Primary 4 English exam paper analysis: 2011
PaperLah has 15 Primary 4 English exam papers from 2011, set by 12 Singapore primary schools, with 717 questions worth 873 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (30%), Vocabulary (12%) and Vocabulary cloze (7.6%); together the top 4 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 39% of marks, and 0.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 48 questions and 58 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 30% of marks in 2011 (all years: 33%); Vocabulary took 12% of marks in 2011 (all years: 15%); Vocabulary cloze took 7.6% of marks in 2011 (all years: 3.1%).
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 | 30.1 | in 15 of 15 papers |
| Vocabulary | 12.1 | in 15 of 15 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 7.6 | in 8 of 15 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 5.7 | in 9 of 15 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 5.6 | in 7 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 5.4 | in 12 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 5.3 | in 12 of 15 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 5 | in 4 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 3.7 | in 9 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 2.9 | in 11 of 15 papers |
| Editing | 2.6 | in 5 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 2.5 | in 11 of 15 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 2.3 | in 3 of 15 papers |
| Composition | 2.3 | in 1 of 15 papers |
| Phonics | 2.1 | in 3 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - other | 1.6 | in 5 of 15 papers |
| Punctuation | 1.3 | in 4 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 0.9 | in 6 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.3 | in 3 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.3 | in 3 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.2 | in 2 of 15 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 0.1 | in 1 of 15 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 39%
- Cloze passage 20%
- Short answer 14%
- Listening 7%
- Other 21%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 39.1 |
| Cloze passage | 19.6 |
| Short answer | 13.7 |
| Listening | 7 |
| Word bank | 6.9 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 6 |
| Editing (find the error) | 3.6 |
| Composition | 2.3 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 1.8 |
| Fill in the blank | 0.1 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 1% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 79.6 |
| 2 | 18.5 |
| 5+ | 0.6 |
How likely a topic comes up
The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.
Show as table
| Topic | % of papers |
|---|---|
| Comprehension | 100 |
| Vocabulary | 100 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 80 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 80 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 73.3 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 73.3 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 60 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 60 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 53.3 |
| Grammar cloze | 46.7 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 40 |
| Editing | 33.3 |
| Grammar - other | 33.3 |
| Listening comprehension | 26.7 |
| Punctuation | 26.7 |
| Comprehension cloze | 20 |
| Grammar - question tags | 20 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 20 |
| Phonics | 20 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 13.3 |
| Composition | 6.7 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 6.7 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 15 papers, 717 questions, 873 marks, from 12 schools.
- 4 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 30% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 100% of papers.
- 0.6% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: Mid-Year / SA1, End-of-Year / SA2 and Weighted Assessment / CA.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 4 English exam papers in 2011?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (30%), Vocabulary (12%), Vocabulary cloze (7.6%), Synthesis and transformation (5.7%) and Grammar cloze (5.6%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 48 questions and 58 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?
15 papers from 12 schools, from these exam types: Mid-Year / SA1, 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 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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