Primary 3 English exam paper analysis: 2021
PaperLah has 19 Primary 3 English exam papers from 2021, set by 9 Singapore primary schools, with 657 questions worth 705 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (34%), Vocabulary (13%) and Editing (9.1%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 42% of marks, and 0% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 35 questions and 37 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: Comprehension took 34% of marks in 2021 (all years: 30%); Vocabulary took 13% of marks in 2021 (all years: 17%); Editing took 9.1% of marks in 2021 (all years: 4.3%).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehension | 34.2 | in 19 of 19 papers |
| Vocabulary | 13.2 | in 16 of 19 papers |
| Editing | 9.1 | in 13 of 19 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 8.5 | in 13 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 7.7 | in 15 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 6 | in 15 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 4.5 | in 12 of 19 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 3.4 | in 4 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 3.3 | in 13 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 3.3 | in 13 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 2.6 | in 8 of 19 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 1.6 | in 3 of 19 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 1.4 | in 2 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.9 | in 6 of 19 papers |
| Punctuation | 0.3 | in 1 of 19 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.3 | in 2 of 19 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 42%
- Cloze passage 16%
- Short answer 12%
- Editing (find the error) 11%
- Other 19%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 41.7 |
| Cloze passage | 16.2 |
| Short answer | 12.2 |
| Editing (find the error) | 10.9 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 8.5 |
| Word bank | 4.3 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 3.5 |
| Fill in the blank | 2.4 |
| Other | 0.3 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 2% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 88.7 |
| 2 | 9.4 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Comprehension | 100 |
| Vocabulary | 84.2 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 78.9 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 78.9 |
| Editing | 68.4 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 68.4 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 68.4 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 68.4 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 63.2 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 42.1 |
| Grammar - question tags | 31.6 |
| Grammar cloze | 21.1 |
| Comprehension cloze | 15.8 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 10.5 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 10.5 |
| Punctuation | 5.3 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 19 papers, 657 questions, 705 marks, from 9 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 34% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 100% of papers.
- Exam types: Weighted Assessment / CA, Practice paper, End-of-Year / SA2 and Other.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 3 English exam papers in 2021?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (34%), Vocabulary (13%), Editing (9.1%), Synthesis and transformation (8.5%) and Grammar - verbs and tenses (7.7%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 3 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 35 questions and 37 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?
19 papers from 9 schools, from these exam types: Weighted Assessment / CA, Practice paper, End-of-Year / SA2 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 (Junior) · ACS (Primary) · Ai Tong · Anglo-Chinese School · CHIJ · CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' · Catholic High · Henry Park · Maha Bodhi · Maris Stella High · Methodist Girls' · Nan Hua · Nanyang · Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' · Pei Chun · Pei Hwa · Raffles Girls' · Red Swastika · River Valley · Rosyth · Rulang · Singapore Chinese Girls' · St Hilda's · St Joseph's · Tao Nan · Temasek · Yang Zheng
Schools with Primary 3 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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