05 May 2023
GEP stands for Gifted Education Programme. It is designed for intellectually gifted students. As regular curriculum is insufficient to meet the gifted needs, GEP is created to provide them with a more challenging, and enriched, curriculum.
The curriculum is enriched, not accelerated. That means it is built on the regular curriculum, but extending beyond the basics, requiring more higher level thinking, and providing more opportunities for experiential learning.
The school will inform Primary 3 students on the GEP screening test, which will be held in August. Typically all P3 will take the test, unless opted out. This is the 1st test, comprising of 2 papers:
Students who passed the 1st test will be invited to the GEP selection test in October. They will have to sit for the 2nd test with 4 papers, over 2 days:
The General Ability papers are kind of like IQ tests, where students have to identify patterns and solve non-standard puzzles.
By November, you will receive the results. If selected, big congratulation 🎉 as you are the top 1% in your cohort! You can join the GEP and transfer to one of the 9 GEP schools in the following year. Refer to MOE website for the exact key dates.
There are 9 GEP schools.
| School | Area |
|---|---|
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | Novena |
| Catholic High School | Bishan |
| Henry Park Primary School | Bukit Timah |
| Nan Hua Primary School | Clementi |
| Nanyang Primary School | Bukit Timah |
| Raffles Girls’ Primary School | Bukit Timah |
| Rosyth School | Serangoon |
| St. Hilda’s Primary School | Tampines |
| Tao Nan School | Marine Parade |
Note that there is no longer any GEP secondary schools, as most of them became IP schools with their own programme under School-Based Gifted Education (SBGE).
MOE does not encourage students from preparing for the tests.
However, it will be absurd to sit for a test without knowing what you will be tested for. Minimally, understand what kind of questions will be in the tests.
The math tests will be problem solving questions based on pattern recognition, geometric shapes, spatial visualization etc.
The english tests will require strong vocabulary, good reasoning and logical deduction.
You can prepare your child with games such as sudoku, chess, go, crosswords, scrabble, etc.
There are no past year papers, but many enrichment centres have come up with GEP exercises and mock exams. We do NOT endorse any of them. But they are good reference, and these are from Think Academy:
And of course, read lots of books.