Primary 1 English exam paper analysis: 2019
PaperLah has 4 Primary 1 English exam papers from 2019, set by 2 Singapore primary schools, with 63 questions worth 70 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Vocabulary (29%), Listening comprehension (19%) and Comprehension (13%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Vocabulary appears in 75% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 40% of marks, and 1.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 16 questions and 18 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.
This page is based on 4 papers from 2 schools, so the figures may not be typical (we look for at least 10 papers from 3 schools). See all years for a fuller picture.
Compared with all years: Vocabulary took 29% of marks in 2019 (all years: 26%); Listening comprehension took 19% of marks in 2019 (all years: 1.5%); Comprehension took 13% of marks in 2019 (all years: 22%).
Where the marks are
Topics ranked by their share of all marks. The blue ones above the line together make up half.
Show as table
| Topic | % of marks | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 28.6 | in 3 of 4 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 18.6 | in 1 of 4 papers |
| Comprehension | 12.9 | in 2 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 8.6 | in 3 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 5.7 | in 3 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 5.7 | in 3 of 4 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 5.7 | in 1 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 4.3 | in 3 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 2.9 | in 2 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 2.9 | in 2 of 4 papers |
| Phonics | 2.9 | in 1 of 4 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 1.4 | in 1 of 4 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 40%
- Listening 21%
- Word bank 19%
- Cloze passage 7%
- Other 13%
Show as table
| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 40 |
| Listening | 21.4 |
| Word bank | 18.6 |
| Cloze passage | 7.1 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 5.7 |
| Fill in the blank | 4.3 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 2.9 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
Show as table
| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 90.5 |
| 2 | 7.9 |
| 3 | 1.6 |
How likely a topic comes up
The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.
Show as table
| Topic | % of papers |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 75 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 75 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 75 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 75 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 75 |
| Comprehension | 50 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 50 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 50 |
| Listening comprehension | 25 |
| Phonics | 25 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 25 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 25 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 4 papers, 63 questions, 70 marks, from 2 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Vocabulary, 29% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Vocabulary, in 75% of papers.
- 1.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: Quiz / Review / Test.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 1 English exam papers in 2019?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Vocabulary (29%), Listening comprehension (19%), Comprehension (13%), Grammar - prepositions (8.6%) and Grammar - verbs and tenses (5.7%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 1 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 16 questions and 18 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?
4 papers from 2 schools, from these exam types: Quiz / Review / Test. 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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