NUS Admission Through Aptitude-Based Admission: How It Works Alongside Grades

What Aptitude-Based Admissions is

NUS uses a holistic admissions approach for many undergraduate courses, known as Aptitude-Based Admissions (ABA). Instead of ranking applicants on academic grades alone, ABA lets you show strengths and achievements outside the classroom as part of your application, alongside your grades.

What you submit

Your ABA application includes your academic grades plus up to 4 achievements or activities you want NUS to consider. These include competition results such as an Olympiad medal, national-level representation in sport or the arts, leadership in community service, entrepreneurship projects, or technical work like building software or an app. You also answer short written questions, giving you space to explain what each achievement involved and what it shows about you as an applicant.

How faculties apply ABA differently

Each faculty, school or college at NUS decides how it runs its own holistic assessment, so ABA does not look identical across courses. Depending on what you apply for, some courses add extra supplementary information, an aptitude test, or an interview on top of the standard ABA application. Courses with a strong practical, creative or vocational component add this kind of extra assessment more often than courses assessed mainly through academic coursework.

Because the extra requirements differ by faculty, check your specific course's admission page for what applies to you rather than assuming every NUS course follows the same ABA process.

How ABA is weighed against your grades

Grades remain part of every NUS application, including ABA ones, and meeting a course's minimum academic requirement stays necessary. Within that, ABA adds your achievements and short responses as a second layer NUS uses to decide between applicants with similar academic profiles, not as a replacement for strong grades. A candidate with solid grades and a well-explained, relevant achievement generally stands a better chance under ABA than a candidate with only grades or only achievements.

How ABA differs from a straightforward grades review

A grades-only review ranks every applicant on the same academic scale and draws a line at the number of available places. ABA keeps that academic scale as a baseline, then layers in a separate, more subjective assessment of your achievements and, where relevant, a test, portfolio or interview. This means 2 applicants with identical grades reach different outcomes if one presents a stronger, more relevant set of achievements.

Balancing ABA with your other applications

Applying through ABA does not stop you from also being assessed on academic merit for the same course, since your grades stay part of the same application. Treat ABA as an addition to your profile, not a separate track competing against a standard applicant pool, since NUS reviews every application through the same holistic lens for courses that use ABA.

Common mistakes in ABA applications

• Listing minor activities only to fill all 4 achievement slots, which weakens your strongest examples.

• Writing short responses that describe an activity without explaining your specific contribution or what you took from it.

• Choosing achievements unrelated to your intended course, when a closely related achievement would carry more weight for that faculty's assessment.

• Leaving preparation for an aptitude test or interview until after you submit your application, instead of starting early once you know your course requires one.

Who should apply through ABA

• Students with a genuine achievement outside academics, such as a national competition placing, a leadership role, or a completed personal project.

• Students applying to faculties that state they run additional assessment, such as an interview, test or portfolio, as part of admission.

• Students who want NUS to see context behind their grades, such as balancing schoolwork with a serious sport, arts commitment or family responsibility.

How the ABA process runs

You submit your ABA information as part of your regular NUS undergraduate application, not as a separate form, so grades and achievements go in together. After your application closes, faculties assess candidates through their own process, sometimes moving straight from your written submission to a decision, sometimes adding a test or interview stage for shortlisted applicants. NUS notifies you directly if your course requires that next step.

Preparing a strong ABA application

Pick achievements you describe specifically, with a result, a role and what you learned, rather than a general list of activities. Keep your short written responses focused on 1 or 2 achievements you explain in depth, instead of spreading thin coverage across all 4 slots. Where your intended course lists an aptitude test, interview or portfolio, prepare for that component with the same seriousness as your academic revision, since it carries real weight in the final decision.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need an achievement to apply to NUS at all?

No. You apply to NUS on academic grades alone if you prefer. ABA is an option to add non-academic strengths to your application, not a requirement for every applicant.

Does ABA apply to more than one course choice?

Your ABA information is part of your overall application, so the same achievements and responses support multiple course choices in one submission, though each faculty still assesses your application by its own standards.