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Primary 5 Chinese exam paper analysis: 2020

PaperLah has 16 Primary 5 Chinese exam papers from 2020, set by 13 Singapore primary schools, with 630 questions worth 1,587 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were 词语 Vocabulary (42%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (36%) and 作文 Composition (16%); 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 49% of marks, and 18% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 39 questions and 99 marks.

Based on 16 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 42% of marks in 2020 (all years: 42%); 阅读理解 Comprehension took 36% of marks in 2020 (all years: 37%); 作文 Composition took 16% of marks in 2020 (all years: 13%).

16papers from 13 schools
39questions in a typical paper
99marks 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 16 of 16 papers41.9%
阅读理解 Comprehensionin 16 of 16 papers35.7%
Above this line: 2 topics carry half of all marks
作文 Compositionin 14 of 16 papers15.8%
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyinin 16 of 16 papers3.8%
关联词与语法 Grammarin 11 of 16 papers2.3%
句子 Sentencesin 2 of 16 papers0.5%
汉字 Charactersin 1 of 16 papers0.1%
Show as table
Topic% of marksPapers
词语 Vocabulary41.9in 16 of 16 papers
阅读理解 Comprehension35.7in 16 of 16 papers
作文 Composition15.8in 14 of 16 papers
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin3.8in 16 of 16 papers
关联词与语法 Grammar2.3in 11 of 16 papers
句子 Sentences0.5in 2 of 16 papers
汉字 Characters0.1in 1 of 16 papers

What a paper is made of

How children answer, as a share of marks.

  • Multiple choice 49%
  • Composition 18%
  • Open-ended (show working) 17%
  • Word bank 8%
  • Other 8%
Show as table
Format% of marks
Multiple choice49.2
Composition18.3
Open-ended (show working)16.7
Word bank7.7
Short answer4.2
Cloze passage2.8
Fill in the blank1.1

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.

1: 7% of questions7%12: 74% of questions74%23: 7% of questions7%34: 9% of questions9%45+: 1% of questions1%5+
Show as table
Marks% of questions
17.1
274.3
37.5
49.2
5+1.1

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 Composition87.5%
关联词与语法 Grammar68.8%
句子 Sentences12.5%
汉字 Characters6.3%
Show as table
Topic% of papers
词语 Vocabulary100
阅读理解 Comprehension100
汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin100
作文 Composition87.5
关联词与语法 Grammar68.8
句子 Sentences12.5
汉字 Characters6.3

Exam types

Which school exams these papers come from.

End-of-Year / SA213 papers81.3%
Weighted Assessment / CA2 papers12.5%
Mid-Year / SA11 papers6.3%

Key facts

  • 16 papers, 630 questions, 1,587 marks, from 13 schools.
  • 2 topics carry half of all marks.
  • Most-tested topic: 词语 Vocabulary, 42% 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: End-of-Year / SA2, Weighted Assessment / CA and Mid-Year / SA1.

Questions parents ask

What topics come up most in Primary 5 Chinese exam papers in 2020?

By share of marks, the most-tested topics were 词语 Vocabulary (42%), 阅读理解 Comprehension (36%), 作文 Composition (16%), 汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (3.8%) and 关联词与语法 Grammar (2.3%).

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

A typical paper in this set has about 39 questions and 99 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?

16 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 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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