Primary 1 English exam paper analysis: 2023
PaperLah has 8 Primary 1 English exam papers from 2023, set by 5 Singapore primary schools, with 248 questions worth 251 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Vocabulary (23%), Comprehension (17%) and Editing (8.8%); together the top 4 topics account for half of all marks. Vocabulary appears in 88% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 35% of marks, and 1.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 31 questions and 31 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 8 papers from 5 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 23% of marks in 2023 (all years: 26%); Comprehension took 17% of marks in 2023 (all years: 22%); Editing took 8.8% of marks in 2023 (all years: 1.9%).
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 | 22.7 | in 7 of 8 papers |
| Comprehension | 17.1 | in 6 of 8 papers |
| Editing | 8.8 | in 4 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 7.6 | in 7 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 7.2 | in 7 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 6 | in 4 of 8 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 5.6 | in 1 of 8 papers |
| Punctuation | 4.8 | in 2 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 4.4 | in 3 of 8 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 3.2 | in 2 of 8 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 3.2 | in 2 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 2.4 | in 4 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 2.4 | in 4 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - other | 2 | in 1 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 1.2 | in 3 of 8 papers |
| Phonics | 0.8 | in 1 of 8 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.8 | in 2 of 8 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 35%
- Cloze passage 14%
- Editing (find the error) 14%
- Word bank 12%
- Other 25%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 35.5 |
| Cloze passage | 14.3 |
| Editing (find the error) | 13.5 |
| Word bank | 12 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 7.6 |
| Listening | 6.4 |
| Fill in the blank | 4 |
| Short answer | 3.6 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 2.8 |
| Other | 0.4 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 9% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 84.7 |
| 2 | 4.4 |
| 3 | 0.8 |
| 5+ | 0.8 |
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 | 87.5 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 87.5 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 87.5 |
| Comprehension | 75 |
| Editing | 50 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 50 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 50 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 50 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 37.5 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 37.5 |
| Punctuation | 25 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 25 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 25 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 25 |
| Listening comprehension | 12.5 |
| Grammar - other | 12.5 |
| Phonics | 12.5 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 8 papers, 248 questions, 251 marks, from 5 schools.
- 4 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Vocabulary, 23% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Vocabulary, in 88% of papers.
- 1.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: Quiz / Review / Test and Other.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 1 English exam papers in 2023?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Vocabulary (23%), Comprehension (17%), Editing (8.8%), Grammar - prepositions (7.6%) and Grammar - pronouns (7.2%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 1 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 31 questions and 31 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?
8 papers from 5 schools, from these exam types: Quiz / Review / Test and Other. 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.
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