Primary 1 English exam paper analysis: 2021
PaperLah has 7 Primary 1 English exam papers from 2021, set by 3 Singapore primary schools, with 159 questions worth 132 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Vocabulary (27%), Comprehension (13%) and Grammar - verbs and tenses (12%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Vocabulary appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 50% of marks, and 0% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 23 questions and 19 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 7 papers from 3 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 27% of marks in 2021 (all years: 26%); Comprehension took 13% of marks in 2021 (all years: 22%); Grammar - verbs and tenses took 12% of marks in 2021 (all years: 8.2%).
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 | 27.3 | in 7 of 7 papers |
| Comprehension | 13.3 | in 5 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 12.1 | in 6 of 7 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 9.8 | in 3 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 6.8 | in 5 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 6.1 | in 5 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 5.3 | in 5 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 4.5 | in 7 of 7 papers |
| Editing | 3.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 3.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Phonics | 3.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - other | 0.8 | in 2 of 7 papers |
| Months of the year | 0.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 0.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.8 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Punctuation | 0.4 | in 1 of 7 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0 | in 1 of 7 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 50%
- Cloze passage 20%
- Word bank 12%
- Editing (find the error) 4%
- Other 13%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 50.4 |
| Cloze passage | 20.5 |
| Word bank | 12.1 |
| Editing (find the error) | 4.2 |
| Listening | 3.8 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 3.8 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 3 |
| Short answer | 2.3 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 15% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 84.9 |
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 - prepositions | 100 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 85.7 |
| Comprehension | 71.4 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 71.4 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 71.4 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 71.4 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 42.9 |
| Grammar - other | 28.6 |
| Editing | 14.3 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 14.3 |
| Phonics | 14.3 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 14.3 |
| Months of the year | 14.3 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 14.3 |
| Punctuation | 14.3 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 14.3 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 7 papers, 159 questions, 132 marks, from 3 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Vocabulary, 27% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
- Exam types: Quiz / Review / Test and Practice paper.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 1 English exam papers in 2021?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Vocabulary (27%), Comprehension (13%), Grammar - verbs and tenses (12%), Vocabulary cloze (9.8%) and Grammar - pronouns (6.8%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 1 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 23 questions and 19 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?
7 papers from 3 schools, from these exam types: Quiz / Review / Test and Practice paper. 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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