A Few Reflections on Academic DSA and the Future of Learning
13 March 2026
Recently, a number of parents have written to us asking what the removal of academic DSA might mean for programmes such as Math Olympiad and Science Olympiad.
Like many educators and parents, we have also been thinking about what these changes might mean for the way children learn and grow.
The recent discussions around DSA have prompted a broader reflection on what we should really be preparing our children for.
1. The changing landscape
In the past, a relatively larger pool of academically strong students could gain entry into secondary schools through DSA by showcasing strengths in areas such as STEM, languages, research, or academic competitions.
If academic DSA is indeed removed or significantly restricted, it appears that STEM-centric pathways may now be concentrated within specialised schools such as NUS High School of Mathematics and Science and School of Science and Technology, Singapore.
The consequence is not that opportunities disappear. Rather, competition for these specialised schools is likely to become even more intense, because more academically strong students will be competing for a smaller number of places.
At the same time, admission into these schools has never been straightforward. The interviews and assessments often probe deeply into how students think and exercise judgement, rather than simply what they know.
In 2025 we were very encouraged to see a significant number of our students receive Confirmed Offers from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science, despite the challenging interview process. Many of the questions students encountered were not about recalling facts, but about explaining scientific ideas, reasoning through unfamiliar situations, and demonstrating genuine curiosity about how the world works.
These are not abilities that can be acquired through last-minute preparation or cramming, even though a certain level of conceptual knowledge is essential. They develop gradually through sustained exposure to challenging ideas, thoughtful discussion, and the habit of reasoning things out carefully.
Over the years we have also noticed something interesting, albeit anecdotal. Admissions outcomes from specialised schools do not appear to simply reward the most decorated competition winners. Schools often seem to spread opportunities beyond the obvious “top medalists”. There has even been some talk of a “one offer per school per domain” approach at certain schools.
In other words, even among students with strong results, schools appear to look carefully at who shows intellectual sharpness, curiosity, and the ability to communicate ideas convincingly, rather than simply selecting the most heavily credentialed profiles.
Interestingly, the broader direction of education appears to be moving the same way. For example, this year, MGS is removing academic subjects from its list of DSA domains from next year and adding “Computational Thinking.”
This reflects a growing recognition that the ability to reason, analyse patterns, and approach unfamiliar problems may matter more than simply mastering techniques.
2. Why Olympiad thinking still matters
It is important to emphasise something that sometimes gets overlooked in discussions about admissions.
The skills developed through Olympiad training are not wasted if policies change.
Math and Science Olympiad training develops habits of mind that are rarely cultivated deeply in normal classroom settings: tackling unfamiliar problems, recognising patterns and structures, reasoning logically and clearly, breaking complex ideas into manageable parts, and persisting through difficulty.
These abilities help students think through unfamiliar situations, not only in competitions but also in secondary school and beyond.
In fact, we often see this effect quite clearly when our students move on.
Many of our Olympiad students are pleasantly surprised by how manageable some secondary school mathematics topics feel at first.
One S1 girl recently remarked that a type of question her classmates were struggling with was something she had learnt in a lower primary Avocado class years earlier, and that she remembered learning it with very little stress.
We see similar moments in science too. Occasionally students moving into secondary school tell us that certain ideas already feel familiar, simply because they had encountered the underlying concepts earlier in exploratory discussions during class.
Moments like these are not about being “ahead” of others. Rather, they show that when students have spent time thinking deeply about mathematics and science, they develop familiarity and confidence when encountering new ideas later on.
One idea we often share with students is that there is a difference between routine problems and good problems.
Routine problems mainly test whether a student remembers a method or has seen a similar question before.
Good problems are different. They require experimentation, pattern recognition, and sometimes a period of struggle before an insight appears.
Whenever possible, we try to expose students to more of these “good problems”, because they are the ones that truly develop mathematical maturity.
A) Examples of Routine Questions
These will be nearly impossible for untrained kids, but routine to kids who have been extensively trained, hence the popularity and success of intensive cram centers. These are very typical Asian MO type questions, you almost never see them in Western contests.
B) Examples of Good Questions
You simply cannot cram these questions. While they often still require knowledge of some basic concepts, it will still feel unfamiliar and will require some imagination and creativity.
Students often read the question and quickly conclude that this is a school math question. Upon attempting it, they will often realise that this question is not as straightforward as it seems.
Or What is the sum of digits of all the numbers from one to 1 billion?
Many MO trained student know by heart the formula for calculating the sum of an Arithmetic Progression (AP). But this question is NOT asking about the sum of the numbers from 1 to 1 billion. It is asking about the sum of digits of these numbers. E.g. The sum of digits of the number 13425 is 15.
3. Our evolving approach
At the same time, we have also been watching broader educational changes quite closely.
The world our students are growing into is evolving rapidly. Communication, reasoning, and interdisciplinary thinking are becoming increasingly important.
For this reason, since 2025 we have gradually pivoted some of our Math Olympiad classes toward World Scholar’s Cup-style learning, introducing more interdisciplinary discussions, debates, and idea exploration.
The response from students has been very encouraging.
In fact, we are incredibly excited that this year Avocado Lab will be sending our first overseas delegation to the World Scholar’s Cup this May.
At least 18 of our P3 to P5 students will be travelling overseas to participate, and we are grateful that so many parents share our belief in giving children opportunities to explore new intellectual experiences beyond the classroom.
The event itself is wonderfully different from many academic competitions. Students debate ideas, write collaboratively, explore topics ranging from science and history to art and culture, and take part in team challenges that reward curiosity and thinking rather than cramming or drilling. Many students find the experience both intellectually stimulating and genuinely fun.
It also brings together students from many different countries, which often makes the conversations and exchanges particularly eye-opening for the children.
4. The culture of mathematical problem solving
Something our students may not fully realise is that our Math Olympiad classes have also been evolving quietly over time.
We have been placing less emphasis on repetitive practice-bank questions, and more emphasis on what mathematicians sometimes call recreational mathematics.
The name can be misleading. Recreational mathematics is not simply “math for fun”, nor is it necessarily easy. In fact, many deep mathematical ideas emerge from puzzles and exploratory problems.
In practice, many students spend years rehearsing large banks of similar problems, which can create the impression of sophistication without necessarily developing deeper mathematical thinking.
The broader international culture of mathematical problem solving is somewhat different. It emphasises curiosity, experimentation, and the joy of discovering patterns.
We also regularly expose students to international problem-solving challenges and computational thinking activities, such as: Purple Comet! Math Meet, the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition by the Australian Mathematics Trust, Bebras Computing Challenge and in-house Math Puzzle Trails.
Avocado Lab proudly maintains a rich collection of recreational mathematics, Math Olympiad, and science books, thoughtfully selected for different ages and available for students to borrow.
Our coaches have a real affection for the classic writers in this tradition. Mention names like Martin Gardner, Raymond Smullyan, Alfred Posamentier, Brian Bolt, Sam Loyd, or H. E. Dudeney, and you may see someone’s eyes light up immediately.
Many of the puzzles that circulate widely today, and even some Olympiad-style questions, trace back to ideas these authors explored decades ago.
In fact, we once wrote a small tribute to this wonderful tradition here:
https://avocadolab.sg/a-little-tribute-to-recreational-mathematics/
It is a corner of mathematics we genuinely love, and bits of it naturally find their way into our classes.
To be clear, we are not abandoning Math Olympiad training. Rather, we are gradually repositioning it so that students focus more on genuine problem solving and creative thinking instead of simply accumulating techniques.
5. The future of learning
Educational policies will continue to evolve, and admission pathways may change from time to time.
Whenever such changes occur, they often reveal which educational practices were driven mainly by admissions incentives and which were rooted in deeper learning.
At the same time, the rapid rise of AI is already changing the learning landscape.
Many routine academic tasks such as recalling facts, performing standard calculations, or solving familiar textbook exercises can increasingly be done quickly with the help of intelligent tools.
This does not make learning less important. If anything, it shifts the emphasis toward a different set of abilities: understanding ideas rather than memorising procedures, reasoning through unfamiliar situations, explaining and defending one’s thinking, and approaching problems that do not have an obvious method.
Interestingly, these are precisely the habits of thinking cultivated through activities such as Olympiad-style problem solving, mathematical puzzles, debate, and interdisciplinary discussions.
In other words, the capabilities that matter most going forward are the ones that require human thinking and judgement, and cannot easily be automated.
6. Why programmes like this tend to grow slowly
One final observation we have made over the years is that programmes centred on deep thinking tend to grow more slowly than conventional tuition classes.
Teaching students how to solve routine questions from a syllabus is relatively straightforward. Guiding them through open-ended problems, debates, and exploratory discussions is much harder.
It requires teachers who are comfortable thinking aloud with students, exploring ideas together, and sometimes following a line of reasoning that does not have an immediate answer.
Such teachers are not common, which is one reason programmes like these tend to expand gradually rather than quickly.
7. Looking ahead
Educational systems will continue to evolve. Policies will change, new pathways will appear, and others will fade.
But the deeper purpose of education has always remained the same: helping young people develop curiosity, confidence, and intellectual resilience.
Competitions, Olympiads, debates, interdisciplinary discussions, and problem-solving challenges are simply different ways of cultivating those qualities.
At Avocado Lab, our aim has never been merely to prepare students for the system as it exists today, but to help them grow into thinkers who will continue to thrive even as that system changes.
And that, we believe, will always remain valuable.
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