Primary 4 English exam paper analysis: 2021
PaperLah has 33 Primary 4 English exam papers from 2021, set by 14 Singapore primary schools, with 1,453 questions worth 1,551 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (33%), Vocabulary (16%) and Grammar - subject-verb agreement (8.8%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Vocabulary appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 45% of marks, and 0.1% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 44 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 33% of marks in 2021 (all years: 33%); Vocabulary took 16% of marks in 2021 (all years: 15%); Grammar - subject-verb agreement took 8.8% of marks in 2021 (all years: 7.2%).
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 | 32.8 | in 31 of 33 papers |
| Vocabulary | 16.1 | in 33 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 8.8 | in 32 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 7.7 | in 31 of 33 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 7.5 | in 27 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 7 | in 32 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 5.1 | in 32 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 2.9 | in 23 of 33 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 2.1 | in 5 of 33 papers |
| Editing | 2 | in 9 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 1.5 | in 21 of 33 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 1.5 | in 6 of 33 papers |
| Composition | 1.3 | in 4 of 33 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 1.1 | in 4 of 33 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 0.8 | in 3 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - other | 0.3 | in 2 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.3 | in 5 of 33 papers |
| Visual text comprehension | 0.3 | in 1 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.2 | in 4 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.2 | in 2 of 33 papers |
| Sports safety | 0.1 | in 1 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 0.1 | in 2 of 33 papers |
| Punctuation | 0.1 | in 1 of 33 papers |
| Sports and health | 0.1 | in 1 of 33 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 45%
- Short answer 16%
- Cloze passage 13%
- Rewrite / synthesis 8%
- Other 19%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 45.3 |
| Short answer | 15.6 |
| Cloze passage | 13.1 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 7.5 |
| Word bank | 6.6 |
| Editing (find the error) | 3.9 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 3.4 |
| Fill in the blank | 2.2 |
| Composition | 1.3 |
| Listening | 1.1 |
| Other | 0.1 |
Marks per question
Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 2% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 91.3 |
| 2 | 7.1 |
| 5+ | 0.1 |
How likely a topic comes up
The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.
Show as table
| Topic | % of papers |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | 100 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 97 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 97 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 97 |
| Comprehension | 93.9 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 93.9 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 81.8 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 69.7 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 63.6 |
| Editing | 27.3 |
| Comprehension cloze | 18.2 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 15.2 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 15.2 |
| Listening comprehension | 12.1 |
| Grammar - question tags | 12.1 |
| Composition | 12.1 |
| Grammar cloze | 9.1 |
| Grammar - other | 6.1 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 6.1 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 6.1 |
| Visual text comprehension | 3 |
| Sports safety | 3 |
| Punctuation | 3 |
| Sports and health | 3 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 33 papers, 1,453 questions, 1,551 marks, from 14 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 33% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
- 0.1% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Mid-Year / SA1 and Weighted Assessment / CA.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 4 English exam papers in 2021?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (33%), Vocabulary (16%), Grammar - subject-verb agreement (8.8%), Grammar - pronouns (7.7%) and Synthesis and transformation (7.5%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 44 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?
33 papers from 14 schools, from these exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Mid-Year / SA1 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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