Q: Is there one ABA portfolio that I can send to every Singapore university? A: No. NTU retains a named Aptitude-Based Admissions section, while NUS says its holistic assessment now subsumes the ABA of earlier years. SMU, SUTD, SIT, and SUSS publish their own application and selection requirements. Follow each university's current form instead of building one universal pack.
TL;DR
Grades and programme prerequisites still matter. The non-academic evidence that each university requests also differs. Use this guide to identify the relevant form fields, then verify the current application guide for your qualification and intake before submitting anything.
Last reviewed: 19 July 2026. The requirements below were checked against the universities' current official admissions pages. Application dates and assessment formats can change by qualification, programme, and intake.
What "ABA" means in 2026
The term is not used in the same way across all six universities:
NUS: holistic assessment applies to all applicants. NUS says this approach subsumes its earlier ABA process.
NTU: ABA remains a named part of the application process.
SMU, SUTD, SIT, and SUSS: their official pages describe their own supporting information, selection, and assessment processes. Do not assume that an NTU rule also applies to them.
This is not a route that makes academic requirements disappear. NUS assesses grades alongside interest, aptitude, and prior preparation. NTU says applicants considered under ABA remain subject to a minimum level of academic competence, and grades in relevant subjects may indicate aptitude.
University-by-university requirements
University
What the current official page asks for
What may happen after submission
NUS
All applicants for all degree programmes list up to four achievements, co-curricular activities, or non-academic activities and answer mandatory short-response questions.
A shortlisted applicant may be asked for programme-specific information, a test, or an interview.
The ABA section asks for achievement details, short answers of no more than 200 words each, and at least one but no more than two online appraisals.
A shortlisted applicant may be interviewed and asked to present supporting documents for verification.
SMU
The A-Level application page lists academic documents and, where applicable, school testimonials, CCA records, special achievements, and award records.
Shortlisted applicants for courses other than Law are interviewed. Law applicants take an in-person writing test, after which further shortlisted applicants are interviewed.
SUTD
The application includes personal insight questions, up to two referees, testimonials or recommendation letters, and relevant achievements or experiences from the previous four years with supporting documents.
Follow any instructions issued through the SUTD admissions system. The current application guide does not promise every applicant an interview.
SIT
SIT asks applicants to share their passion and aptitude in a written personal statement and list relevant work experience, awards, memberships, and qualifications. Applicants can select up to five programmes, and choice order is considered.
All shortlisted applicants are invited to an interview assessment. Formats can include video interviews, face-to-face interviews, or written tests. Some programmes also require a portfolio, essay, written test, or technical test.
SUSS
Applicants can rank up to four programmes. Some programmes have additional choice-ranking rules.
Shortlisted applicants may undergo up to three stages in one day: a response essay, online cognitive test, and programme-specific interview or assessment centre.
NUS: holistic assessment is now the main process
NUS requires every applicant to supply the achievement or activity list and short responses described above. Its published examples include Olympiad medals, national arts or sports representation, volunteering, relevant internships or work, leadership outside school, entrepreneurship, and software or open-source contributions used by many people.
These are examples, not a checklist. NUS says each college, faculty, or school considers different factors. A useful activity for one degree may not carry the same relevance for another.
For Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level applicants to AY2026/27, SMU's published application window was 17 November 2025 to 19 March 2026. That window has closed.
The same page says shortlisted applicants for courses other than Law will be interviewed. Law has a different sequence: an in-person writing test comes first, followed by an interview only for applicants who are further shortlisted.
Applicants using another qualification should use the matching SMU requirements page rather than copying the A-Level document list or timeline.
SUTD: personal insights, referees, and recent achievements
SUTD's application guide asks for personal insight responses that add information helpful to the application. It also allows up to two referees who have known the applicant academically or professionally for at least half a year recently.
The achievements section covers leadership, relevant research, internships, entrepreneurship programmes, community service, work experience, and other significant achievements. SUTD says the listed experiences and achievements should be from the previous four years and asks for supporting documents.
SIT describes five areas in its holistic selection: academic proficiency, passion, work experience, personality traits, and interests. It asks applicants to select up to five programmes and says the order of choices is considered.
For the 2026 cycle, SIT's online application period was 8 January to 19 March 2026. Interviews ran on programme-specific schedules from mid-February to mid-May. Both periods have passed.
SUSS: ranked choices and a possible multi-stage selection
SUSS permits up to four ranked programme choices. It says applicants are considered for those choices in order. Early Childhood Education, Psychology, and Social Work must be ranked within the first two choices for interview shortlisting.
For the July 2026 intake, applications ran from 19 November 2025 to 19 March 2026 and have closed. SUSS says applications for the July 2027 intake will begin in November 2026. Check the page again when that intake opens because the detailed dates may change.
How to prepare evidence without inventing a generic portfolio
Start with the actual fields in each application. For every achievement or activity that you choose to include, record:
What you did: name the activity, project, role, or responsibility.
Your contribution: separate your own work from the team's work.
Evidence: keep the certificate, letter, link, report, or other document that supports the claim.
Result: use a number only when you can substantiate it. A precise but invented metric is worse than an honest qualitative result.
Relevance: explain briefly how the experience relates to the programme or quality being assessed.
A compact drafting template is:
I worked on [specific activity]. My responsibility was [own contribution]. I changed or produced [specific action]. The result was [supported outcome]. This matters for [programme or skill] because [brief connection].
Treat this as a writing aid, not as a university-prescribed formula.
Appraisals and referees
Do not assume every university wants the same referee arrangement.
NTU requires one or two online appraisals for ABA.
SUTD allows up to two referees and asks that they know the applicant academically or professionally and have done so for at least half a year recently.
For the other universities, follow the current form and qualification-specific guide.
Ask permission before listing someone. Give the person accurate context about the programme and the activity they can directly comment on. Do not script praise or ask them to endorse facts they did not observe.
Interview and assessment preparation
Prepare around the assessment you were actually invited to, not a generic ABA interview:
review every claim and supporting document in your submitted application;
be ready to distinguish your contribution from a team's contribution;
explain what changed, failed, or was learned without adding new unsupported numbers;
read the invitation carefully for format, location, timing, and required materials;
check the programme's official page for any programme-specific test or portfolio requirement.
An interview invitation does not establish that every applicant, or every programme, follows the same assessment sequence.
Before you submit
Use the application guide for your qualification and intake.
Check programme prerequisites separately.
Confirm the current opening and closing dates on the official site.
Match each response to the university's own word or character limit.
Keep evidence for factual claims and verify names, dates, roles, and results.
Do not reuse NTU's 200-word rule or appraisal count as a universal standard.
