DSA FAQ

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General


Question 1	• My child may be eligible for more than a single DSA. Hence, I would like to know how that works. • Can a child be assessed under other categories despite registering for DSA Sports? • Can my child apply for both DSA Score and Service Leadership?
Answer	Applicants can apply for more than one talent area from a school. On the DSA-Sec portal, indicate up to 3 choices and 3 talent areas. You may indicate up to 2 talent areas for the same school. If you are intending to apply for 2 talent areas at the same school, you must indicate both as separate choices. Your child will be required to rank his/ her choice during the School Preference Submission.
Question 2	• What are the documents that we need to submit for DSA? • How many certificates should we produce?
Answer	Your child’s primary school information will automatically be shared with us. This information includes your child's Co-curricular Activities (CCA), Values in Action (VIA) involvement, School-based achievements and awards, NAPFA results and Junior Sports Academy participation. You do not need to input these information. On the DSA-Sec portal, you may provide information on non-school based activities and achievements, which are related to your child's chosen talent areas. This section is non-compulsory, with a limit of 10 entries. There is no specific requirement to the number of certificates that you need to present. We suggest that you piece the supporting documents in accordance to the selection criteria so that the assessor can have a clearer idea of your child’s talents/ interests, based on the supporting documents.
Question 3	What is the PSLE score for DSA admission?
Answer	Jurong Secondary School offers N(A) and N(T) courses in addition to Express Course. If your child/ ward has been offered a Confirmed Offer for our school, his/ her PSLE aggregate must at least qualify them for the N(T) course (source: MOE website https://www.moe.gov.sg/secondary/courses/)
Question 4	What is Jurong Secondary School’s cutoff for this year’s intake?
Answer	PSLE score range of 2021 • Express: 6 - 15 • Normal (Academic): 21 - 23 • Normal (Technical): 25 - 28
Question 5	• If my child loses interest in the programme, can he opt out? • Can my child withdraw from the DSA program after my child is accepted in the DSA program? • If my child were to enrol for basketball DSA, can he change to a different course at a later date?
Answer	It is MOE’s policy that a student will commit to the particular DSA programme that he/ she is accepted for, to fully develop the talent in that area. In the event that your child is not sure that he/ she can sustain the programme for the next 4/ 5 years, then it may be advisable to reconsider the DSA option and look at entry via Secondary One Posting.
Question 6	How will you allocate the class for the students who enrolls through DSA?
Answer	DSA students together with the rest of the S1 cohort for 2022 will be randomly allocated to the classes based on the course that they are eligible for. As Jurong Secondary is a pilot school for Full Subject-Based Banding, each S1 class will have approximately 34 students (instead of the usual 40) and have students from different courses in the same form class. Each class will comprise ~20 students from Express; ~9 students from N(A); ~5 students from N(T)
Question 7	• Is it possible that the child successfully qualifies for more than 1 DSA choice? • Can my child choose the DSA he wants if he applies for 2 DSAs for the same school, and both applications are successful?
Answer	In the event that an applicant has applied for 2 talent areas in the same school, the school will only give him/her a confirmed offer for 1 talent area if successful. The applicant may make his/ her preferences known to the interviewers during the 2 interviews.
Question 8	• What happens if my child’s DSA application is accepted but the actual PSLE score falls below the cutoff? Will she be accepted to the school eventually? • For the DSA programme, is streaming to Express or Normal course dependent on the child's PSLE result?
Answer	Jurong Secondary School offers 3 academic courses of Express, N(A) and N(T). Students who are given a Confirmed Offer are guaranteed a place in the school, provided that they accept the offer and qualify for one of the 3 academic courses based on their PSLE results.
Question 9	• Who is eligible for DSA? • What are the minimum requirements which Jurong Secondary School looks at when selecting students under DSA?
Answer	All applicants who are eligible for Secondary One admission in 2023 are eligible for the DSA programme.
Question 10	If my child is not academically strong, will my child still be considered for DSA?
Answer	DSA is a means to acknowledge special talents of students. JSS does offer all the 3 different streams, and any child, regardless of his/her academic level, will be considered. Your child will be posted to the academic course that he/ she qualifies for based on his/ her PSLE results.
Question 11	If the cut-off point is 8-10, does my child need to score 8-10 AL points to be accepted or does my child need to achieve 4-22 AL points (express)?
Answer	Under the DSA- Sec Exercise, a child who is offered a place in our school and takes up that offer will need to qualify for MOE Secondary School Course eligibility under the AL Scoring System. This means that a child who scores within the range of 4-22 will be placed in the Express Course. To be successfully admitted to a DSA school, your child's Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results must qualify them for a course that the school offers. For more information, please refer to MOE Website - https://www.moe.gov.sg/microsites/psle-fsbb/psle/new-psle-scoring-system.html
Question 12	If my child gets AL 21, will he be streamed into the Express course?
Answer	With an AL Score in the range of 21 - 22, students will get an option of either Express or N(A) course. For more information, please refer to MOE Website - https://www.moe.gov.sg/microsites/psle-fsbb/psle/new-psle-scoring-system.html
Question 13	I understand that the cut-off point is between 6 to 15 AL for the Express course in Jurong Sec. If my child scores 20 AL and he is accepted under DSA, will he be placed under Express?
Answer	Yes. He will be placed in the Express course as an AL score of 20 will qualify him for the Express course. For more information, please refer to MOE Website - https://www.moe.gov.sg/microsites/psle-fsbb/psle/new-psle-scoring-system.html
Question 14	Is there any difference in the selection process due to students’ citizenship status? (E.g. Singaporean, PR and International Student)
Answer	No, there is no difference.
Question 15	How do we prepare for the DSA Interview?
Answer	Shortlisted applicants will be notified to attend in-person interviews/ sports trials. For SCoRe, the selection consists of 2 parts. The first part will consist of an interview to find out more about why your child is interested in DSA SCoRe and what he/ she is passionate about in Science. The second part will be a group collaboration discussion on a science investigation with other applicants. For Service Leadership, there will be a series of questions to assess the applicant’s passion, interest and motivation. There will also be scenarios for the applicant to present his/ her viewpoint and possible actions that he/ she will take to further his/ her cause. For Sports, shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend in-person sports trials.
Question 16	• How and when do I apply for DSA? • Do I enroll in DSA before or after the PSLE result?
Answer	Application for DSA-Sec can be submitted through the online DSA-Sec Portal. The application is open from 5 May 2022 to 1 Jun 2022, closing time at 3pm. For more information, please refer to MOE website – https://www.moe.gov.sg/secondary/dsa/application/

Science


Question 1	If my child has not participated in the Science Olympiad, is it alright for him to apply for DSA Science? What is the criteria to apply for it?
Answer	The applicant does not require Science Olympiad to apply for DSA Science. The qualities that we look out for in applicants include: a keen interest in learning science beyond the standard prescribed curriculum, passion in science research, and an interest to share their love for science with others.

Service Leadership


Question 1	• My child has no prior experience in Service Leadership and he has not had the chance to participate in any projects. What are the odds that he will be selected for this DSA programme? • Does my child have to previously be in the Prefectorial Board or be a Head / Vice-head Prefect to qualify for DSA?
Answer	As mentioned in the presentation, the three attributes that we are looking for are Interest, Passion and Motivation to serve. This means that as long as the student expresses these attributes in his/ her involvement, be it as a participant or leader in his school's VIA programme, it will suffice. Your child can also sharing during the interview on how he/she has expressed these attributes in his/her daily life. For example, how he/she has helped in taking care of others and helping out at home. A child who makes effort to reach out to others (eg. looking out for the elderly neighbors, buying food for the injured cat at the void deck) will have expressed these attributes.
Question 2	What kind of opportunities will my daughter get in the Service Leadership DSA throughout her 4-5 years to develop this strength in her?
Answer	The three areas of our programmes are service opportunities, leadership training and community partnerships Examples of service opportunities are conferences, learning journeys and attachments for exposure and to build up their social awareness for the needy. Leadership training will include workshops and camps to hone their leadership skills. Community partnerships will include projects that involve their peers in school projects and external programmes with the grassroots and other social organisations.
Question 3	Are there specific CCAs that my child must be in for DSA Service Leadership?
Answer	No, for the categories of SCoRe and Service Leadership, your child will go through the CCA Options Exercise. This is different from the DSA Sports. This will mean that other than their CCA commitments, they have to dedicate some afternoons to be involved in the DSA programme as mentioned in question 3.
Question 4	Would you have a spiral curriculum for service leadership?
Answer	Yes. Our Lower Secondary programme focuses on core competencies of service leadership, and conferences/ learning journeys to ignite their interest and broaden their perspectives. The Upper Secondary programme will focus on initiating service projects under our Project COMpassion and level VIA projects.
Question 5	Can the child be selected in the leadership DSA and also take part in NCC?
Answer	Yes, a child may be selected for Service Leadership DSA and at the same time, have NCC as his CCA.

Sports


Question 1	Will my child be guaranteed a place on the school sports team if he is accepted via DSA?
Answer	There is no guarantee of a confirmed place on the team. Selection for the teams participating in NSG is based on merit and will be done nearer to the date of competition. We also participate in other competitions to provide opportunities to gain experience.
Question 2	• My son's CCA is concert band, but your school does not have it for DSA. Is it advisable for my son to use badminton, to apply for DSA? As his primary school did not have badminton as CCA, he played it as a hobby. • Can I choose DSA basketball although I am in badminton as I like to play both badminton and basketball? • My child’s Primary school does not have a basketball CCA but he has been on ActiveSG Basketball Activity since primary 2 till now, participating in games challenge & carnivals. Can this be considered something that the school will accept?
Answer	Yes, we will welcome application as long there is interest and passion for the particular DSA category.
Question 3	• Will the students be asked to show skills during the DSA e-interview? • During the e interview, is the school expecting the applicant to perform any footwork or displaying the strokes to the interviewer?
Answer	All shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend in-person sports trials.
Question 4	Are there any other sports CCA that are offered under Sports DSA?
Answer	The school also offers Floorball (boys only) and Dragonboat (both boys and girls) as CCAs in the school. However, these 2 sports are not offered under the DSA Programme.
Question 5	How many students do you take in for each sport?
Answer	It all depends on the potential of the applicants for the respective sports.
Question 6	How is the live interview conducted for basketball as it has to be outdoors with other challenges?
Answer	All shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend in-person sports trials.
Question 7	• Is height a consideration for admission to the basketball DSA programme? • What are the odds of admission to DSA Basketball if my child’s CCA in primary school is Basketball and he is also a Junior Sports Academy (JSA) student?
Answer	We do consider the applicant’s height for Basketball DSA, but it is not the only or main criterion we look at. In previous DSA batches, we have selected students who were not tall, but possessed superb basketball skills. If the other aspects are suitable, height does not matter.
Question 8	Do students have to make a video of their skills demo?
Answer	All shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend in-person sports trials.

Updated 13 May 2022