86.8% of students get five or more passes in O-level exams

Performance by cohort is best showing in at least 3 decades

- Tan Wei Xuan

Students who sat the O-level examinations in 2023 fared better than previous cohorts, achieving the best set of results in at least three decades.

Out of the 23,503 students who received their results on Jan 11, 20,389 or 86.8 per cent of them attained five or more passes.

This is up slightly from 86.2 per cent in 2022, and 85.6 per cent in 2021.

Among the students who collected their results on Jan 11 was 16-year-old Janelle Tong Jing Xuan. The Nan Chiau High School student fared “better than expected”, but declined to disclose her results.

She achieved them while juggling preparations for two sporting competitions in 2023.

A Team Singapore para swimmer, Janelle was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects her mobility and sense of balance.

She bagged a silver and three bronze medals at the latest Asean Para Games in June 2023, when she was the youngest athlete on the team, after competing in the 2023 Para World Swimming Series in May.

Janelle took a month off school to focus on swimming in April, when she attended a two-week-long training camp held in Phuket.

To keep up with her studies while missing school, she would take with her revision materials for self-study while overseas.