From 2028, students who sit the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) will apply for junior college, Millennia Institute, polytechnic and ITE places through one Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise (PSE), a change the Ministry of Education announced in March 2026.
What the PSE replaces
Today, school leavers go through separate posting exercises held at different times of the year. The PSE replaces three of them: the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE), the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) Admissions Exercise and the ITE Joint Intake Exercise for 2-Year and 3-Year Higher Nitec courses.
The switch is timed for the first cohort under Full Subject-Based Banding, who sit the SEC at their own subject levels in 2027 and receive results together in January 2028. Current Secondary 4 and 5 students still use today’s exercises.
Eligibility and the portal
From 2028, all candidates who sat the SEC at any subject level (G1, G2 or G3) are eligible, including school candidates of all nationalities and private candidates who are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents. Applicants may combine results from up to two examination years of SEC, GCE N-/O-Level, or a mix of both, to meet eligibility.
Applications go through the Post-Sec Portal with Singpass. The Arts Institutions keep their own exercises for NAFA and LASALLE diploma pathways, so those courses stay outside PSE.
Key dates on the MOE timeline
- By September 2027: students verify CCA records, because CCA bonus points feed net aggregate scores.
- Mid-January 2028: SEC results release.
- Six calendar days from results day: PSE application window, open 24 hours a day.
- By early February 2028: posting results on the Post-Sec Portal and by SMS.
- By end-February 2028: offers are accepted (JC/MI students report the next school morning in secondary uniform; poly and ITE students follow enrolment email instructions).
What still happens before SEC
Talent and aptitude routes continue ahead of the examinations: Direct School Admissions to JC (DSA-JC), Poly Early Admissions Exercise (Poly-EAE) and ITE Early Admissions Exercise (ITE-EAE). During the six-day PSE window, the portal also shows the outcome of those early offers, each applicant’s aggregate scores and eligible courses, before they submit up to 12 ranked choices across JC, MI, polytechnic (including PFP) and ITE 2-year and 3-year Higher Nitec courses.
Academic merit on net aggregate score remains the main posting factor. Where applicants tie on net aggregate score, the tie-breakers run in this order: citizenship, choice order, gross aggregate score, then computerised balloting. Choice order is new to post-secondary posting and mirrors the Secondary One Posting Exercise. SchoolFinder and CourseFinder still carry 2026 admissions information, with 2028 course details due in mid-2027.
