A SGC is definitely not easy to write so here is an introduction to it and some tips to guide you along 🙂
What is SGC and why do you need it
The Singapore Graduation Certificate (SGC) consolidates your academic and non-academic achievements. Once you have completed your pre-university education, you will receive your SGC. This SGC will act as a testimonial primarily for your university applications. In addition, this would allow those university professors/interviewers to know you a little better outside of the grades that you will be using to apply. As the SGC places more emphasis on character development and personal qualities, your achievements in the different domains will be better acknowledged.
What should you put in your SGC
The SGC will include the following features:
- Academic Achievements
Some academic achievements can include your grades in JC, participation in Olympiads or research programmes and scholarships etc.
- Non-Academic Achievements
The non-academic achievements you can consider are your participation in your CCA, any leadership positions that you hold or any community service that you have done in or outside of school etc.
Things to take note
- Do not purely list examples/events that you have attended. Tightly tie each event with your personal qualities that you want to showcase. After describing the achievement, always go further and explain how you demonstrated these qualities through your actions or contributions made.
- Be honest. There is no point in fabricating any achievement. Ultimately, it will reflect badly on you when you are unable to back your “experiences” up when asked to share more about it during interviews. Â
- Since an SGC does have a word limit, do be concise and straight to the point when you are writing your SGC. It won’t do you any good to write a grandmother’s story. This would only make it harder for those reading your SGC to pick out values that are worth showcasing. (In fact, you might just end up getting rejected by your teacher and having to rewrite the entire SGC! Let’s not waste time!)
- When mentioning events, do check the proper name of the event. Also, do give an accurate description of what the event is about.Â
- Write in a third person perspective. (E.g. AA was involved in …)
- Write in past tense
- State your abbreviations before they are used. Eg Co-Curricular Activity (CCA)
