Failed Singapore A-Levels? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: Withdrawal requests go through the Candidates Portal. For the 2026 cycle the withdrawal deadline was 1 September 2026 at 11 pm, after which an unattended paper is graded Absent. A 50 percent refund of subject fees was available for requests submitted by 18 June 2026 at 11 pm where no component of that subject had been sat, and a 100 percent refund where the candidate had been admitted to a tertiary institution and supplied supporting documents by the same deadline; the acceptance letter must be issued within the examination year and dated after registration. Late registration and amendment fees are never refunded. A withdrawn candidate receives no results or certificates for any subject or component already sat, and any results already released are invalidated.

• Treating the fourth content-based subject as a fourth counted subject
  Under the revised University Admission Score, the fourth content-based subject enters the calculation only if it improves the final UAS, which is then rebased to 70 points. Decide early whether it is realistically going to lift your score, and if not, plan the hours accordingly rather than spreading effort evenly across four subjects.
• Treating Project Work as a grade to optimise
  Project Work is now graded only Pass or Ungraded and is excluded from the UAS. What it still controls is admission: a Pass is required for entry to the autonomous universities. Aim for a clean Pass with sources properly acknowledged, and spend the recovered hours on the three H2 subjects.
• Under-preparing General Paper because it is only an H1 subject
  General Paper is the only content subject guaranteed to count alongside the three H2 subjects, worth 10 of the 70 UAS points. It is also 3 hours of assessment across two 90-minute papers with 50 marks each, and 35 of the 100 total marks are language rather than content. Two essays a term will not build a Band 5 example bank.
• Bringing a graphing calculator with stored programmes or formulae
  Memory must be cleared before the examination, and Annex A of the rules and regulations booklet gives the model-specific steps. Calculators with built-in symbolic algebra manipulation, symbolic differentiation or integration are banned outright, as are calculators with external storage, wireless capability or audio playback. Being found with an unacceptable feature is treated as a breach.
• Writing formulae or reminders on stationery, a pencil case or a calculator cover
  The rules require that all stationery and belongings taken into the venue carry no unauthorised notes or information, and that includes the calculator cover. If the information cannot be removed, it must be securely covered and declared to examination personnel before the paper starts.
• Using correction fluid or tape, or highlighting answers
  SEAB states that correction fluid and tape have left answers illegible or incomplete and can damage scripts during scanning, and that highlighting answers may affect legibility. Cross out cleanly with a single line instead. Highlighting the question paper and the questions in the answer booklet is allowed.
• Forgetting to insert additional answer booklets into the main booklet
  If you use extra answer booklets or writing papers, they must be inserted into your main answer booklet before submission. Failure to do so may leave those responses unmarked, which is a self-inflicted loss on a paper you have already written.
• Missing the three-working-day deadline for Special Consideration
  An application for special consideration must reach SEAB, through your school or the Candidates Portal, no later than three working days after the day of the affected paper. Late applications and those with incomplete supporting documents are not accepted. You are also ineligible for special consideration if you already received an access arrangement for the same medical condition for that paper.
• Assuming an appeal will change the grade
  An appeal costs a fee per subject, must be filed within five working days of results release, cannot be withdrawn once submitted, and is not refunded. It involves remarking and a review of mark entries by an independent senior marker, and SEAB does not release marked scripts. The outcome arrives within six weeks of the appeal deadline, and most appeals do not change a grade.
• Withdrawing after sitting papers without understanding the consequences
  For private candidates the withdrawal deadline is 1 September 2026 at 11 pm, and after that date an unattended paper is graded Absent. A withdrawn candidate receives no results or certificates for any subject or component already sat, and results already released, such as mid-year MTL results, are invalidated. Refunds are 50 percent of subject fees if the request reaches SEAB by 18 June 2026 at 11 pm with no component sat, or 100 percent with proof of tertiary admission by the same deadline.

• Some components now computer-based
• H1, H2, H3 subject levels
• General Paper is compulsory
• TYS (Ten Year Series) for practice
• School prelim papers are harder than actual
• University Admission Score (UAS) determines placement