At the secondary level, students will have the choice of three courses designed to suit their learning abilities and interests. Students undergo either four or five years of studies with different curricular emphasis. Majority of students undergo the Special Course or the Express Course while the rest will enter the Normal Course. Students in the Normal course will have the option of taking either Normal (Academic) course or the Normal (Technical) Course. Students in these two courses will have to sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education "Normal", GCE "N" Level at the end of four years. Those who are competent will go on to take the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education "Ordinary", GCE "O" Level at the end of fifth year.

Special Course

This four-year course gives students the opportunity to study higher English and mother tongue at a higher level. At the end of the four years, they will sit for the GCE "O" Level examination.

Express Course

The students in the express course are the same as those in the special course, just that they take English and mother tongue instead of higher English and higher mother tongue. At the end of the four years, they also sit for the GCE "O" Level examination.

Normal Course

Students in this course have to take up compulsory English, Mathematics and mother tongue. At the end of the four years, they will sit for the CGE "N" Level examination. Those who meet the criteria will go on to the fifth year and sit for the GCE "O" Level examination. Students who do well in this examination will qualify to go to junior colleges, polytechnics or technical institutes. Many students who have taken the "N" Level after the fourth year are likely to take up technical and vocational education at technical institutes.

Curriculum

At the secondary level, the curriculum for the Special, Express and Normal (Academic) courses include English, Mother Tongue, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, English Literature, Art and Craft, Design and Technology, Home Economics, Civics and Moral Education, Physical Education and Music. In Secondary Three, students can opt for subjects of their choice, apart from the core subjects (English Language, the Mother Tongue, Mathematics, Physical Education and Civics and Moral Education).

The electives depend on whether they are in the Arts, Science, Commerce or Technical stream. Pupils do at least one Humanities subject if they are in the Science stream. They can also do a third language, such as French, German or Japanese.

Post-Secondary Education

Upon the completion of their secondary schools, students can either opt to enroll for a 2-year pre-university course in a junior college or a 3-year pre-university course at a centralized institute. The admission is based on a point system that is determined by the aggregate of the students GCE "O" Level result.

At the end of the 2-year pre-university education, students are required to sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education "Advanced" Level (GCE "A" Level) examination. Their eligibility for entry into tertiary institutes are determined by their "A" Level results.

The curriculum for pre-university students comprises two compulsory subjects, namely, General Paper and the Mother Tongue, and a maximum of four GCE "A" Level subjects. Subjects offered in the Arts Stream include Literature, Economics, History, Geography, Art and Mathematics. Students in the Science Stream can opt for Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Physical Science, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Economics, Art and Computing.