At a glance
- Streams
- General, Advanced, Elite, Applied
- Stream choice
- Grade 8, for Cycle 3
- Move to Advanced
- Grades 8 to 9 only, 80%+ in English, maths, science
- English-medium (private MOE schools)
- Grade 9 from 2026-27, all of 9 to 12 by 2029-30
- Switch window
- First two weeks of the school year
The MOE streams in brief
| Stream | Who it is for | Maths |
|---|---|---|
| General | Students heading for humanities, business, law, arts, social sciences and similar degrees | Core maths; Grade 12 maths aligned with the Applied stream from 2026-27 |
| Advanced | Students heading for science, engineering, medicine and pharmacy | In-depth maths and sciences; taught in English in government schools and, in phases, in private MOE schools |
| Elite (Advanced Science Programme) | Academically outstanding students in maths and science, admitted from Grade 6 | Accelerated maths and science with intensive English-medium teaching |
| Applied | Students taking a practical, skills-based route from Grade 9 | Applied maths; leads to an applied secondary certificate |
Sources: UAE MOE (April 2025), u.ae, Gulf News (August 2026).
The switch to English in private schools on the MOE curriculum
Maths, physics, chemistry and biology in the Advanced stream move from Arabic to English in four phases.
| School year | Grades taught in English |
|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Grade 9 |
| 2027-28 | Grades 9 and 10 |
| 2028-29 | Grades 9, 10 and 11 |
| 2029-30 | Grades 9 to 12 |
Source: Emarat Al Youm, 7 February 2026, reporting the Ministry's plan. The General stream is not affected.
What the change to English means for a Grade 9 student
A student who learned algebra in Arabic up to Grade 8 now meets it in English: function, coefficient, gradient, inequality, simultaneous equations. The maths is not new, but the reading load is. Word problems are the first casualty, because a student who cannot quickly decode the English question cannot set up the equation. The second is written reasoning, where explaining a step in English feels slower than doing it.
This is a gap that one-to-one lessons close well. A tutor works through problems in English, pausing on the terms that block your child, and builds a short bilingual glossary for each unit so that the Arabic term your child already knows anchors the English one.
Where Advanced-stream maths students lose marks
- Algebraic manipulation under time pressure: expanding, factorising and rearranging formulae with sign errors.
- Functions: domain and range, composite and inverse functions, and reading features from a graph.
- Trigonometry: exact values, identities and solving equations over a given interval.
- Word problems written in English, especially for students new to English-medium maths.
- In the higher grades, calculus: the chain rule, product and quotient rules, and applications to rates of change and optimisation.
- Showing working: answers without method lose marks when the final value is wrong.
How one-to-one lessons work for MOE maths
Lessons are 60 minutes, one to one, in LiveTutor's online classroom with video and a shared whiteboard. A tutor who teaches the UAE MOE curriculum follows the school's unit order, works from your child's textbook and school assessments, and plans lessons around the end of term exams. Lessons are normally in English. Arabic-speaking tutors are available for some subjects, so if you would like explanations in Arabic as well, ask when you book.
For Elite-stream students, the tutor's role shifts from catching up to stretching: harder problem sets and competition-style questions on the current unit.
The switch window is short
Stream transfers for 2026-27 had to be completed in the first two weeks of the school year. Moving from General to Advanced is not allowed in Grades 10 and 11, so the Grade 8 and 9 results matter.
Common questions
Can my child move from the General to the Advanced stream?
Only in Grades 8 and 9, and only with at least 80% in English, mathematics and science in the previous year. Students in Grades 10 and 11 of the General stream cannot move to Advanced. Transfers happen in the first two weeks of the school year.
Is the Elite stream still running?
Yes. The UAE government portal describes the Elite stream (Advanced Science Programme) as admitting outstanding students from Grade 6 to the end of Grade 12, and the Ministry named Elite stream toppers in the Grade 12 results announced in July 2026. Places depend on the school; ask yours.
Is Advanced maths taught in Arabic or English?
Government schools already teach Advanced-stream maths and science in English. Private schools on the MOE curriculum are moving to English in phases, starting with Grade 9 in 2026-27.
Which stream do medicine and engineering need?
The Ministry says the Advanced stream prepares students for science, engineering, medicine and pharmacy degrees. It has also published guidance linking school tracks to university programmes, with subject average requirements that vary by field.
How much do MOE maths lessons cost?
$15 a lesson, the same for every subject and level, on a weekly plan of 1 to 5 lessons billed monthly. The first lesson is a free trial and tutor matching normally takes up to 24 hours.
Sources
Dates and figures on this page come from these official and published sources. Always confirm deadlines on the official page before acting on them.
- UAE Ministry of Education: updated streams for Cycle 3 from 2025-26
- UAE Government portal: stages and streams of school education
- Emarat Al Youm (7 Feb 2026): English-medium maths and science in the Advanced stream, four phases to 2029-30
- Gulf News: UAE approves school curriculum changes for 2026-27
- Gulf News (4 Aug 2026): two-week deadline to switch streams in 2026-27
- The Week (23 Aug 2026): switching school tracks in the UAE, and the Ministry's university guidance
- Gulf News (11 Jul 2026): top secondary achievers by stream, including the Elite stream
- Al Etihad (23 Jan 2020): Elite stream extended to 40 more schools, 102 in total