Primary 4 English exam paper analysis: 2020
PaperLah has 21 Primary 4 English exam papers from 2020, set by 13 Singapore primary schools, with 851 questions worth 874 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (32%), Vocabulary (17%) and Grammar - verbs and tenses (8.6%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Grammar - verbs and tenses appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 50% of marks, and 0% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 41 questions and 42 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 32% of marks in 2020 (all years: 33%); Vocabulary took 17% of marks in 2020 (all years: 15%); Grammar - verbs and tenses took 8.6% of marks in 2020 (all years: 6.8%).
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 | 32.4 | in 20 of 21 papers |
| Vocabulary | 16.6 | in 20 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 8.6 | in 21 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 7.9 | in 19 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 7.9 | in 17 of 21 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 6.1 | in 15 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 5.1 | in 18 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 3.8 | in 17 of 21 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 2.6 | in 4 of 21 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 2.4 | in 4 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 2.1 | in 17 of 21 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 1.7 | in 3 of 21 papers |
| Editing | 1.1 | in 3 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - other | 0.6 | in 1 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.5 | in 4 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.5 | in 4 of 21 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.2 | in 2 of 21 papers |
| Composition | 0 | in 4 of 21 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 50%
- Cloze passage 15%
- Short answer 10%
- Word bank 8%
- Other 17%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 49.8 |
| Cloze passage | 14.6 |
| Short answer | 10.2 |
| Word bank | 8.1 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 6.1 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 5.1 |
| Editing (find the error) | 3.4 |
| Fill in the blank | 1.9 |
| Other | 0.7 |
| Composition | 0 |
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 | 96.1 |
| 2 | 3.3 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 100 |
| Comprehension | 95.2 |
| Vocabulary | 95.2 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 90.5 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 85.7 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 81 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 81 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 81 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 71.4 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 19 |
| Grammar cloze | 19 |
| Composition | 19 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 19 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 19 |
| Comprehension cloze | 14.3 |
| Editing | 14.3 |
| Grammar - question tags | 9.5 |
| Grammar - other | 4.8 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 21 papers, 851 questions, 874 marks, from 13 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 32% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Grammar - verbs and tenses, in 100% of papers.
- Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and Mid-Year / SA1.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 4 English exam papers in 2020?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (32%), Vocabulary (17%), Grammar - verbs and tenses (8.6%), Grammar - pronouns (7.9%) and Grammar - subject-verb agreement (7.9%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 41 questions and 42 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?
21 papers from 13 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 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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