Primary 1 English exam paper analysis: 2016
PaperLah has 14 Primary 1 English exam papers from 2016, set by 13 Singapore primary schools, with 1,434 questions worth 1,243 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Vocabulary (26%), Comprehension (22%) and Grammar - pronouns (9.2%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Vocabulary appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 39% of marks, and 0% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 102 questions and 89 marks.
These figures describe the school papers in PaperLah's collection, not official MOE or SEAB weightings. They help with planning revision; they can't predict a particular exam.
Compared with all years: Vocabulary took 26% of marks in 2016 (all years: 26%); Comprehension took 22% of marks in 2016 (all years: 22%); Grammar - pronouns took 9.2% of marks in 2016 (all years: 7.7%).
Where the marks are
Topics ranked by their share of all marks. The blue ones above the line together make up half.
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| Topic | % of marks | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 26.4 | in 14 of 14 papers |
| Comprehension | 22.4 | in 12 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 9.2 | in 14 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 7.1 | in 13 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 5.9 | in 9 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 4.7 | in 13 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 4.5 | in 13 of 14 papers |
| Punctuation | 3.6 | in 7 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 3.1 | in 6 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - other | 2.2 | in 10 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 1.9 | in 12 of 14 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 1.5 | in 4 of 14 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 1.5 | in 3 of 14 papers |
| Editing | 1.4 | in 4 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 1.1 | in 5 of 14 papers |
| Phonics | 1 | in 4 of 14 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 1 | in 2 of 14 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 0.6 | in 1 of 14 papers |
| Following instructions | 0.2 | in 1 of 14 papers |
| Visual text comprehension | 0.2 | in 1 of 14 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.2 | in 2 of 14 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 39%
- Word bank 24%
- Fill in the blank 9%
- Cloze passage 9%
- Other 20%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 38.6 |
| Word bank | 23.7 |
| Fill in the blank | 9 |
| Cloze passage | 8.5 |
| Short answer | 8.3 |
| Editing (find the error) | 4.6 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 4.3 |
| Listening | 1.4 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 1.2 |
| Number answer | 0.2 |
| Other | 0.1 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 19% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 75 |
| 2 | 5.9 |
How likely a topic comes up
The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.
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| Topic | % of papers |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 100 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 100 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 92.9 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 92.9 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 92.9 |
| Comprehension | 85.7 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 85.7 |
| Grammar - other | 71.4 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 64.3 |
| Punctuation | 50 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 42.9 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 35.7 |
| Grammar cloze | 28.6 |
| Editing | 28.6 |
| Phonics | 28.6 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 21.4 |
| Listening comprehension | 14.3 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 14.3 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 7.1 |
| Following instructions | 7.1 |
| Visual text comprehension | 7.1 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 14 papers, 1,434 questions, 1,243 marks, from 13 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Vocabulary, 26% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
- Exam types: Mid-Year / SA1.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 1 English exam papers in 2016?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Vocabulary (26%), Comprehension (22%), Grammar - pronouns (9.2%), Grammar - verbs and tenses (7.1%) and Grammar - subject-verb agreement (5.9%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 1 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 102 questions and 89 marks. Papers vary by school and by exam (weighted assessments are shorter than mid-year and end-of-year exams).
Which exams and schools are included?
14 papers from 13 schools, from these exam types: Mid-Year / SA1. The schools are listed further down this page.
Can I download these papers?
No. PaperLah doesn't share the papers as downloads. Children practise them online one question at a time, with instant marking, and parents see which topics need work.
Schools included
ACS (Primary) · Ai Tong · Anglo-Chinese School · CHIJ · CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' · Catholic High · Henry Park · Holy Innocents · Kong Hwa · Maha Bodhi · Maris Stella High · Methodist Girls' · Nan Hua · Nanyang · Pei Chun · Pei Hwa · Raffles Girls' · Red Swastika · River Valley · Rosyth · Rulang · Singapore Chinese Girls' · St Andrew's · St Joseph's · Tanjong Katong · Tao Nan · Temasek
Schools with Primary 1 English papers in the collection (all years). Papers are past school assessments; PaperLah is not affiliated with MOE, SEAB or the schools.
How this analysis is made
Every question in each paper is tagged with its topic, format and marks as printed. The figures above are counts over those questions: a topic's share of marks, the share of papers that include it, and so on. Topic names come from the papers and their answer keys, so similar topics can appear under slightly different names. Only aggregate figures are shown here; the questions themselves are practised inside PaperLah.
Practise real Primary 1 English papers
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