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Primary 4 Chinese exam paper analysis: 2023

PaperLah has 10 Primary 4 Chinese exam papers from 2023, set by 6 Singapore primary schools, with 211 questions worth 409 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were 词语 Vocabulary (48%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (23%) and 词语搭配 Collocations (14%); 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 33% of marks, and 6.2% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 21 questions and 41 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 48% of marks in 2023 (all years: 42%); 阅读理解 Comprehension took 23% of marks in 2023 (all years: 29%); 词语搭配 Collocations took 14% of marks in 2023 (all years: 13%).

10papers from 6 schools
21questions in a typical paper
41marks 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 papers48.4%
阅读理解 Comprehensionin 10 of 10 papers23%
Above this line: 2 topics carry half of all marks
词语搭配 Collocationsin 9 of 10 papers14.2%
作文 Compositionin 10 of 10 papers13.4%
汉字 Charactersin 1 of 10 papers1%
Show as table
Topic% of marksPapers
词语 Vocabulary48.4in 10 of 10 papers
阅读理解 Comprehension23in 10 of 10 papers
词语搭配 Collocations14.2in 9 of 10 papers
作文 Composition13.4in 10 of 10 papers
汉字 Characters1in 1 of 10 papers

What a paper is made of

How children answer, as a share of marks.

  • Multiple choice 33%
  • Word bank 31%
  • Composition 12%
  • Open-ended (show working) 12%
  • Other 11%
Show as table
Format% of marks
Multiple choice33.3
Word bank30.8
Composition12.5
Open-ended (show working)12
Short answer7.6
Cloze passage2.9
Fill in the blank1

Marks per question

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

1: 14% of questions14%12: 75% of questions75%23: 1% of questions1%34: 5% of questions5%45+: 0% of questions0%5+
Show as table
Marks% of questions
114.2
275.4
30.9
44.7
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%
作文 Composition100%
词语搭配 Collocations90%
汉字 Characters10%
Show as table
Topic% of papers
词语 Vocabulary100
阅读理解 Comprehension100
作文 Composition100
词语搭配 Collocations90
汉字 Characters10

Exam types

Which school exams these papers come from.

End-of-Year / SA25 papers50%
Weighted Assessment / CA5 papers50%

Key facts

  • 10 papers, 211 questions, 409 marks, from 6 schools.
  • 2 topics carry half of all marks.
  • Most-tested topic: 词语 Vocabulary, 48% of marks.
  • Most common topic across papers: 词语 Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
  • 6.2% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
  • Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2 and Weighted Assessment / CA.

Questions parents ask

What topics come up most in Primary 4 Chinese exam papers in 2023?

By share of marks, the most-tested topics were 词语 Vocabulary (48%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (23%), 词语搭配 Collocations (14%), 作文 Composition (13%) and 汉字 Characters (1%).

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

A typical paper in this set has about 21 questions and 41 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 and Weighted Assessment / CA. 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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