The End of Streaming: A Parent's Guide to Full Subject-Based Banding

If you have a child entering or already in secondary school, here is something worth absorbing early: the system they are in is not the one you went through. Streaming — the Express, Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical) tracks that defined Singapore secondary education for decades — has been abolished. In its place is Full Subject-Based Banding, a different architecture entirely, along with a new national examination that replaces the O- and N-Levels.

This change is one of the biggest structural reforms to Singapore schooling in a generation, and it is rolling out right now — which means a lot of parents are navigating it on fragments and half-explanations. This guide lays out the whole new system properly: what changed and when, how Posting Groups and subject bands actually work, what the new SEC certificate is, and what all of it means for your child — with particular attention to Mathematics, where the band your child takes the subject at has real downstream consequences.

What actually changed, and when

The end of streaming was announced by the Ministry of Education in March 2019. Rather than flipping a switch, MOE phased it in: a pilot of 28 secondary schools began adopting aspects of Full Subject-Based Banding from 2020, expanding to around 59 schools in 2022 and roughly 90 by 2023. Then, from the 2024 Secondary 1 cohort, the Express, Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical) streams were removed across all schools.

The reform replaces two things at once. First, the three streams — whole tracks that sorted a child's entire secondary experience — are gone. Second, in their place are two distinct concepts that are easy to confuse but must be kept separate: Posting Groups and subject bands. Getting this distinction right is the key to understanding everything else.

Posting Groups versus subject bands — the distinction that confuses everyone

A Posting Group is an admission mechanism. Based on their PSLE Score, a student is posted into Posting Group 1, 2, or 3, and this determines both which secondary schools they can be admitted to and the initial level of most of their subjects in Secondary 1. The mapping runs like this:

(For exactly how the PSLE Score itself is built and how posting works, see our companion guide on how PSLE AL scoring and Secondary 1 posting work.)

A subject band — labelled G1, G2, or G3, where "G" stands for General — is the level at which an individual subject is taught and examined. G1 corresponds to the old Normal (Technical) standard, G2 to Normal (Academic), and G3 to Express/O-Level.

Here is the crucial part, and the whole point of the reform: unlike a stream, a Posting Group doesn't lock your child into one level across the board. MOE is explicit that Posting Groups "will not shape or define students' identity." Once in secondary school, a student takes each subject at the band that fits their ability in that subject. A child can — and many now do — study Mathematics at G3 while taking another subject at G2. The single-track sorting that streaming imposed is gone.

How subject banding actually works in practice

From the very start of Secondary 1, a student posted through Posting Group 2 or Posting Group 1 has the option to take English, Mathematics, Science, and/or Mother Tongue at a more demanding level, if they performed well in those subjects at PSLE. So a strong mathematician posted into Posting Group 2 need not "do G2 Maths" by default — they can begin at G3 in Maths if their PSLE result supports it.

Thereafter, the levels are not fixed. Students who do well in a subject in school can move it up a band at appropriate junctures — MOE deliberately avoids a rigid calendar rule here, framing adjustments as based on "performance in the subject in secondary school and a holistic assessment by the school" to make sure the child can cope with both the subject and the overall workload. Humanities subjects become available at a more demanding level from Secondary 2. Subjects can also be moved down a band if a student is struggling, so the level tracks the child rather than the other way around.

The practical upshot: your child's profile is now a mix of subject levels, reviewed as they progress — not a single stream stamped on them at posting. This is more flexible than the system it replaced, and it rewards families who pay attention to each subject individually.

The mixed form class and the common curriculum

Streaming used to sort children socially as well as academically — Express students spent their days with Express students. Full SBB deliberately breaks that up. Students are placed in mixed form classes with peers of different strengths, and spend roughly a third of curriculum time together taking six Common Curriculum subjects at a common level: Art, Character and Citizenship Education, Design and Technology, Food and Consumer Education, Music, and Physical Education.

MOE's stated aim is to reduce the labelling and stigma that streaming produced. Whether that succeeds is a fair question to ask, and there is at least some early evidence: a 2025 parliamentary reply reported that students in the pilot schools had "a wider and more diverse network of friends, as well as more positive attitudes toward peers from different backgrounds." For a parent, the takeaway is simply that your child's classmates and their academic band are now decoupled — the child sitting next to them in form class may be taking a very different set of subject levels.

The new national exam: the Singapore-Cambridge SEC

The reform reaches all the way to the national certificate. From 2027, the separate GCE examinations — N(T)-Level, N(A)-Level, and O-Level — are combined and renamed the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate (SEC).

The essentials every parent should know:

• One certificate, not three. Instead of an O-Level or N-Level certificate, every student receives a single SEC that lists the subjects they took and the band (G1, G2, or G3) each was taken at. There is no stream label on it.
• First exam in 2027, results in January 2028. The first cohort to sit the SEC is the 2024 Secondary 1 intake — the first full Full-SBB cohort — reaching the end of their four-year course. 2026 is the last year the old GCE O- and N-Level examinations are held.
• The grading scales don't change. Each band keeps its predecessor's grades. G3 subjects use the familiar O-Level scale (A1, A2, B3, B4, C5, C6, D7, E8, 9). G2 subjects use grades 1 to 6. G1 subjects use grades A to E. So a G3 result reads exactly like an O-Level result did.
• Cambridge co-certification continues. The SEC is still jointly examined and awarded by SEAB, MOE, and Cambridge International Education, with — in MOE's words — "no change in the overall standards." Existing GCE certificates remain valid and recognised.

In short: the certificate is repackaged and unified, but the standards behind each band are the ones you already know.

What it means for post-secondary admissions

The changes flow through to how students enter junior college, polytechnic, and ITE. From 2028, a single Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise replaces the old Joint Admissions Exercise, letting students rank choices across JC, Millennia Institute, the polytechnics, and ITE in one application. Academic merit remains the primary basis for admission, but the familiar aggregate scores are being recomputed so that subjects taken at different bands can be combined fairly:

• Junior college admission moves from L1R5 to an L1R4 aggregate (with a tightened benchmark), counting relevant subjects at G3.
• Polytechnic admission keeps the ELR2B2 aggregate but allows one of the two "B" subjects to be offered at G2, with adjusted cut-offs.
• ITE continues to use its established aggregates, computed on the G-level equivalents of a student's grades.

One honest caveat: as of 2026, the course-specific cut-off points for individual JCs and polytechnic and ITE courses under the 2028 exercise are still being finalised. MOE's own course pages advise revisiting them closer to the 2028 intake. Treat any current figures as provisional.

What this means for Mathematics specifically

Mathematics is banded like any other subject — your child can take it at G1, G2, or G3, potentially at a different level from their other subjects. And because Maths sits inside the aggregates that gate post-secondary admission, the band your child takes Maths at is consequential, not cosmetic.

A few concrete implications:

• A junior college pathway generally requires the relevant subjects — Maths among them — at G3. If JC is a genuine aspiration, Maths needs to be heading toward G3.
• Polytechnic courses with a quantitative core (engineering, computing, business analytics) reward a strong Maths grade, and the ELR2B2 structure means the level and grade of Maths feed directly into eligibility.
• Because subjects can be moved up a band at the right junctures, a child who starts Maths at G2 but performs strongly has a real route to G3 — but only if the foundation is built early enough to cope with the step up.

This is why we'd gently push back on any instinct to let a capable child coast at a comfortable Maths band. The flexibility of Full SBB is an opportunity: it lets a strong mathematician be recognised as one, subject by subject. If your child is in the Normal (Academic)–equivalent Posting Group 2, our detailed guide to G2 pathways covers how Maths shapes their options; if they are in the Normal (Technical)–equivalent Posting Group 1, see our guide to G1 pathways. Either way, aiming Maths at the highest band your child can actually sustain is one of the more leveraged decisions in the new system, and it's the specific problem our secondary Math programme is built to help with.

Common myths, corrected

"Full SBB means there's no more academic differentiation." No. Subjects are still taught and examined at three distinct standards — G1, G2, G3 — each with its own grade scale. What changed is that differentiation now happens subject by subject, not by sorting the whole child into one track.

"G3 is just Express with a new name." Partly true — G3 is mapped from the Express/O-Level standard and keeps its grade scale. But the meaningful change is at the student level: a child can now take some subjects at G3 and others at G2 or G1, a combination streaming never permitted.

"My child is locked into their Posting Group." No. The Posting Group governs admission and the starting levels of subjects; it explicitly does not define a fixed track. Individual subjects can move up (or down) as the child's performance warrants.

"Streaming is still basically around." Not at intake. Streams were removed from the 2024 Secondary 1 cohort. The last students on the old GCE O- and N-Level examinations sit them by 2026; from 2027 everyone takes the SEC.

What parents should actually do

The new system rewards attention to detail, so a few practical habits:

1. Know the band of each subject your child takes — especially Maths and English. These two feed nearly every post-secondary aggregate. Don't assume; ask the school which band each subject is at and why.
2. Watch the adjustment junctures. Because subjects can be moved up at appropriate points, a strong term is an opportunity to raise a band. Make sure your child — and you — know when those reviews happen at their school.
3. Don't treat the Posting Group as a ceiling. A Posting Group 2 posting does not mean "all G2." A capable child can and should take their strong subjects higher.
4. Aim each subject at the level your child's goals require. Work backward from the JC/poly/ITE pathway that fits your child, and make sure the relevant subjects — Maths in particular — are on track for the band that pathway needs.

The one thing to remember: Full Subject-Based Banding replaced whole-child streaming with subject-by-subject bands (G1, G2, G3), and a single new certificate — the SEC — from 2027. Your child is no longer one "type" of student; they are a mix of subject levels that can change as they grow. The most leveraged thing you can do is make sure each key subject, especially Mathematics, is aimed at the highest band they can realistically cope with.

A note on accuracy: This guide reflects Full Subject-Based Banding and the SEC as of the current academic year. Several details — particularly the course-specific cut-off points for the 2028 Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise — were still being finalised at the time of writing. Always verify current requirements directly with MOE and SEAB before making decisions.

If your child is in secondary school and you'd like to talk through which Maths band suits them and how to prepare for the step up, talk to our team or read more about our approach to secondary school Math.