Thanks for your prompt reply! The H3 subject is intended for students who has deep passion/ competence in a certain subject, but as we all know, for some, there is a strong imbalance between subjects (super good at some but flunk others). I understand the rationale for looking at the student’s entire results and not just that particular subject when considering whether or not he gets the H3 offer (school don’t want to overwhelm you etc), but it could be quite frustrating when that person is doing exceedingly well in a subject, only to be rejected the H3 application because of one subject that pulls his overall grade down… Especially if that bad subject is something not related to his future but that H3 subject is what he intends to do in Uni and possibly for life.

Hi, just a question, when people say taking H3 subject won’t give them a better chance in university applications, is it the case that the university won’t look at the H3 subject at all or that the minimum requirement has to be fulfilled for entrance and a H3 subject doesn’t help in terms of that.


For example, in the scenario that a person has a H3 distinction but narrowly missed the entrance criteria compared to another person but did not take H3 subject but meets the entrance criteria, the H3 person has no advantage at all and will surely lose out?

I’m really curious about this, Please offer your thoughts and thanks in advance!

Well, NYGH might still rise back to the top spot, you never know. But is it true that RGS’s promotion criteria is 50%? That’s a huge difference from NYGH’s 65%. Maybe RGS sets harder papers…?

But is dsa at this point in time still possible? Why does transfer require dsa? Can just submit application letter and relevant materials right? If the jc thinks you have potential, they might call you for an interview or something?

Umm…my question is directed at the scenario that an IP student attempt the dsa route into JC. But thanks for the reply!


So, you mentioned that academic dsa is no longer an option, what about other aspects, like talent in programming/writing ect? Do you know of any instances whereby competence demonstrated in those fields is taken into considerstion? Thanks!

Also, what are the possible implications of dsa on a jc student?

Thanks to the kind souls that has responded. May I enquire, if the dsa route is taken, apart from academics and cca, is it possible to try using other niche areas or talents? Thank you!

That’s sound analysis, I appreciate them a lot. Putting aside policies and criteria, I fear it would simply be harder for students to transfer out of the IP programme this year as eight JCs are undergoing merger. That would mean less student intake and rougher competition, am I right?


Responding to the whole “IP Students have their JC spots secured” thing, it is actually a little off from the truth as students still need to sit for internal exams which’s difficulty level far surpass those of the O-Level exams. Also, students in the IP stream are being compared to their peers, the top few percent of the entire nation, which means a harder fight to stay afloat (I guess this is a case of unability to cope).

At least for Olevel students, they are being pitched against the entire nation, not some elite batch and have their papers generally less challenging. There is much serious repercussions should a student screw up in an IP school-he or she might virtually have no JCs to attend at all. Whereas if that same student were to take the olevels, he or she might screw up but still end up in a JC, albeit a less prestigious one.

Thanks for replying, guys! Ok, now it seems like it’s really hard to transfer to another JC out of the IP syllabus apart from the dsa path as MOE might not allow it… That sucks… Is the MOE’s ban restricted to a transfer to IP JCs or all JCs in general? Someone mentioned that Anderson does not accept IP transfer. So it is up to MOE and the JC you applied to to decide whether the transfer would be successful ? Are there any written or unwritten criteria for considering when transferring?

Sorry for posting it here but I couldn’t seem to find any post that addresses this issue. Is anyone familiar with how the process goes if an IP student were to transfer to another JC at the end of year 4? Would MOE allow it? What are the written and unwritten criteria? Thank you so much!