Primary 4 English exam paper analysis: 2017
PaperLah has 28 Primary 4 English exam papers from 2017, set by 11 Singapore primary schools, with 1,214 questions worth 1,310 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (35%), Vocabulary (16%) and Grammar - pronouns (8.9%); together the top 2 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 39% of marks, and 0.3% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 43 questions and 47 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 35% of marks in 2017 (all years: 33%); Vocabulary took 16% of marks in 2017 (all years: 15%); Grammar - pronouns took 8.9% of marks in 2017 (all years: 7.6%).
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 | 34.8 | in 28 of 28 papers |
| Vocabulary | 15.6 | in 27 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 8.9 | in 26 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 6.8 | in 25 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 6.7 | in 26 of 28 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 6.3 | in 21 of 28 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 4 | in 9 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 2.6 | in 20 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 2.1 | in 14 of 28 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 2.1 | in 6 of 28 papers |
| Editing | 2 | in 6 of 28 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 1.9 | in 2 of 28 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 1.8 | in 5 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - other | 1.7 | in 7 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 0.8 | in 11 of 28 papers |
| Visual text comprehension | 0.5 | in 1 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.5 | in 4 of 28 papers |
| Phonics | 0.4 | in 1 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.2 | in 3 of 28 papers |
| Punctuation | 0.2 | in 2 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.2 | in 2 of 28 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 0.2 | in 1 of 28 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 39%
- Short answer 15%
- Cloze passage 13%
- Word bank 10%
- Other 23%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 39.3 |
| Short answer | 14.8 |
| Cloze passage | 13.2 |
| Word bank | 9.9 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 7 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 6.6 |
| Editing (find the error) | 5 |
| Listening | 2.3 |
| Fill in the blank | 1.5 |
| Other | 0.3 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 3% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 86.8 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 0.2 |
| 5+ | 0.1 |
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 | 96.4 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 92.9 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 92.9 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 89.3 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 75 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 71.4 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 50 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 39.3 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 32.1 |
| Grammar - other | 25 |
| Grammar cloze | 21.4 |
| Editing | 21.4 |
| Comprehension cloze | 17.9 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 14.3 |
| Grammar - question tags | 10.7 |
| Listening comprehension | 7.1 |
| Punctuation | 7.1 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 7.1 |
| Visual text comprehension | 3.6 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 3.6 |
| Phonics | 3.6 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 28 papers, 1,214 questions, 1,310 marks, from 11 schools.
- 2 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 35% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 100% of papers.
- 0.3% 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 2017?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (35%), Vocabulary (16%), Grammar - pronouns (8.9%), Grammar - subject-verb agreement (6.8%) and Grammar - verbs and tenses (6.7%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 43 questions and 47 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?
28 papers from 11 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.
Practise real Primary 4 English papers
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