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Primary 5 Chinese exam paper analysis: 2018

PaperLah has 31 Primary 5 Chinese exam papers from 2018, set by 13 Singapore primary schools, with 1,271 questions worth 2,951 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were 词语 Vocabulary (45%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (35%) and 作文 Composition (11%); together the top 2 topics account for half of all marks. 词语 Vocabulary appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 53% of marks, and 18% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 41 questions and 95 marks.

Based on 31 papers from 13 schools · Updated 2026-10-13

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: 词语 Vocabulary took 45% of marks in 2018 (all years: 42%); 阅读理解 Comprehension took 35% of marks in 2018 (all years: 37%); 作文 Composition took 11% of marks in 2018 (all years: 13%).

31papers from 13 schools
41questions in a typical paper
95marks in a typical paper
2topics carry half of all marks

Where the marks are

Topics ranked by their share of all marks. The blue ones above the line together make up half.

词语 Vocabularyin 31 of 31 papers45.4%
阅读理解 Comprehensionin 31 of 31 papers35.5%
Above this line: 2 topics carry half of all marks
作文 Compositionin 31 of 31 papers10.8%
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyinin 31 of 31 papers4.1%
关联词与语法 Grammarin 23 of 31 papers2.8%
短文填空 Clozein 2 of 31 papers0.7%
句子 Sentencesin 4 of 31 papers0.5%
词语搭配 Collocationsin 2 of 31 papers0.1%
听力理解 Listeningin 3 of 31 papers0%
Show as table
Topic% of marksPapers
词语 Vocabulary45.4in 31 of 31 papers
阅读理解 Comprehension35.5in 31 of 31 papers
作文 Composition10.8in 31 of 31 papers
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin4.1in 31 of 31 papers
关联词与语法 Grammar2.8in 23 of 31 papers
短文填空 Cloze0.7in 2 of 31 papers
句子 Sentences0.5in 4 of 31 papers
词语搭配 Collocations0.1in 2 of 31 papers
听力理解 Listening0in 3 of 31 papers

What a paper is made of

How children answer, as a share of marks.

  • Multiple choice 53%
  • Open-ended (show working) 15%
  • Composition 10%
  • Word bank 9%
  • Other 11%
Show as table
Format% of marks
Multiple choice53.4
Open-ended (show working)15.4
Composition10.3
Word bank9.5
Short answer6.2
Cloze passage3.4
Fill in the blank1.8
Listening0

Marks per question

Share of questions worth 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5+ marks. 4% have no marks printed. Higher-mark questions usually need working.

1: 1% of questions1%12: 78% of questions78%23: 8% of questions8%34: 9% of questions9%45+: 1% of questions1%5+
Show as table
Marks% of questions
10.6
278
37.8
49.4
5+0.6

How likely a topic comes up

The share of papers with at least one question on the topic.

词语 Vocabulary100%
阅读理解 Comprehension100%
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin100%
作文 Composition100%
关联词与语法 Grammar74.2%
句子 Sentences12.9%
听力理解 Listening9.7%
短文填空 Cloze6.5%
词语搭配 Collocations6.5%
Show as table
Topic% of papers
词语 Vocabulary100
阅读理解 Comprehension100
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin100
作文 Composition100
关联词与语法 Grammar74.2
句子 Sentences12.9
听力理解 Listening9.7
短文填空 Cloze6.5
词语搭配 Collocations6.5

Exam types

Which school exams these papers come from.

Mid-Year / SA113 papers41.9%
End-of-Year / SA213 papers41.9%
Weighted Assessment / CA5 papers16.1%

Key facts

  • 31 papers, 1,271 questions, 2,951 marks, from 13 schools.
  • 2 topics carry half of all marks.
  • Most-tested topic: 词语 Vocabulary, 45% of marks.
  • Most common topic across papers: 词语 Vocabulary, in 100% of papers.
  • 18% 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 5 Chinese exam papers in 2018?

By share of marks, the most-tested topics were 词语 Vocabulary (45%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (35%), 作文 Composition (11%), 汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (4.1%) and 关联词与语法 Grammar (2.8%).

How many questions and marks are in a Primary 5 Chinese paper?

A typical paper in this set has about 41 questions and 95 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?

31 papers from 13 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 Hua · Nanyang · Pei Chun · Pei Hwa · Raffles Girls' · Red Swastika · Rosyth · Rulang · Singapore Chinese Girls' · St Hilda's · Tao Nan

Schools with Primary 5 Chinese 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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