SOTA conducts ONE (1) Admission Exercise a year through the Talent Academy (TA). Application opens in April and closes in May. This year’s TA is currently scheduled to take place from 23 June to 18 July 2020. Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on the application process and the timeline to take note of.

Parents and pupils are encouraged to choose schools wisely based on the pupil's aptitudes and strengths, bearing in mind SOTA's academic and non-academic requirements, and the programmes available to develop the area of talent.
 

All shortlisted DSA-Sec applicants must complete all TA activities within the stipulated time. In view of the COVID-19 situation, this year’s TA activities will take place online and will include the following:

• Individual auditions or portfolio presentations
• Panel interviews
• Online questionnaires

 

There is no TA Registration Fee applicable.
 

No, there isn't. SOTA admits 100% of its Year 1 cohort through the DSA exercise and does not participate in the S1 Posting exercise post-PSLE. There is no other admission exercise for Year 1 intake for the Academic Year 2021 other than the DSA exercise.
 

Applicants must meet the following:

• At least 12 years old (born in 2008), and
• Primary 6 pupils studying in a local MOE mainstream school and taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2020, or
• Primary 6 pupils who are home-schooled and taking the PSLE in 2020

 

The application is open to Singaporeans, Singapore Permanent-Residents, and Foreigners who meet the eligibility criteria stated in the first question of this section.
 

Please see the following:

• Home-schooled in Singapore and taking the PSLE in 2020: DSA-Secondary
• Home-schooled in Singapore and not taking the PSLE in 2020: DSA-Secondary (Non-MOE)
• Home-schooled overseas: DSA-Sec (Non-MOE)

 

• You are not eligible to apply via the DSA-Sec exercise as you will not be taking the PSLE.
• If you are born in 2008 (12 years old) and will be completing Grade 6 by December 2020, you may apply via the DSA-Sec (Non-MOE) category. Learn more about the DSA-Sec (Non-MOE) Application Process, or
• If you are currently in Grade 7, 8 or 10, you may apply via the Non-DSA category. Find out if you are eligible to apply by checking the "Eligibility" section of the "Criteria" tab on the Non-DSA page.

 

No, you are not required to have any formal training or certification in order to apply. For Music pupils, it is important that you are able to sight-read and sight-sing.
 

To gain admission into SOTA via DSA-Sec, shortlisted applicants must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Received either a Confirmed Offer or Wait List (subject to available vacancies) for their final TA oucome
2. Indicated SOTA during the Exercise School Preference Submission
3. Be eligible for the Express Stream

You may receive the following outcome for your PSLE results: Express stream, Express/Normal Academic stream or Normal Academic stream. If you satisfy criteria 1 and 2 and have received an ‘Express/Normal Academic’ stream, you may be automatically assigned to the Express stream and be posted to SOTA.

The art forms available for admission to Year 1 are:

• Dance
• Literary Arts
• Music (Performing) or Music (Creating)
• Theatre
• Visual Arts

Applicants may apply for up to TWO (2) art forms only.
 

No. You may only apply for ONE (1) instrument (including ‘voice’) and to ONE (1) Music track only.
 

You may apply to ONE (1) track only. Based on the Music Faculty’s assessment of the portfolio submitted, you may be shortlisted to audition for the other track instead, if you are found to be more suitable for that.
 

Learn more about the two tracks here.

• Application is done online via the TA Portal. You will need to register for an account before you can log in to complete the application form.
• You must download the Preparation Notes and Checklist relevant to the art form that you are applying for to find out what you need to prepare for your portfolio submission, as well as the supporting documents required for submission.
• It takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete the entire application for one art form, provided that the supporting documents and portfolio submission have been prepared in advance.
• Applicants are advised to submit their applications early, as the TA Portal may experience slower connectivity due to high traffic during the application period.
• Incomplete applications will be disqualified. Appeals for late submissions will not be considered.
• Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on application process and the timeline to take note of.

 

No, you are not required to submit an application via MOE's DSA-Sec Portal. Students interested to apply to SOTA will continue to apply directly to SOTA via the TA Portal because of our unique admission requirements. Read the article here.
 

Please email our technical support team at support@sota.edu.sg or the Office of Student Affairs at sa@sota.edu.sg.
 

You may refer to the YouTube Help page for assistance.
 

You may refer to the Google Support page for assistance.
 

There are many free online websites you can use. Below are a few suggestions. Please note that SOTA is not affiliated to any of these sites. The links below will bring you to an external website not hosted by SOTA.

• Convert word document to pdf document (Link 1 or Link 2)
• Compress / Resize pdf documents (Link 1)
• Merge individual pdf documents into 1 document (Link 1)

 

No. All auditions, assessments, and interviews must be done during the TA dates indicated. All TA schedules will be arranged by SOTA and no change of dates is allowed. Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on the application process and the timeline to take note of. We regret that due to the nature of the audition activities, no auditions will take place outside of the TA window.

Log in to the TA Portal and:

• check the status of your shortlisting outcome, and
• download your TA Schedule to find out the TA dates/days that you are allocated to. Do note that these may take place over multiple days.
• check the ‘announcement’ tab to learn more about your TA Schedule
• If you are shortlisted for 1 art form you will need to complete the following:
  • One art form audition
  • One panel interview
  • Two online exercises
• If you are shortlisted for 2 art forms you will need to complete the following:
  • Two art form auditions
  • One panel interview
  • Two online exercises
• Shortlisted candidates must complete all their scheduled activities within the stipulated time. Absence during any part of the TA will disqualify the application
• Download the Preparation Notes and Checklist to learn more

 

No. All TA schedules are arranged by SOTA and no change of dates is allowed. Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on the application process and the timeline to take note of
 

SOTA would have carefully considered each application, and as such, the decision is final.
 

All applications are carefully reviewed and considered by the selection panel according to a rigorous process. As such, the decision of the selection panel is final. The school reserves the right not to release the results and/or the reasons for non-selection of applicants. To ensure the continued rigour of the selection process, we regret that we are not able to provide any feedback.
 

You must log in to the TA Portal to check the status of your final TA outcome. Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on application process and the timeline to take note of.
 

• You must participate in the School Preference Exercise in late October (date TBC). You will receive a School Preference Form from your primary school
• The form indicates thelist of DSA schools from which you have received a Confirmed Offer and/or the list of schools at which you have been placed on Wait List
• Exercise your option and indicate SOTA as one of your choices at this stage

 

A pupil on the Wait List may be allocated to SOTA if there are available vacancies, and, if he/she meets the following criteria:

• Indicated SOTA as first choice during the Exercise School Preference Stage
• Be eligible for the Express stream

 

Available vacancies may happen if a Confirmed Offer student:

• did not exercise their offer from SOTA during the Exercise School Preference Stage, or
• is ineligible for the Express stream

 

Pupils on the Wait List are ranked based on their overall performance across the assessed areas during the Talent Academy. For example, if there are 10 pupils on the wait list, they will be ranked from 1st to 10th. If there are 2 vacancies available, the pupils ranked 1st and 2nd will be posted to SOTA, provided that they meet the eligibility criteria.
 

You will receive your school posting result on the same day as the release of the PSLE result. Please refer to the DSA-Sec How To Apply tab for more information on application process and the timeline to take note of.
 

You will participate in the S1 Posting Exercise for posting to other schools.
 

Yes. Absence during any part of the TA will disqualify the application. Shortlisted candidates must attend and complete all their scheduled activities. As the TA includes group activities, please note that there will not be any make-up auditions.
 

We understand your request for feedback in order to help you improve in your artistic journey. The school maintains strict confidentiality about the audition procedures and criteria for the Talent Academy, to ensure and maintain the authenticity of performances and portfolios at future auditions. As such, we regret that we are unable to share any feedback.
 

Regrettably, no. The school evaluates the candidate's artistic talent and potential based on the admission criteria and a rigorous assessment process during the Talent Academy (TA). Candidates are assessed via solo auditions or portfolio presentations depending on the art form, as well as group workshops, exercises and interviews. Admission to the school is highly competitive. As such, we are only able to offer candidates who have performed consistently well across the assessed areas. The school would have carefully reviewed each applicant’s TA assessment and therefore, the decision is final.
 

No, you may not. SOTA admits 100% of its Year 1 cohort via the DSA exercise, as such, the S1 Posting exercise after PSLE is not applicable for admission to SOTA.
 

You may only re-apply for admission to Year 5 in the year that you are taking the Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'O' level examinations. This is because you are required to submit a fresh portfolio of works completed in the last 3 consecutive years, and cannot include works submitted in your previous application.