Full Subject-Based Banding in Singapore: A Parent Guide to G1, G2 and G3

AGrader Learning Centre
4 days ago
8 min read

If your child is moving from primary to secondary school, you have probably heard about Full Subject-Based Banding and felt unsure about what it actually means for them. Many parents grew up with the old streaming system and now find the new terms — Posting Groups, G1, G2, G3 — confusing and hard to explain to their child. It is natural to worry about getting this wrong when so much feels new.

The reassuring news is that Full Subject-Based Banding is far simpler to understand once the pieces are laid out clearly. It is a system built around your child’s strengths in individual subjects, not a single label for the whole child.

In this guide, you will find plain-English answers to the questions parents ask most: what Full SBB is, what changed from streaming, what G1, G2 and G3 mean, how students are posted, how subject levels are decided, what secondary life looks like day to day, how it affects national exams, and a round-up of common parent questions.

Table of Contents:

1. What Is Full Subject-Based Banding?
2. What Changed from Streaming?
3. What Do G1, G2 and G3 Mean?
4. How Are Students Posted?
5. How Are Subject Levels Decided?
6. Day-to-Day Secondary Life Under Full SBB
7. Effect on National Exams and Post-Secondary Pathways
8. Parent FAQs

What is Subject-Based Banding?

Full Subject-Based Banding is a subject-level approach to secondary school that focuses on how your child performs in each subject, rather than placing them in one fixed stream. It gives your child the chance to take different subjects at different levels according to their strengths.

This system replaced the older Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams, beginning with the Secondary 1 cohort from 2024.

The core idea behind subject based banding is straightforward:

Your child is no longer defined by a single stream for every subject.
Instead, each subject can be taken at a level that matches your child’s ability in that subject.
A child might, for example, take one subject at a higher level and another at a more foundational level.

This is why the term “subject-based” matters — the banding follows the subject, not the whole child. The next section shows exactly how this differs from the streaming system many parents remember.

What Changed From Streaming?

Moving from streaming to subject based banding is the biggest change in secondary school banding for a generation. Under the old system, a child was placed in one stream that determined the level of every subject they studied. Full SBB removes that single label and replaces it with Posting Groups and subject-level flexibility.

The table below compares the two approaches at a glance.

Feature	Old Streaming System	Full Subject-Based Banding
How a child is placed	One fixed stream (Express, N(A) or N(T))	A Posting Group, with subjects set at individual levels
Subject levels	All subjects taken at the stream's level	Subjects can be taken at G1, G2 or G3 based on strengths
Flexibility	Limited — the stream applied across the board	Higher — levels can differ from subject to subject
The label	A stream label for the whole child	No single whole-child label; the level follows each subject

The main shift is from labelling the child to matching each subject to the child’s ability. This change also affects how children are first posted into secondary school, which the next section explains.

What Do G1, G2 and G3 Mean?

The letter “G” stands for “General”, and the numbers indicate the level at which a subject is taken. These are subject levels — they are not labels for your child.

Here is what each level broadly refers to:

• G1 — the most foundational level for a subject.

• G2 — the middle level for a subject.

• G3 — the most demanding level for a subject.

It is important to explain this to your child in the right way. G1, G2 and G3 describe how a particular subject is being studied, not how “good” or “clever” a child is overall. Because your child can hold different levels across different subjects, no single number sums them up. With this in mind, the next section looks at how children are actually posted into secondary school.

How Are Students Posted?

Parents sometimes assume Full SBB is a brand-new “secondary school scoring system”, but that is not quite right. Your child is posted to secondary school using their PSLE Score, and from there they are placed into a Posting Group.

In simple terms, the PSLE posting process works like this:

1. Your child sits the PSLE as usual and receives a PSLE Score.

2. That score is used to post them into secondary school and into a Posting Group.

The PSLE score ranges for Posting Groups 1, 2 and 3 are mapped from the former N(T), N(A) and Express streams respectively.

3. Full SBB then determines the levels at which individual subjects are taken.

So Full SBB is not a separate examination or a new marking scheme — it works alongside the existing Secondary 1 posting process. Once your child is in a Posting Group, the question becomes how the level of each subject is decided, which the next section covers.

How Are Subject Levels Decided?

The secondary school subjects levels your child takes are not fixed for life. Each level begins with a starting allocation and can then adjust as your child’s performance becomes clearer.

The process generally works like this:

1. Starting allocation. When your child enters Secondary 1, their initial subject levels are set based on their Posting Group and PSLE results.

2. Subject strengths. Where your child shows particular strength in a subject, they may take that subject at a higher level.

3. Levels can change. As your child progresses, subject levels can be adjusted so that the level continues to match their ability.

This flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of subject based banding secondary school, because it lets your child stretch in their stronger subjects while building firmer foundations in others. Understanding this helps make sense of what the school day actually looks like, which is the focus of the next section.

Day-To-Day Secondary Life Under Full SBB

A common worry is whether Full SBB changes your child’s everyday school experience in a big way. In practice, the routine is designed to feel natural, with two key features standing out.

• Mixed form classes. Your child’s form class (their “home” class for pastoral care and non-academic time) brings together students taking subjects at different levels. This means children mix with a wider range of classmates rather than staying only with those on the same stream.

• Subject-based lessons. For each academic subject, your child attends lessons grouped by the level of that subject. So the classmates around them may differ from subject to subject.

The result is a school day where your child belongs to one supportive form class but moves into the appropriate level for each subject. This structure also shapes how national exams work, which the next section explains.

Effect on National Exams and Post-Secondary Pathways

Full SBB does not only affect the school years — it also feeds into how national examinations are organised. The system is moving towards a common national certificate rather than separate certificates for different streams.

From the 2027 graduating cohort, students will sit the new Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate (SEC), with different papers for each subject level, and will receive an SEC that reflects the subjects and subject levels they took.

What this means for your child:

Instead of stream-specific certificates, students will work towards a common certificate that reflects the levels of the subjects they took.
This certificate then feeds into the new Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise (PSE): the 2027 SEC cohort receives results in January 2028 and is posted to post-secondary courses by early February.

The important point for parents is that Full SBB is designed to keep pathways open while recognising your child’s strengths subject by subject. To round off, the next section answers the questions parents ask most often.

Parent FAQs

Is G3 the same as the old Express stream?

In terms of academic standard, yes. MOE maps the G1, G2 and G3 subject levels from the former N(T), N(A) and Express standards respectively, so G3 does correspond to the old Express standard. The key difference is that subject based banding secondary school structures now apply subject by subject rather than as a single label for the whole child, so your child can take different subjects at different levels.

Can a child in Posting Group 2 take a G3 subject?

Yes. A Posting Group guides your child's initial subject levels but does not lock them into one track. At the start of Secondary 1, a child whose subjects are mostly at G2 may offer English, Mother Tongue, Mathematics or Science at G3 if they scored AL 5 or better in that subject at the PSLE. For example, a Posting Group 2 child who scored AL 5 in Mathematics could take G3 Mathematics while taking other subjects at G2. Beyond Secondary 1, your child can also move a subject up to a more demanding level based on their performance in secondary school, so it is worth speaking with their teachers about the right time to do so.

Does Full SBB apply to every school?

Full SBB applies broadly across secondary schools, but schools that admit students from only one Posting Group work differently. These include Integrated Programme schools and schools such as Crest Secondary School and Spectra Secondary School, which offer a whole-school approach designed for specific student profiles. Even so, selected aspects of Full SBB, such as subject-level flexibility, may apply to some of these schools where feasible.

How can I support my child through the transition?

Keep the language positive: remind your child that G1, G2 and G3 describe subjects, not their worth. Focus on building strong foundations in core subjects such as English and Mathematics, so your child can take on higher subject levels with confidence when the opportunity arises.

Every year, parents come to AGrader feeling anxious about the jump from primary to secondary school, especially with a new system like Full Subject-Based Banding to navigate. The worry is often the same: will my child cope with the pace and difficulty of secondary English and Mathematics, and how do I help them settle in?

To give your child a steady footing, AGrader offers a Secondary English Tuition Programme and a Secondary Maths Tuition Programme (E-Math & A-Math), both for Secondary 1 to Secondary 4. The Maths programme covers E-Math for Secondary 1 to 4 and A-Math for Secondary 3 to 4.

Effect on National Exams and Post-Secondary Pathways

Both programmes follow the latest MOE-aligned syllabus and are taught ahead of school, so your child meets each topic with confidence rather than for the first time in class. Lessons are now two hours long — a new update for AY2026 that gives your child more time for practice, mastery, and personal attention from qualified tutors. Every student also receives free access to the EverLoop Improvement System, with unlimited after-class revision sessions to close learning gaps, and both programmes are available at 19 locations island-wide. You can explore the details on the Secondary English programme page and the Secondary Maths programme page.