SINGAPORE - Students from Singapore clinched a total of 12 gold medals in five International Olympiads.

The Olympiads were for biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and informatics. They were held overseas between July and August (2017).

The students also won seven silver and three bronze medals, as well as an honourable mention, the Education Ministry in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 15).

International Olympiads are opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge of mathematics and scientific concepts.

In the Sciences and Informatics Olympiads, they are also tested on their ability to carry out experiments and programming.

Singapore's best performance was in the International Physics Olympiad, where the team won five gold medals and came in first among 394 participants from 86 countries.

The students were drawn from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science, Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Institution.

They were led by experts from institutions such as National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University, the National University of Singapore's biological sciences department, junior colleges and the Education Ministry.

In 2016, Singapore won a total of 13 gold and nine silver medals as well as one bronze medal.