PSLE Achievement Levels Explained: From Marks to a 4–32 Score

PSLE Achievement Levels (ALs) are eight bands per subject, from AL1 (a subject score of 90% or above) to AL8 (below 20%). Your child gets one AL for each of the four PSLE subjects, the four are added to make a PSLE score between 4 and 32 (lower is better), and that score decides which of three Posting Groups a child is eligible for in Secondary 1 (S1) posting, according to MOE pages read on 17 October 2026.

If your Primary 5 or 6 child’s school report now shows ALs, this is the arithmetic behind them. It is kept apart from the results-week routine: our PSLE 2026 results and S1 posting timeline covers the days after results and the six school choices. Unfamiliar abbreviations are in our glossary of Singapore school terms.

How do marks become Achievement Levels?

Each subject is banded on its own. MOE gives these percentage score ranges:

• AL1: 90% and above
• AL2: 85–89%
• AL3: 80–84%
• AL4: 75–79%
• AL5: 65–74%
• AL6: 45–64%
• AL7: 20–44%
• AL8: below 20%

The bands are not equal in width: AL2 to AL4 are five marks wide, AL5 is ten, AL6 twenty and AL7 twenty-five. MOE says it expects slightly less than half of the cohort to score AL1–4 in Standard subjects, so the upper bands are narrower. Our reading: near the top one mark can change an AL (84% is AL3, 85% is AL2); in the middle it is much less likely to.

MOE also says an AL reflects how a child has done against the curriculum’s learning objectives, “regardless of how their peers have done”. Our reading: an AL is therefore not a position in the cohort. School cut-off points are different: they move with each cohort, as MOE’s guide to PSLE score ranges explains. P5 and P6 school exam results are also reported in ALs, MOE says, to familiarise families; the page does not say how closely they match PSLE ALs, so treat them as practice, not a forecast.

How do four ALs become a PSLE score of 4–32?

The PSLE score is the sum of the ALs in English Language, Mathematics, Science and Mother Tongue. MOE’s own example is AL3 in English, AL2 in Mother Tongue, AL1 in Mathematics and AL2 in Science: 3 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 8. Four AL1s give 4 and four AL8s give 32. With only 29 possible scores, MOE says, more students share the same score.

How are Foundation subjects and MTL exemptions scored?

A child taking a subject at Foundation level is graded A, B or C. For S1 posting, MOE maps those grades to Standard ALs to derive the overall PSLE score:

• Foundation A (75–100%) counts as AL6
• Foundation B (30–74%) counts as AL7
• Foundation C (below 30%) counts as AL8

A child exempted from Mother Tongue because of extenuating circumstances is assigned an MTL score between AL6 and AL8, which MOE says takes reference from peers with similar English, Mathematics and Science scores.

How does the PSLE score become a Posting Group?

MOE’s posting groups page gives this mapping, with the indicative level for most subjects at the start of S1:

• 4–20: Posting Group 3, level G3
• 21–22: Posting Group 2 or 3, level G2 or G3
• 23–24: Posting Group 2, level G2
• 25: Posting Group 1 or 2, level G1 or G2
• 26–30, with AL7 or better in English Language and Mathematics: Posting Group 1, level G1

Our reading: the numbering runs against intuition. The best (numerically lowest) scores, 4–20, go to Posting Group 3, and MOE says those students take all subjects at G3, the most academically demanding level; Posting Group 2 and 1 students take most subjects at G2 and G1. Also our reading: “AL7 or better” means AL7 or a smaller number, since AL1 is the best level, so AL8 does not meet it.

The table itself does not say what decides between groups on the “or” lines. MOE’s page on submitting school choices (last updated 1 October 2026) does: students eligible for two Posting Groups, with Groups 2 and 3 and Groups 1 and 2 as its examples, “must decide which Posting Group best suits their learning pace and abilities”, indicate it in the S1 Portal before submitting school choices, and the chosen group applies to all school choices.

The table has no row for 31 or 32, or for 26–30 without AL7 or better in both English Language and Mathematics. MOE’s score-calculator page has a message for those results: students who do not qualify for Posting Group 1, 2 or 3 “would have to repeat the PSLE, or progress to NorthLight School or Assumption Pathway School”. We read that from the page’s calculator data; it is MOE’s wording, not a forecast for any child, and it names no group.

The one case where the pages we read say nothing in words is Foundation English Language or Mathematics at 26–30: no sentence says how the AL7-or-better condition applies to a Foundation grade, so ask MOE or the school. MOE’s calculator script converts Foundation A, B and C to 6, 7 and 8 and tests English Language and Mathematics as “7 or lower”; that is read from the script, not a published statement. Our free PSLE score calculator quotes MOE’s message for the other results, shows no group for them, and answers “MOE’s page does not say; ask MOE or the school” for the Foundation case. It does not predict a school.

What do three fictional score sheets look like?

These sheets are illustrative: not real children, and not predictions for any school. Every AL comes from the table above.

Sheet A: a score of 12, with Higher Chinese

• English Language: 81% = AL3
• Mathematics: 77% = AL4
• Science: 83% = AL3
• Mother Tongue (Chinese): 87% = AL2

3 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 12, which is Posting Group 3 on MOE’s table. This child also took Higher Chinese Language (HCL) and earned a Merit. MOE says a Distinction, Merit or Pass in HCL with a PSLE score of 14 or better makes a student eligible for posting advantage to SAP schools; when students with the same score apply to the same SAP school, better HCL grades go first, before the usual tie-breakers. At 12 the score condition is met. At 15, the same Merit would not meet it.

Sheet B: a score of 21, with a strong Mother Tongue

• English Language: 62% = AL6
• Mathematics: 55% = AL6
• Science: 40% = AL7
• Mother Tongue: 86% = AL2

6 + 6 + 7 + 2 = 21, an “or” line: Posting Group 2 or 3. The table does not say which; on MOE’s school-choices page, a family in this position chooses between the two groups in the S1 Portal. The AL2 in Mother Tongue meets the HMTL criterion whatever the overall score. A score of 21 would not have met the score condition of the rule MOE described in its release of 14 September 2024, set out below.

Sheet C: a score of 26, with a Foundation subject

• English Language: 52% = AL6
• Mathematics: 38% = AL7
• Science (Foundation): grade B, 55% = AL7
• Mother Tongue: 50% = AL6

6 + 7 + 7 + 6 = 26. MOE’s 26–30 line gives Posting Group 1 only with AL7 or better in English and Mathematics; AL6 and AL7 both qualify, so this child falls in Posting Group 1 on the table. The condition names only English Language and Mathematics, so the Foundation Science grade enters through the total alone. Had Mathematics been AL8, that line would not apply even with the same total, and MOE’s score-calculator page carries the message quoted above for that case, not a group.

Can my child take Higher Mother Tongue whatever the PSLE score?

Yes, on MOE’s current criteria. MOE’s PSLE scoring page lists the secondary school HMTL criterion as a PSLE MTL score of AL1 or AL2, or an HMTL score of Distinction or Merit. Schools may also allow students who do not meet it if assessed to have exceptional ability in MTL and able to cope without affecting other subjects.

MOE’s release of 14 September 2024 announced that from 2026 this applies regardless of overall PSLE score. The release described the rule then in force (“Currently”) as an overall score of 8 or better, or 9–14 together with AL1 or AL2 in MTL or Distinction or Merit in HMTL. The release adds that students in schools that do not offer HMTL classes may attend lessons at centralised locations.

What does the PSLE score not decide?

• Which school: MOE says meeting a school’s previous cut-off points does not guarantee admission because tie-breakers may apply, and that cut-offs typically shift by +/- 1 but could move by 2 or 3.
• Every subject’s level: a Posting Group is indicative. MOE says Posting Group 2 and 1 students can take English, Mathematics, Science and MTL at more demanding levels if they did well in them at PSLE, and that Full Subject-Based Banding allows subjects to be studied at different levels.

What to check before results day

1. Write down your child’s latest AL in each of the four subjects and mark which are Standard and which Foundation.
2. Convert percentages with MOE’s table (or enter them in our PSLE score calculator), add the four, and find the line in the Posting Group list. If the total is 21–22 or 25, MOE says a child eligible for two groups chooses between them in the S1 Portal. Treat the total as practice, not a forecast.
3. Note the Mother Tongue result: AL1 or AL2, or Distinction or Merit in HMTL, is the HMTL criterion.
4. If your child takes HCL, note the grade and whether the total would be 14 or better. If the total is 26–30, check that English and Mathematics are each AL7 or better.
5. Recheck MOE’s examinations dates and S1 posting pages for the confirmed results date before 24 November 2026; the S1 pages we read were last updated between 1 and 14 October 2026 and can change.
6. If your child took part in DSA-Sec, MOE says the school allocation arrives together with the PSLE results; our DSA-Sec guide covers that route.

If you have heard that MOE is reviewing how the PSLE is used, our guide to MOE’s Education Conversations sets out, with dates, what MOE has said and what is still under review. More school guides are under Learning.

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