📌 When is Balloting Needed?
Balloting is required only if the number of applicants exceeds the number of vacancies.
However, it is not a pure lottery — applicants are prioritized based on:
- Citizenship
- Home-to-School Distance
🧮 Grouping Priority (Waterfall Method)
Applicants are sorted into 6 priority groups:
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | SC living < 1 km |
| 2 | SC living 1–2 km |
| 3 | SC living > 2 km |
| 4 | PR living < 1 km |
| 5 | PR living 1–2 km |
| 6 | PR living > 2 km |
- SC = Singapore Citizen, PR = Permanent Resident
- The applicant’s priority depends first on citizenship, then distance
- Parent’s registered address is used (check using OneMap)
🔄 How Balloting Works (Waterfall Allocation)
Vacancies are given out in order from Group 1 to Group 6.
If a group has more applicants than the remaining vacancies, only that group ballots. Others below are excluded.
Example:
If there are 15 vacancies, and:
- Group 1 has 10 applicants → all get in.
- 5 places go to Group 2 (which has 10 applicants) → balloting occurs for 5 spots.
- Groups 3–6 do not ballot or get a chance.
🔍 Clarifying Ballot Figures: “53 (20) [SC<1]”
If you see:
“53 (20) [SC<1]”
It means:
- 53 = Total applicants
- 20 = Vacancies
- [SC<1] = Balloting happened among SCs within 1 km
⚠️ Common Misunderstanding:
“All 53 are balloting.”
❌ Wrong.
✔️ Correct: Only SC < 1km applicants are involved in balloting, and there are more than 20 but ≤53 of them.
The rest (lower priority) are not considered at all.
📉 Ballot Symbols (in History Tables)
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | SC < 1 km (balloting occurred) |
| 2 | SC 1–2 km |
| 3 | SC > 2 km |
| 4 | PR < 1 km |
| 5 | PR 1–2 km |
| 6 | PR > 2 km |
| 7–11 | Variants with “#” — no ballot, but cutoff |
💡 TIP: Use Past Trends to Decide Where to Apply
If you’re considering a school, especially popular ones, the past 3 years’ balloting trend is a good reference for gauging your chances.
- ✅ If there’s frequent balloting at SC < 1km, competition is very high, and many parents avoid applying.
- 🔍 Use only the last 3 years of data, because starting from 2022, Phase 2C reserves 40 mandatory vacancies for broader access.
Earlier trends don’t reflect this policy change.
👉 Check this official site for up-to-date history:
Ballot History (P1 Registration)