Primary 6 English exam paper analysis: 2023
PaperLah has 27 Primary 6 English exam papers from 2023, set by 18 Singapore primary schools, with 2,077 questions worth 2,825 marks. The topics carrying the most marks were Comprehension (23%), Composition (14%) and Grammar cloze (14%); together the top 3 topics account for half of all marks. Comprehension appears in 96% of the papers. Multiple-choice questions make up 24% of marks, and 2% of questions are worth 3 marks or more, which usually means showing working. A typical paper has about 77 questions and 105 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 23% of marks in 2023 (all years: 23%); Composition took 14% of marks in 2023 (all years: 10%); Grammar cloze took 14% of marks in 2023 (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.
Show as table
| Topic | % of marks | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehension | 22.9 | in 26 of 27 papers |
| Composition | 14.2 | in 10 of 27 papers |
| Grammar cloze | 14.1 | in 23 of 27 papers |
| Vocabulary | 12.1 | in 25 of 27 papers |
| Editing | 9.7 | in 23 of 27 papers |
| Synthesis and transformation | 8.4 | in 25 of 27 papers |
| Situational writing | 6.9 | in 10 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 2.2 | in 25 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - prepositions | 1.7 | in 24 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 1.3 | in 25 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - other | 1.1 | in 7 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 0.9 | in 21 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - question tags | 0.9 | in 25 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - pronouns | 0.8 | in 15 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 0.8 | in 20 of 27 papers |
| Vocabulary cloze | 0.5 | in 1 of 27 papers |
| Comprehension cloze | 0.5 | in 1 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 0.4 | in 12 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 0.4 | in 3 of 27 papers |
| Listening comprehension | 0.1 | in 2 of 27 papers |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 0.1 | in 2 of 27 papers |
| Punctuation | 0 | in 1 of 27 papers |
| Health | 0 | in 1 of 27 papers |
What a paper is made of
How children answer, as a share of marks.
- Multiple choice 24%
- Composition 21%
- Cloze passage 17%
- Editing (find the error) 10%
- Other 28%
Show as table
| Format | % of marks |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 24.4 |
| Composition | 21.1 |
| Cloze passage | 17.1 |
| Editing (find the error) | 9.7 |
| Short answer | 9.6 |
| Rewrite / synthesis | 8.8 |
| Open-ended (show working) | 5.1 |
| Word bank | 3 |
| Fill in the blank | 1.2 |
| Listening | 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.
Show as table
| Marks | % of questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 84.7 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 0.8 |
| 4 | 0.1 |
| 5+ | 1.1 |
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 | 96.3 |
| Vocabulary | 92.6 |
| Synthesis and transformation | 92.6 |
| Grammar - verbs and tenses | 92.6 |
| Grammar - subject-verb agreement | 92.6 |
| Grammar - question tags | 92.6 |
| Grammar - prepositions | 88.9 |
| Grammar cloze | 85.2 |
| Editing | 85.2 |
| Grammar - conjunctions | 77.8 |
| Grammar - articles and quantifiers | 74.1 |
| Grammar - pronouns | 55.6 |
| Grammar - modals and conditionals | 44.4 |
| Situational writing | 37 |
| Composition | 37 |
| Grammar - other | 25.9 |
| Grammar - word order and sentences | 11.1 |
| Listening comprehension | 7.4 |
| Grammar - adjectives and adverbs | 7.4 |
| Vocabulary cloze | 3.7 |
| Comprehension cloze | 3.7 |
| Punctuation | 3.7 |
| Health | 3.7 |
Exam types
Which school exams these papers come from.
Key facts
- 27 papers, 2,077 questions, 2,825 marks, from 18 schools.
- 3 topics carry half of all marks.
- Most-tested topic: Comprehension, 23% of marks.
- Most common topic across papers: Comprehension, in 96% of papers.
- 2% of questions are worth 3 marks or more.
- Exam types: Prelim (P6) and Weighted Assessment / CA.
Questions parents ask
What topics come up most in Primary 6 English exam papers in 2023?
By share of marks, the most-tested topics were Comprehension (23%), Composition (14%), Grammar cloze (14%), Vocabulary (12%) and Editing (9.7%).
How many questions and marks are in a Primary 6 English paper?
A typical paper in this set has about 77 questions and 105 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?
27 papers from 18 schools, from these exam types: Prelim (P6) 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 · 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
One question at a time, marked instantly, with a dashboard that shows which topics need work. Free during the beta.