2023 SEA Scores with Percentages

TL:DR:

2023 Cut off list with approximate percentages (2023)

Big disclaimer: this spreadsheet is based on historical data from 2023, it does not tell you what percentage you would need in SEA 2026, SEA 2027 or whatever year you happen to be reading this post, to get into those schools. Each year these percentages change.

UPDATED 03/03/2026: I sent a FOIA request to the Ministry of Education and received the 2023 cut-off scores and the 2023 Standard deviations for the 2023 SEA Exams! The list has been updated !

Long explaination and deriviation:

Following up on my last blog post, Calculating the SEA scores, I want to share with you all some information regarding the 2023 cut-off scores.

The 2023 cut-off scores can be found on Pennacool, and also on MyTriniChile. These scores originally are from a FOIA request to the MoE. At the time of this post, there aren't any more updated scores. Here are the original links:

https://sea.pennacool.com/pennacool/pclplus/cutoff_scores.php

https://mytrinichile.com/2024/10/08/sea-cut-off-scores-2022-and-2023/

[Update 3/3/26: The MoE sent me the 2023 cut-off scores directly and they are the same. The original document is here if you want to see it

Note that there are schools without cut-off score listed (the cut-off field is blank). This is because we have more secondary school spaces than children, so not all schools are filled, i.e., they have no cut-off, and you can get those by just listing it as a 4th choice. Be careful with these schools and check their reputation first though.

Note these only list the composite scores, but not the percentages. This lists relative positions of schools, yes, which is good and useful, but how do parents know what kind of marks those translate into? How would a parent know if their child is at a 230 or a 220 or a 200 composite score when picking choices?

Okay, so from the Calculating the SEA composite scores post, we defined the composite score calculation as

Composite = 200 + ( 15*Zm + 9*Zl + 6*Zcw )

Where Zm, Zl and Zcw are the Z-scores for Mathematics, Language Arts and Creative Writing respectively.

Which we simplified down to

Composite = 200 + (30 * [Student weighted % - Year's mean %] / Year's Standard deviation)

as a working model.

The 2023 mean is published by the MoE as

Mathematics: 50.4

ELA: 61.6

CW: 53.4

(Calculated weighted mean: 54.36%)

So we need to find the standard deviation. We can use a known-result and rearrange to solve for the standard deviation.

Here is an example from the SEA Paren't Support Facebook group:

2023 Composite: 243.87

Math: 82.67

ELA: 93.75

CW: 18

Weighted student %: 87.46%

Substituting into the composite formula,

243.87 = 200 + (30 * [87.46% - 54.36%] / Year's Standard deviation)

2023's standard deviation: 22.63 % [Update: this has been replaced by the official standard deviations in the spreadsheet]

So, rewriting the finished formula:

2023 Composite = 200 + (30 * [Student weighted % - 54.36 %] / 22.63%)

Flipping it around,

Student % = [[ (Composite - 200) / 30 ] * Std Dev ] + Mean

2023 Student % = [ [ (Composite - 200) / 30 ] * 22.6% ] + 54.36%

[Update, the MoE provided me the actual Standard Deviations for the SEA2023 exam, the spreadsheet below uses the official standard deviation sent by the MoE]

Applying this to the 2023 cut-off scores, and we can get a spreadsheet you can use to evaluate schools by approximate student % for that year (2023).

2023 Cut off list with approximate percentages (2023)

Since this is a spreadsheet file, you can Sort based on Ascending, Descending, District, etc. Note there are separate scores for boys and girls. Also note some government secondary schools are not on the cut-off list... this is likely because they have no cut-off... Many of the schools not on the list have police presence and reputations for indiscipline. Be very careful if selecting schools not on the list.

Hope you enjoy it and best of luck.