Primary 6 English exam paper analysis: 2020
PaperLah has 12 Primary 6 English exam papers from 2020, set by 12 Singapore primary schools, with 1,016 questions worth 1,548 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (22%), Composition (18%) and Grammar cloze (13%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 100% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 23% of marks, and 2.7% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 85 questions and 129 marks.
These figures describe the school papers in PaperLah's collection, including prelims, not official PSLE papers or topic weightings. They help with planning revision; they can't predict a particular exam.
Compared with all years: Comprehension took 22% of marks in 2020 (all years: 23%); Composition took 18% of marks in 2020 (all years: 10%); Grammar cloze took 13% of marks in 2020 (all years: 15%).
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 | 21.6 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Composition | 18.1 | in 7 of 12 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 12.6 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Vocabulary | 10.4 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Situational writing | 8.7 | in 7 of 12 papers |
| Editing | 8.1 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 7 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 2.1 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - other | 1.9 | in 4 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 1.8 | in 12 of 12 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 1.8 | in 2 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 1 | in 11 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 1 | in 11 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 0.8 | in 5 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 0.7 | in 9 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.7 | in 11 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 0.7 | in 9 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.6 | in 9 of 12 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.2 | in 3 of 12 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Composition 27%
- Multiple choice 23%
- Cloze passage 16%
- Editing (find the error) 9%
- Other 26%
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| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Composition | 26.8 |
| Multiple choice | 22.7 |
| Cloze passage | 16 |
| Editing (find the error) | 8.9 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 7.8 |
| Short answer | 7.5 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 5.2 |
| Word bank | 3.5 |
| Fill in the blank | 1.7 |
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.
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| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 84.9 |
| 2 | 11.6 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 0.1 |
| 5+ | 1.6 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Comprehension | 100 |
| Grammar cloze | 100 |
| Vocabulary | 100 |
| Editing | 100 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 100 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 100 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 100 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 91.7 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 91.7 |
| Grammar - question tags | 91.7 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 75 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 75 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 75 |
| Situational writing | 58.3 |
| Composition | 58.3 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 41.7 |
| Grammar - other | 33.3 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 25 |
| Comprehension cloze | 16.7 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 12 papers, 1,016 questions, 1,548 marks, from 12 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 22% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 100% of papers.
- 2.7% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: End-of-Year / SA2.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 6 English exam papers in 2020?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (22%), Composition (18%), Grammar cloze (13%), Vocabulary (10%) and Situational writing (8.7%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 6 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 85 questions and 129 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?
12 papers from 12 schools, from these exam types: End-of-Year / SA2. 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 · Christian Brothers · 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 · River Valley · Rosyth · Singapore Chinese Girls' · Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan · St Hilda's · Tao Nan · Temasek
Schools with Primary 6 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.
Practise real Primary 6 English papers
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