H1, H2 and H3 Subjects

Briefly,
H1 carries about half the content of H2
H2 is equivalent to what was previously termed ‘A’ level subjects
H3 replaces the S papers.

Subject Combinations

As part of holistic education, there will be a good balance between academic pursuits and co-curricular activities. To achieve an optimum academic workload, students will offer a combination of subjects, comprising compulsory subjects and optional ones.

Compulsory Subjects

The following subjects are compulsory and will be taken at H1 level:

• Mother Tongue Language (MTL), which may be examined in JC1 (a student achieving D7 or better in Higher
    MTL at O-Level is exempted from offering this examination);

• Project Work (PW), which will be examined in JC1;

• General Paper (GP), which will be examined in JC2.
    (A student may offer Knowledge and Inquiry**, an H2 subject, in lieu of GP)

In addition to the three compulsory subjects, students must take at least four content-based subjects, three of which must be at H2, which they will sit in JC2, and an H1 content-based subject, which they may sit in JC1 or JC2. As MTL is an integral part of the A-Level curriculum, H1 MTL cannot be replaced with another subject.

Contrasting Subject

Whatever subject combination they choose, students must include a contrasting subject, that is, at least one of the subjects they study must be outside the area they want to specialise in. This will help to provide a broad base of learning and is in line with the multi-disciplinary approach to study at university. For this reason, students specialising in Humanities and the Arts will need to take a contrasting subject from Mathematics and Sciences, while those specialising in Mathematics and Sciences will need a contrasting subject from Humanities and the Arts. The contrasting subject can be taken at either H1 or H2.

A new H2 subject, Knowledge and Inquiry (KI), is classified as a contrasting subject in its own right because it is multi-disciplinary in nature. This means that KI may be used as a contrasting subject by students specialising in Humanities and the Arts, and those specialising in Mathematics and Sciences. As KI is taken in lieu of GP, students may not offer both KI and GP. If students choose to study KI, they must offer it as their fourth H2 subject. This means that if they find that they need to drop an H2 subject, the subject they drop will have to be KI. The student who drops KI will then have to replace KI with GP and an alternative contrasting subject at H1.

Compulsory Subjects
	H1	H2	H3
General Paper
Mother Tongue (Chinese, Malay, Tamil)
Project Work

Humanities and the Arts
	H1	H2	H3
Art
Economics
Geography*
History
Language & Literature (Chinese, Malay, Tamil)
Literature in English
English Language and Linguistics (ELL)**
General Studies in Chinese
China Studies in Chinese

Mathematics and Sciences
	H1	H2	H3
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Mathematics

Knowledge and Inquiry
	H1	H2	H3
Knowledge and Inquiry***

*H2 Geography and H2 History cannot be offered together.

**A class for English Language and Linguistics will be opened only if at least 20 students sign up for it. Applicants also have to sit for an aptitude test.
***K&I will be offered only in JC2 based on the student's performance in General Paper and tutor's recommendation.

Can Students posted to Arts take two H2 Science Subjects?

No they cannot if the two subjects are any two of the following subjects: Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

e.g. The following combination is not allowed:
H2 Econs H1 Geog H2 Chemistry H2 Biology

Yes provided
1. They meet the individual subject prerequisite
2. There are still places available. i.e. priority will first be given to Science students.

e.g.
H2 History H1 Geog H2 Physics H2 Maths or
H2 English H1 History H2 Mathematics H2 Chemistry
are allowed if the above two conditions are met.