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Primary 4 Chinese exam paper analysis: 2020

PaperLah has 10 Primary 4 Chinese exam papers from 2020, set by 6 Singapore primary schools, with 213 questions worth 390 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were 词语 Vocabulary (42%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (23%) and 词语搭配 Collocations (15%); together the top 2 topics account for half of all marks. 词语 Vocabulary appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 30% of marks, and 6.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 21 questions and 39 marks.

Based on 10 papers from 6 schools · Updated 2026-10-13

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: 词语 Vocabulary took 42% of marks in 2020 (all years: 42%); 阅读理解 Comprehension took 23% of marks in 2020 (all years: 29%); 词语搭配 Collocations took 15% of marks in 2020 (all years: 13%).

10papers from 6 schools
21questions in a typical paper
39marks in a typical paper
2topics carry half of all marks

Where the marks are

Topics ranked by their share of all marks. The blue ones above the line together make up half.

词语 Vocabularyin 10 of 10 papers42.3%
阅读理解 Comprehensionin 10 of 10 papers22.6%
Above this line: 2 topics carry half of all marks
词语搭配 Collocationsin 9 of 10 papers15.4%
作文 Compositionin 9 of 10 papers13.1%
短文填空 Clozein 2 of 10 papers4.1%
汉字 Charactersin 3 of 10 papers2.6%
听力理解 Listeningin 2 of 10 papers0%
Show as table
Topic% of marksPapers
词语 Vocabulary42.3in 10 of 10 papers
阅读理解 Comprehension22.6in 10 of 10 papers
词语搭配 Collocations15.4in 9 of 10 papers
作文 Composition13.1in 9 of 10 papers
短文填空 Cloze4.1in 2 of 10 papers
汉字 Characters2.6in 3 of 10 papers
听力理解 Listening0in 2 of 10 papers

What a paper is made of

How children answer, as a share of marks.

  • Multiple choice 30%
  • Word bank 23%
  • Open-ended (show working) 15%
  • Cloze passage 11%
  • Other 22%
Show as table
Format% of marks
Multiple choice29.7
Word bank22.6
Open-ended (show working)14.9
Cloze passage11.3
Composition11
Short answer7.9
Editing (find the error)1.5
Fill in the blank1

Marks per question

Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 8% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.

1: 18% of questions18%12: 68% of questions68%23: 2% of questions2%34: 4% of questions4%45+: 0% of questions0%5+
Show as table
Marks% of questions
118.3
267.6
31.9
44.2
5+0.5

How likely a topic comes up

The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.

词语 Vocabulary100%
阅读理解 Comprehension100%
词语搭配 Collocations90%
作文 Composition90%
汉字 Characters30%
短文填空 Cloze20%
听力理解 Listening20%
Show as table
Topic% of papers
词语 Vocabulary100
阅读理解 Comprehension100
词语搭配 Collocations90
作文 Composition90
汉字 Characters30
短文填空 Cloze20
听力理解 Listening20

Exam types

Which school exams these papers come from.

End-of-Year / SA26 papers60%
Weighted Assessment / CA3 papers30%
Mid-Year / SA11 papers10%

Key facts

  • 10 papers, 213 questions, 390 marks, from 6 schools.
  • 2 topics carry half of all marks.
  • Most-tested topic: 词语 Vocabulary, 42% of marks.
  • Most common topic across papers: 词语 Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
  • 6.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
  • Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and Mid-Year / SA1.

Questions parents ask

What topics come up most in Primary 4 Chinese exam papers in 2020?

By share of marks, the most-tested topics were 词语 Vocabulary (42%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (23%), 词语搭配 Collocations (15%), 作文 Composition (13%) and 短文填空 Cloze (4.1%).

How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 Chinese paper?

A typical paper in this set has about 21 questions and 39 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?

10 papers from 6 schools, from these exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and 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 (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 Chiau · Nan Hua · Nanyang · Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' · Pei Chun · Pei Hwa · Raffles Girls' · Red Swastika · Rosyth · Rulang · Singapore Chinese Girls' · St Hilda's · St Joseph's · Tao Nan · Temasek

Schools with Primary 4 Chinese 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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