DSA-Secondary

How To Apply

Date	For	What To Do
10 March 2023	All Applicants	Check Your Eligibility Criteria: At least 12 years old (born in 2011) Primary 6 students studying in a local MOE mainstream school and taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2023 Click the Criteria tab above to read more about the criteria on admission, eligibility, and successful enrolment to SOTA
10 March 2023	All Applicants	Download the Preparation Notes and Checklist for the art form that you wish to apply to here Prepare your portfolio for submission Note: You may apply for up to TWO (2) art forms only.
31 March 12:00 noon – 19 May 2023 5:00 pm (SGT)	All Applicants	Apply Online Application opens on 31 March, 12:00 noon and closes on 19 May, 5:00 pm (SGT). Sign up for a TA Portal account. Link to the sign up page will be published on 31 March. Ensure that the email account used to create the account belongs to the parent/guardian of the applicant, as email notifications will be sent to the email address used to create the account. Note If you are applying to TWO (2) art forms, you only need to submit ONE (1) application. Choose the 2 art forms when prompted. You will not be able to go back to amend your choices once you have confirmed your selection(s). You will not be able to apply for a second art form if you have already chosen and confirmed one art form, or have submitted an application for the first art form. You will not be able to cancel/withdraw your application once you have confirmed your selections in the portal. It takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete the entire application for ONE (1) art form, provided that the portfolio submission and all supporting documents have been prepared in advance. Submit your application early, as the TA portal may experience slower connectivity due to high traffic towards the close of the application period. Incomplete applications will be disqualified. Appeals for late submissions and applications will not be considered. You are not required to apply via the MOE DSA-Sec Portal.
6 June 2023 6:00 pm (SGT)	All Applicants	Log in to the TA Portal on 6 June from 6:00 pm onwards to check your Shortlisting Outcome.
6 June 2023 6:00 pm (SGT)	All Shortlisted Applicants	Log in to the TA Portal and click on the Announcement tab. Read the announcement titled ‘Information for Shortlisted Applicants.’.
12 June 2023, 6:00 pm (SGT)	All Shortlisted Applicants	Log in to the TA Portal and: Download your TA Schedule to find out your allocated audition days/dates and to check for more information about your TA. Check the Announcement page for any new updates.
20 June – 23 June 2023 (SGT)	All Shortlisted Applicants	All TA activities will take place at SOTA Attend all scheduled TA activities comprising: Individual audition/portfolio presentation and interview Group activities Panel Interview Online questionnaires Note Shortlisted for 1 artform: attend 2 days of TA Shortlisted for 2 artforms: attend 3 days of TA You are advised to refrain from making travel plans during this period, as no auditions will be conducted outside of the scheduled dates. IMPORTANT: Shortlisted applicants must attend and complete all scheduled TA activities. Incomplete attendance will result in disqualification.
14 August 2023, 6:00 pm onwards	All Shortlisted Applicants	Log in to the TA portal to check the status of your final TA Outcome. (Confirmed Offer, Wait List, or Unsuccessful)
October 2023 [TBC]	Confirmed Offer and Wait List Applicants	Attend SOTA's Cohort and Parents' Engagement Programme (CPEP).
October – November 2023 [TBC]	Confirmed Offer and Wait List Applicants	Exercise your option and indicate SOTA during the DSA-Secondary Exercise School Preference Submission.
Between November – November 2023 [TBC]	Confirmed Offer and Wait List Applicants	Release of the PSLE and DSA School Posting Results You must qualify for the Express stream in order to be posted to SOTA.
December 2023 [TBC]	Applicants who are Successfully Enrolled to SOTA	Complete your registration online.

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. The School maintains strict confidentiality on all information provided to us during the TA applications and TA auditions. Hence, we regret that we will not provide any feedback on the application and/or outcome.

Criteria

Admission Exercise

SOTA conducts ONE (1) Admission Exercise a year through the Talent Academy (TA). 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.

SOTA may conduct the Supplementary Intake Exercise (SIE) annually in November. The SIE is subject to vacancies available on the day of release of PSLE results, and may open to selected art forms only.

All shortlisted DSA-Sec applicants must complete all TA activities within the stipulated time. TA activities include the following:

Individual audition/portfolio presentation and interview
Group activities
Panel interview
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.

The School may conduct a Supplementary Intake Exercise (SIE) in November post-PSLE subject to available vacancies.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must meet the following:

At least 12 years old (born in 2011), and
Primary 6 pupils studying in a local MOE mainstream school and taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2023, or

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 2023: DSA-Secondary (Non-MOE)

You are not eligible to apply via the DSA-Sec category as you will not be taking the PSLE.
If you are born in 2011 (12 years old) and will be completing Grade 6 by December 2023, you may apply via the DSA-Sec (Non-MOE) category. Learn more about the DSA-Sec (Non-MOE) Application Process, or

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:

Received either a Confirmed Offer or Wait List (subject to available vacancies) for their final TA outcome
Indicated SOTA during the Exercise School Preference Submission
Be eligible for the Express Stream (Scores 4 to 20) or
Be eligible for the Express /Normal (A) Option (Scores 21-22)

If you satisfy criteria 1 and 2 and have received an ‘Express/Normal (A) Option’, you may be automatically assigned to the Express stream and be posted to SOTA.

Art Forms Offered

The art forms available for admission to Year 1 are:

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

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

Applicants only need to submit ONE (1) application for BOTH art forms.

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 Process - Submission of Online Application

Application is done online via SOTA’s 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.
If you are applying to TWO (2) art forms, you only need to submit ONE (1) application. Choose the 2 art forms when prompted. You will not be able to go back and amend your choices once you have confirmed your selection(s).
You will not be able to apply for a second art form if you have already chosen and confirmed an art form or have submitted an application for the first art form.
You will not be able to cancel/withdraw your application once you have confirmed your selections.
It takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete the entire application for one art form, provided that the portfolio submission and all supporting documents 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 towards the close of 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 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.

No, your application to SOTA via the TA Portal is not counted as part of your three (3) choice limit for DSA applications submitted through MOE DSA Portal.

We regret that we are unable to provide in-person support. Please email us at [email protected] for technical support.

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.

Application Process - Shortlisting Phase

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 artform audition/presentation and interview
- Group activities
- A panel interview
- Online questionnaires
If you are shortlisted for 2 art forms you will need to complete the following:
- Two art forms auditions/presentations and interviews
- Group activities
- A panel interview (same interview for both shortlisted artforms, only required to take this ONCE)
- Online questionnaires (same questionnaires for both shortlisted artforms, only required to take this ONCE)
Shortlisted applicants must complete all their scheduled activities in SOTA and within the stipulated time. Absence during any part of the TA will disqualify the application.

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.

Application Process - TA Outcome

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) through MOE DSA-Sec Portal.
The MOE DSA-Sec Portal will indicate the list 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 (Scores 4 to 20) or the Express/Normal (A) Option (Scores 21 to 22)

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 and indicated SOTA as their first choice.

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. 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 activities, 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.

The School may conduct a Supplementary Intake Exercise (SIE) in November should there be available vacancies. Please check our website for details on the day of PSLE Results Release for updates.

The SIE may open if there are available vacancies post-PSLE.

Pupils who have attended the TA (shortlisted) or applied (not shortlisted) via the DSA-Sec, may apply again via SIE.

They are not eligible to apply if they have been successfully posted to a school via the DSA School Posting.

Yes, you may, subject to available vacancies. Please check the website in March the following year for the update.

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