ALMOST 90 per cent of students at Temasek Junior College have scored As in the A-level course, Project Work, a more than 10-fold jump over the previous year.

The school's results in the subject which, unlike other A-level courses, is graded inhouse, represent a remarkable turnaround.

The school had 13 classes, out of 33, in which all students scored an A, according to results released yesterday. In all, 87 per cent of students received the distinction.

The results were 'much better than expected', said the college's deputy head for Project Work, Ms Ying Min.

The scores are very different from the JC's 2007 showing, when upset students vented their frustration in online forums. Then, only 7 per cent got As, compared to Hwa Chong Institution's 85 per cent, the highest that year.

Many schools have improved this year, with Hwa Chong again topping the chart with a record 98 per cent of students with As. The national average was 44 per cent.

While not all junior colleges were willing to reveal their results, students and teachers told The Straits Times that Raffles had an 85 per cent distinction rate, National 80 per cent, Meridian 73 per cent, Victoria 53 per cent, Nanyang 17 per cent and St Andrew's 13 per cent.

Project Work, which makes up 10 per cent of the universities' admission criteria, has been dogged by controversy since it was introduced as an A-level subject five years ago because it is marked internally. It is also moderated inhouse by junior college teachers before being sent for external moderation

While the in-depth research project was introduced to develop students' research, problem-solving, communication and teamwork abilities, some teachers and students question the accuracy of test results. Adding fuel to the fire is the big difference in the percentage of distinctions scored across junior colleges.

Gayathiri Ganeshan, 17, a second-year student from St Andrew's, wondered about the disparity. She said: 'I find it hard to understand why there's such a huge gap (in Project Work results) between our school and other schools, though our school is on par academically.'

One teacher, who declined to be named, said: 'How is it that some schools can have such a great improvement within one year? It makes you wonder if they decided to be more lenient after doing badly last year.'

But those who grade the subject say they are guided by a detailed marking scheme in the awarding of marks.

Yishun Junior College vice-principal Wong Mun Wah thinks the improvement of some colleges could be due to sharing good practices: 'Those colleges worked on ideas from schools which have done well and streamlined some of the processes.'

That is exactly what Temasek said it did.

'We were shaken by last year's results and everyone worked very hard. We tightened our processes and gave closer supervision to the students,' said Ms Ying.

'What we did was push them to be more creative and not be satisfied with their original ideas.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Apr 12, 2008.