Primary 4 English exam paper analysis: 2023
PaperLah has 33 Primary 4 English exam papers from 2023, set by 17 Singapore primary schools, with 1,221 questions worth 1,289 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (32%), Vocabulary (15%) and Grammar - pronouns (8.7%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 94% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 42% of marks, and 0.3% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 37 questions and 39 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 2023 (all years: 33%); Vocabulary took 15% of marks in 2023 (all years: 15%); Grammar - pronouns took 8.7% of marks in 2023 (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 | 31.8 | in 31 of 33 papers |
| Vocabulary | 15.1 | in 28 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 8.7 | in 28 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 7.8 | in 30 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 7.5 | in 24 of 33 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 5.2 | in 20 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 4.3 | in 24 of 33 papers |
| Composition | 3.1 | in 8 of 33 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 2.6 | in 8 of 33 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 2.4 | in 6 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 2.4 | in 26 of 33 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 2.2 | in 6 of 33 papers |
| Editing | 2.2 | in 8 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 1.7 | in 21 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 1.1 | in 7 of 33 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 1 | in 1 of 33 papers |
| Punctuation | 0.5 | in 3 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - other | 0.3 | in 3 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.1 | in 3 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.1 | in 1 of 33 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0 | in 1 of 33 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 42%
- Cloze passage 14%
- Short answer 13%
- Rewrite / synthesis 7%
- Other 24%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 42.4 |
| Cloze passage | 13.6 |
| Short answer | 12.8 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 6.8 |
| Word bank | 6.5 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 6.2 |
| Editing (find the error) | 4.6 |
| Composition | 3.1 |
| Fill in the blank | 2.6 |
| Listening | 1 |
| Other | 0.3 |
| Number answer | 0.1 |
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 | 90.9 |
| 2 | 5.5 |
| 3 | 0.1 |
| 4 | 0.1 |
| 5+ | 0.2 |
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 | 93.9 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 90.9 |
| Vocabulary | 84.8 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 84.8 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 78.8 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 72.7 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 72.7 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 63.6 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 60.6 |
| Grammar cloze | 24.2 |
| Editing | 24.2 |
| Composition | 24.2 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 21.2 |
| Comprehension cloze | 18.2 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 18.2 |
| Punctuation | 9.1 |
| Grammar - other | 9.1 |
| Grammar - question tags | 9.1 |
| Listening comprehension | 3 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 3 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 3 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 33 papers, 1,221 questions, 1,289 marks, from 17 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 32% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 94% of papers.
- 0.3% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and Practice paper.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 4 English exam papers in 2023?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (32%), Vocabulary (15%), Grammar - pronouns (8.7%), Grammar - verbs and tenses (7.8%) and Grammar - subject-verb agreement (7.5%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 37 questions and 39 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 17 schools, from these exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and Practice paper. 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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