Age bands: which test your child sits

How MOE decides the level

You do not choose the level freely. MOE's eligibility page has a checker. Enter the date of birth and the year your child would start school, and it returns the test to sit, the content tested, the Cambridge English score required (Primary only), and the possible placements.

The groups run from 2 January to 1 January. A child born on 1 January 2019 gets the Primary 3 test, and a child born on 2 January 2019 gets the Primary 2 test. MOE's Primary 1 release draws its boundary in the same place: children born between 2 January 2020 and 1 January 2021 register for Primary 1 in January 2027. So a child born in January may fall in the older group than the calendar year suggests.

The 2027-admission table

We ran MOE's checker on 18 October 2026, with 2027 as the year of admission. We entered 1 June of each birth year and 1 January and 2 January of each year from 2010 to 2020. The table gives what it returned. A child born on 2 January 2020 or later got no result.

For the two Primary 5 groups before 2015, the checker also shows an S-AEIS route: the Pri 4 Maths test, with the A2 Key for Schools test and a score of 130 and above. The possible outcomes are Pri 4, Pri 3 or unsuccessful for the group born between 2 January 2016 and 1 January 2017, and Pri 4 or unsuccessful for the group born between 2 January 2015 and 1 January 2016.

Sec 3 is offered at AEIS only. S-AEIS offers Sec 1 and Sec 2.

Three things the table shows that parents often miss:

• Older applicants have fewer fallback outcomes. The group born between 2 January 2016 and 1 January 2017 sits the Pri 5 test and can be placed in Pri 5, 4 or 3. The group born between 2 January 2015 and 1 January 2016 sits the same test and can be placed only in Pri 5 or 4.
• The Cambridge threshold rises with the level. It is 100 for Pri 2, 120 for Pri 3, 130 for Pri 4 and 140 for Pri 5. The test also changes: A2 Key for Schools up to Pri 4, and B1 Preliminary for Schools for Pri 5.
• Some groups can choose. A child born between 2 January 2014 and 1 January 2015 can go the Primary 5 route (Cambridge test, then Maths) or the Secondary 1 route (English and Maths, no Cambridge test).

Always run the official checker

The table comes from MOE's checker as it stood on 18 October 2026. MOE's rules can change between years, and your child's exact date matters at the edges. Before you book a Cambridge test or pay the AEIS fee, run the official checker with the real date of birth and keep a screenshot of the result.

Former students

If your child was previously in a Singapore mainstream school and is seeking readmission, MOE asks you to clear any fee arrears and submit a readmission assessment form instead of going through the checker. The link is on the same eligibility page.