Shera:My close relative doesn't wish to shortlist the amk area seconday schools based on the name, rather she will prefer via mouth recommendation. I am still searching for this....Hi SheraMaybe let me share how the info at MOE website could be useful (IMHO)1) [Background] Get a list of AMK schools, then look into their individual achievements. For example using Anderson Secondary, we could see what subjects and CCAs are offered, how they are achieving in the CCA areas. Are these subjects or CCAs suitable for the boy?http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/SIS_SearchDtls.asp?StrCode=3001 2) [Input] Still using Anderson as the example, their PSLE cutoff is 248 and mean is 254. This gives an indication of the academic achievement level of the sec 1 cohort - his future schoolmates. Will he be comfortable with the forseen competition?3) [Output] If you look at the school website http://schools.moe.edu.sg/andersonss under achievement, you will find that they are achieving mean L1B5 at 10.5, 9.6 and 10.3 for the past 3 years. That's very consistent delivery of good results.If I were to be more KS and look at these achievement relatively, I would ask myself if other schools are also achieving this standard. Looking at http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/files/2008/09/pr20080921-annex-e1.pdf, I will find that this school is placed in band 1 - topmost rung. There must be a \"system\" of teachers, processes, techniques etc and even culture that are working very well in the school to deliver these results. That said, if your relative is looking at IP, SAP etc schools, then my steps may not be useful.I think when I had done this homework, I will look for word of mouth confirmation. Word of mouth could be subjective because we are not aware of the context of experience, the children are different etc. For me, only 20% of my decision would be based on word of mouth. Just my 2 marks worth.