literature in English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil).
• Combined Science (combinations of any two science subjects (Biology, Chemistry & Physics), considered as one subject)

• Additional Mathematics
• Principles of Accounts
• Design and Technology
• Food and Nutrition
• Art
• Music
• Foreign Languages (3rd Languages Malay, French, German, Japanese, Arabic, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian)

The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) is the examining authority for Mother Tongue subjects. The Mother Tongue paper is different from the other papers, in that it includes a "Mid-Year Examination" for written papers (i.e. Papers 1 and 2), taken on the first Monday of the June school holidays. The Oral and Listening Comprehension papers are usually taken in July, and the results for Mother Tongue are subsequently released in August. However, the candidate may opt to re-take the paper in October/November along with the other papers that the candidate has registered for, though an additional fee is payable. The November re-assessment only covers the written examinations; no re-assessment is available for the Oral and Listening Comprehension component of the examination.

The best result of the two assessments is reflected in the result slip which will be released in January the following year. In addition to the grade, it will also show the candidate's performance in the Oral/Aural Examination as Distinction (highest), Merit, Pass or Ungraded.

With effect from 2007, the use of approved electronic handheld dictionaries in O-level Chinese language composition examinations (Paper 1) has been allowed.[8]

Social Studies, the compulsory subject of the two components in Combined Humanities, is used as an implicit study of National Education. The last Social Studies syllabus for GCE N and O Level was revised in 2016. There are two sections in the national examination namely, Source-based Case Study (SBCS) and Structured Response Questions (SRQ). For the SBCS section, students are required to examine and evaluate sources pertaining to three Social Studies Issues (1) Governance and Citizenship (2) Living a Diverse Society (3) Being Part of a Globalised World. For the SRQ section, students are also required to offer suggestions to address societal concerns arising from the three issues. Apart from the government schools, specialised private institutions offers Social Studies lessons to help students develop knowledge and skills required to master the subject.

Pure Science subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) include the School-based Science Practical Assessment (SPA) for school candidates. It assesses candidates' competence in science practical skills over an appropriate period of time that the candidates is offering the subject, and forms 20% of the overall mark for the subject. While the questions are set by the Ministry of Education, the assessment is scheduled, carried out and marked by the school before submitting the scripts to the MOE. The scores for the assessment are kept confidential and are never disclosed to the candidates. The assessment is grouped into three skill sets:

Skill set 1 – Performing and Observing
Skill set 2 – Analysing
Skill set 3 – Planning

Each candidate is to be assessed only twice for each of skill sets 1 and 2 and only once for skill set 3.[9]

In 2018, the revision of the O Level Science Syllabus will see the SPA Component being phased out and replaced by the previous one-time Practical Examinations again.