YST adopts a holistic approach to assess applicants for admissions into their chosen major. While musical capability is generally expected of qualified candidates, other factors such as applicant’s interest, aptitude and academic maturity will also be taken into consideration. In addition to meeting our minimum academic qualifications for admission, candidates should preferably possess good academic records. Applicants required to have completed or are completed senior high school, that is, at least twelve years of general education by July of the year of application. The high school qualifications and applicant group types accepted by NUS are listed below:

Singapore Qualifications

• Singapore-Cambridge GCE ‘A’ Level
• Polytechnic Diploma from Singapore
• NUS High School Diploma 
• International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma
• International Baccalaureate (IB) Career-related Programme (CP)

International Qualifications

• ‘A’ Level (AQA, Cambridge, Edexcel, London, OCR, Oxford International AQA, WJEC)
• American High School Diploma (ACT with Writing or SAT required, together with SAT Subject Tests or Advanced Placement Test scores)
• Australian High School
• Brunei ‘A’ Level 
• Canadian High School Diploma 
• Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE)
• Danish Studentereksamen (Upper Secondary Leaving Examination)
• European Baccalaureate Diploma 
• French Baccalaureate Diploma 
• Gao Kao or PRC National College Entrance Examination (Applicants who are unable to submit Gao Kao results during the application phase because they will only be completing high school by June 2026 may submit transcripts for all semesters in high school during the application. They must submit the final Gao Kao results before enrolment in August 2026. Applicants who have already completed high school must submit Gao Kao results in order to qualify to apply.)
• German Abitur 
• Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE)/ Hong Kong ‘A’ Level
• Indian Standard 12 (Central and ISC Boards)
• Indian Standard 12 (State and other Boards) (ACT with Writing or SAT required, together with SAT Subject Tests or Advanced Placement Test scores)
• Indonesian Ujian Nasional (UN)/ Raport 
• Italian Diploma di Esame di Stato
• Mauritius High School Certificate 
• New Zealand National Certificate of Education Achievement (NCEA) Level 3
• Oman Thanawiya Amma (Secondary School Leaving Certificate)
• Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM)
• Sri Lanka ‘A’ Level
• Swiss Matura/ Swiss Federal Maturity Certificate 
• Taiwan Senior High School 
• Thailand Certificate of Secondary Education (Mathayom 6)
• Turkish High School 
• Unified Examination Certificate (UEC)
• Vietnam National High School Graduation Examination

Other International Qualifications 

Applicants who have completed high school final examination and attained qualifications not found in the list above may also apply but will be requested to provide additional scores for (1) ACT with Writing or SAT and (2) SAT Subject Tests or Advanced Placement Test.