SINGAPORE - National Servicemen who underwent the revised Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) are doing better, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in a Facebook post on Thursday.

In a post titled "New IPPT motivates NSmen", Dr Ng said NSmen who went through the simpler military fitness test did more sit-ups and ran faster, with some shaving off as much as two minutes in their runs.

The new IPPT comprises the 2.4km run, sit-up and push-up stations. It replaces the current five-station physical fitness test which has chin-ups, standing broad jump, 4x10m shuttle run, sit-ups and the 2.4km run. At least 3,000 servicemen and women will be put through the paces of the new test in a three-month trial which started last September.

The results, said Dr Ng, showed that the new IPPT format motivates NSmen to "max out" for each station to collect as many points as possible. "This is good because more will likely pass the new IPPT."

But not quite as many aced the test and got Gold awards, said Dr Ng. "There was some increase but the proportion of Gold was still only in the single digits," he said, adding that more information will be provided soon.