Primary 4 Maths exam paper analysis and topic trends
PaperLah has 489 Primary 4 Maths exam papers from 27 Singapore primary schools, set between 2011 and 2025, with 19,340 questions in total. The topics carrying the most marks are Fractions (19%), Whole numbers (11%) and Angles (8.5%); together the top 5 topics account for half of all marks. Whole numbers appears in 91% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 33% of marks, and 11% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 40 questions and 81 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fractions | 19.1 | in 418 of 489 papers |
| Whole numbers | 10.7 | in 446 of 489 papers |
| Angles | 8.5 | in 401 of 489 papers |
| Area and perimeter | 8.1 | in 334 of 489 papers |
| Money | 8.1 | in 426 of 489 papers |
| Multiplication and division | 6.7 | in 421 of 489 papers |
| Factors and multiples | 4.8 | in 416 of 489 papers |
| Word problems | 4.7 | in 319 of 489 papers |
| Decimals | 3.8 | in 239 of 489 papers |
| Time | 3.2 | in 258 of 489 papers |
| Number patterns | 2.7 | in 328 of 489 papers |
| Symmetry | 2.3 | in 253 of 489 papers |
| Mass | 2.2 | in 236 of 489 papers |
| Lines | 2 | in 245 of 489 papers |
| Tables and graphs | 1.9 | in 204 of 489 papers |
| Length | 1.6 | in 214 of 489 papers |
| Ratio | 1.6 | in 166 of 489 papers |
| Line graphs | 1.4 | in 167 of 489 papers |
| Bar graphs | 1.4 | in 154 of 489 papers |
| Addition and subtraction | 1.1 | in 149 of 489 papers |
| Volume | 0.9 | in 119 of 489 papers |
| Quadrilaterals | 0.7 | in 120 of 489 papers |
| Age problems | 0.5 | in 69 of 489 papers |
| Measurement and units | 0.5 | in 72 of 489 papers |
| Tessellation | 0.4 | in 53 of 489 papers |
| Position and direction | 0.3 | in 47 of 489 papers |
| 2D shapes | 0.3 | in 49 of 489 papers |
| Solid figures and nets | 0.2 | in 24 of 489 papers |
| Order of operations | 0.2 | in 20 of 489 papers |
| Pie charts | 0.1 | in 16 of 489 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Number answer 54%
- Multiple choice 33%
- Short answer 7%
- Drawing or labelling 3%
- Other 2%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Number answer | 54.3 |
| Multiple choice | 32.8 |
| Short answer | 7.3 |
| Drawing or labelling | 3.5 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 1.1 |
| Fill in the blank | 0.9 |
| Other | 0.1 |
| Word bank | 0 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 0 |
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 | 8.9 |
| 2 | 77.9 |
| 3 | 4.2 |
| 4 | 6.6 |
| 5+ | 0.1 |
How topics change over the years
The most-asked topics, as a share of each year's questions. Darker means asked more that year. Use it to spot topics schools are asking more often now.
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| Topic | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractions | 17.8 | 16.6 | 16.3 | 16.5 | 16.6 | 18 | 21.6 | 20.9 |
| Whole numbers | 12.2 | 10.1 | 12.6 | 11.2 | 12 | 11.2 | 10.7 | 9.9 |
| Angles | 10 | 9.8 | 10.5 | 10.4 | 12.2 | 9.1 | 6.2 | 7.2 |
| Money | 6.8 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 7 | 7.6 | 8.5 | 7.2 | 6.6 |
| Area and perimeter | 6.8 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 7.2 |
| Multiplication and division | 8.3 | 8 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 6.4 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.8 |
| Factors and multiples | 5.2 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5 | 5.1 | 4.2 |
| Decimals | 3.3 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 6 | 5.3 | 5.9 |
| Word problems | 3.4 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3 |
| Time | 3 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Whole numbers | 91.2 |
| Money | 87.1 |
| Multiplication and division | 86.1 |
| Fractions | 85.5 |
| Factors and multiples | 85.1 |
| Angles | 82 |
| Area and perimeter | 68.3 |
| Number patterns | 67.1 |
| Word problems | 65.2 |
| Time | 52.8 |
| Symmetry | 51.7 |
| Lines | 50.1 |
| Decimals | 48.9 |
| Mass | 48.3 |
| Length | 43.8 |
| Tables and graphs | 41.7 |
| Line graphs | 34.2 |
| Ratio | 33.9 |
| Bar graphs | 31.5 |
| Addition and subtraction | 30.5 |
| Quadrilaterals | 24.5 |
| Volume | 24.3 |
| Measurement and units | 14.7 |
| Age problems | 14.1 |
| Tessellation | 10.8 |
| 2D shapes | 10 |
| Position and direction | 9.6 |
| Solid figures and nets | 4.9 |
| Order of operations | 4.1 |
| Pie charts | 3.3 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 489 papers, 19,340 questions, 39,459 marks, from 27 schools.
- 5 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Fractions, 19% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Whole numbers, in 91% of papers.
- 11% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Mid-Year / SA1, Weighted Assessment / CA, Quiz / Review / Test, Other and Practice paper.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 4 Maths exam papers?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics are Fractions (19%), Whole numbers (11%), Angles (8.5%), Area and perimeter (8.1%) and Money (8.1%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 4 Maths paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 40 questions and 81 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?
489 papers from 27 schools, from these exam types: End-of-Year / SA2, Mid-Year / SA1, Weighted Assessment / CA, Quiz / Review / Test, Other 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 · Math · 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
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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