G3 Computing Syllabus Singapore: What Students Learn

If you are trying to understand what students actually study in G3 Computing, the official syllabus can initially look quite technical. The easiest way to make sense of it is to start with its five major areas and then look at the skills inside each one.

From 2027, the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate subject is officially G3 Computing (syllabus K349). The syllabus aims to develop knowledge of computing as well as computational thinking, problem solving, programming, testing and an understanding of the wider impact of technology.

What are the five G3 Computing syllabus modules?

Module 1: Computing Fundamentals

This module is about understanding what is happening underneath the software students use. It has three main areas:

Computer architecture

Students learn about the processor, main memory and secondary storage, as well as data and address buses. They also work with storage units such as bits, bytes, kilobytes and larger units, and study common interfaces and storage media.

Data representation

Students learn how computers represent information using binary. This includes converting between binary, denary and hexadecimal, representing negative numbers using two's complement, and understanding how text can be represented as bits.

Logic gates

Students work with AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR gates. They need to interpret and construct logic circuits, Boolean statements and truth tables, and apply these ideas to solve problems.

Module 2: Algorithms and Programming

This is the largest practical programming area of the syllabus. It is broader than simply memorising Python syntax: students must analyse problems, construct solutions, test them and improve them.

Problem analysis and programming constructs

Students identify the required inputs and outputs of a problem and remove unnecessary details. They also interpret flowcharts involving the three fundamental programming constructs: sequence, selection and iteration.

Python programming

Python is the programming language specified in the syllabus. Students work with variables, literals, input and output, files, Boolean values, numbers, strings, lists and dictionaries. They also use selection, loops and user-defined functions.

Testing and debugging

Testing and debugging are explicit syllabus skills. Students learn to perform manual dry runs, produce trace tables, inspect variables with print(), locate logic errors, test programs incrementally and design test cases covering normal, error and boundary conditions.

Algorithm design

Students learn common problem-solving patterns such as finding minimum or maximum values, calculating totals and averages, searching and extracting items. They are also expected to break larger problems into smaller parts and adapt previous solutions to new problems.

Software engineering

Students learn the stages of developing a program: gathering requirements, designing solutions, writing code, testing and refining code, and deployment. They also learn that software development can be iterative rather than a strictly linear process.

Module 3: Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets form a substantial practical part of G3 Computing. Students need to use spreadsheet features to construct working solutions rather than simply enter data into cells.

The syllabus includes relative, absolute and mixed cell references, Goal Seek and Conditional Formatting. Students also use logical, mathematical, statistical, text, lookup and date functions.

Examples of examinable functions include IF, SUMIF, AVERAGEIF, COUNTIF, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, LEFT, RIGHT, MID and date functions.

Module 4: Networking

Students learn how computers communicate locally and across the internet. Topics include wired and wireless transmission, LANs and WANs, client-server and peer-to-peer architectures, network topologies, protocols and packet transmission.

They also learn about networking hardware and addressing, including modems, network interface controllers, switches, wireless access points, routers, MAC addresses, IPv4 and IPv6.

Security and privacy

Networking also includes security and privacy. Students study threats such as malware, spyware, phishing and pharming, together with protection mechanisms such as anti-malware software, firewalls and encryption. The syllabus also includes Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).

Module 5: Impact of Computing

This module asks students to consider computing beyond the technical details. They examine how computers affect areas such as communication, education, transportation and retail.

Students also study intellectual property and copyright, software licensing and piracy, online communication and falsehoods, as well as emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

What skills does the G3 Computing syllabus actually assess?

The syllabus defines three assessment objectives:

That means 70% of the overall assessment is application or solution development rather than knowledge and understanding alone. Knowing definitions matters, but students also need to apply concepts, solve problems and construct working solutions.

How is G3 Computing assessed?

Paper 2 contains one spreadsheet question and four to five programming questions. Students submit the required work as softcopies for marking.

So what should students focus on?

The syllabus is broad, but one useful distinction is between topics that require knowledge and explanation and topics that require repeated hands-on problem solving.

Programming and spreadsheets especially benefit from practice. A student may understand an example when it is explained, but the examination requires them to apply the same ideas independently in a different context.

Is K349 the same as the old O-Level Computing syllabus?

K349 is the syllabus code for G3 Computing under the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate from 2027. If you are familiar with the previous O-Level Computing syllabus 7155, read our 7155 vs G3 Computing comparison for a clearer explanation of what changed and what remained familiar.

Want a simpler introduction first?

If the subject itself is new to you, start with What Is G3 Computing in Singapore?. It gives a shorter overview of the subject, the examination and what students are expected to do.