Having heard much about how tough Singapore’s PSLE Math exam is, I wanted to have a firsthand experience. To start, I’m not a Maths teacher or a Maths whizz. I also don’t consider myself mathematically inclined. That said, I do have a keen interest for trying things and given I have young school going toddlers, I thought it will be a good time to understand how tough this exam is. Hence, consider this article a working adult’s perspective. I hope to provide useful insights for anyone interested about the PSLE with hands-on and personal reflections.
If you enjoy details and are keen to go through each question of the paper that I took, together with blow by blow analysis, I planned to write another article and video soon. Hope this helps!
What is the PSLE Math Examination Paper?
The PSLE, or Primary School Leaving Examinations is a national level exam in Singapore administered by the Ministry of Education. Children at the Primary 6 level (12 year olds) are eligible to take this exam and most who do so are from national primary schools. There are a total of 4 subject papers including Maths, English, Mother Tongue and Science. One might take additional papers too if you are studying advanced languages.
The PLSE marks the end of primary school education and transition to higher education in a secondary school. With the PSLE score, students can enroll in a secondary school of their choice where they spend the next 4 to 6 years of schooling life. The PSLE is considered a “milestone” examination by many parents simply because PSLE scores secure enrolment to preferred schools of choice, which have minimum PSLE entry score requirements.
Thus from the onset, the PSLE does seem like a high stake exam with many students and parents concerned about doing well for the exams.
The PSLE Maths Hype
If you are up to date with the education scene in Singapore, you would know there has been a lot of hype around the how tough the PSLE Maths Exam, in particular is.
There has been many reports over the years in mainstream media, national paper and social media. The hype over this notorious exam has spawned videos in social media where a group of netizens attempted the PSLE Maths paper in 2018. Channel News Asia’s “Talking Point” program recorded an episode to answer the question of whether PSLE Maths paper was too difficult in 2019. The Straits Times reported in October 2021 on how some parents and children were “speechless” and frustrated over tough questions in the 2021 PSLE Maths Paper. Even Singapore’s very own comedy blogger Mr Brown, had to give his take in a hilarious video here.
Despite such hype and furor over the exam, Singapore has produced excellent results over the years, with many students excelling in global education scores like like PISA, OECD reports etc. OECD reported in 2018 that 15 year old Singapore students scored 2nd in Maths ability internationally for the PISA. However, concerns by educators, parents, students and general public remain over the tough PSLE exam, especially the Maths paper. These concerns are typically grouped into buckets like questions over the child’s ability to pass the exam, support for parents who wish to know how to help their child learn and mental health concerns of coping with the stress that comes with preparation for the exam.
So, some of the common questions voiced out includes:
-Is it true the PSLE Maths exam is tough? How tough is it?
-Will my child be able to pass the PSLE Maths exam?
-I am concerned my children will be overly stressed with preparing for this exam.
-How can I help my children (I am clueless)?
I will try to answer these questions from my experience of taking the PSLE exam as an average joe, and as a parent.
Attempting the PSLE Maths Exam
Prior to attempting the PSLE Maths paper, I had a few challenges.
Having left the Singapore Examination system for more than 15 years, you can say I am an “outsider” to the Singapore examinations system. I am definitely not as primed for such an examination like current students would be. Hence my reflections might appear to be “raw” and “unscripted”.
Being a working adult, setting aside 2 and a half hours to take this exam was no mean feat. I had to take leave from work. I took Paper 1 in one sitting, Paper 2 in a separate sitting. I did not read any Primary School Maths textbook prior to attempting the paper and I was clueless about what Maths Syllabus was taught in schools. I relied on what I thought was “common sense” and from the assurance I had sat for the same Exam more than 20 years ago.
Let’s go on to the paper. If you are interested in the examination format, details like how many papers, questions, types of questions, marks, I’ve kept the information below.
Paper 1
I went into paper 1 confident about my own abilities. I thought as an adult, I could pass with flying colors. I was even aiming for a high score. In the end, I would be penalized for my overconfidence! Here were my scores after attempting Paper 1, booklets A and B:
Paper 1 Booklet A (MCQ questions): 15/ 20
Paper 1 Booklet B (Short Answers questions): 18/25
In total, I achieved 33/45 marks, equivalent to a 70% grasp of the paper. You could say I passed paper 1, but there were many marks penalized, and upon retrospective analysis lots of careless mistakes. If you are interested in a blow by blow account of the questions I attempted and my analysis of the approach and methods to each question, I have done up a separate article and video here.
Paper 2
Paper 2 was taken on a separate day after attempting Paper 1 as I was squeezing in home errands with PSLE Maths and I didn’t have enough time. This is different from what Primary school children go through as they take both papers on the same day (more info here).
After the less than satisfactory scores in Paper 1, you could say I went into Paper 2 with more caution. Nevertheless, I was still rather chirpy about the whole thing. Maybe because it wasn’t really high stakes for me. It was simply a mental exercise for me and I could get on with my life regardless of the exam score, unlike our school children.
Paper 2 (short answered and long/structured questions) was a disaster, my scores: 22/55
I failed Paper 2!
See my analysis video about Paper 2 here.
Adding scores from Paper 1 and Paper 2, I achieved 55 marks in total for PSLE Maths. This would classify me under an AL6 banding according to MOE (Ministry of Education)’s score calculator. I think many parents will cringe at this score.
Verdict: Is the PSLE Maths Exam tough?
In my opinion, the PSLE Maths exam is a challenging one. I expected to ace it however the sad fact is I barely passed! As a working adult, our mental capabilities are already better developed than a child’s, so you can imagine how tough it would be for the 12 year olds that are taking this exam.
I was surprised many of the questions are tricky, not the straight forward kind where you expect calculations to be made, like additions, subtraction, multiplication questions and that sort etc. Those are too easy! The exam tests higher order thinking skills like conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts and the application of those concepts. The more difficult ones have more information and text, which could be confusing. Under the pressure of time, one has to identify and sieve out what concepts are being tested.
As mentioned, some questions have lots of textual information and data, written in a highly concise manner. Hence I would imagine besides mathematical thinking skills, one needs to also have a certain level of English language proficiency. You have to interpret questions to know what concepts are being targeted and you have to make some assumptions and draw boundaries in your consideration. You would also have to organize the information provided in the question to have a good structural interpretation. It sounds abstract, so if you want actual questions and analysis, go here.
I also lost marks to geometry questions that featured concepts like “Trapeziums”, “Rhombus” and “Parallelograms”. These questions required one to know the properties of said shapes and having left these knowledge in school many years back, I could not make correct assumptions to answer them. You do need to remember by heart, Mathematical jargons, their definitions and properties.
Another dimension the exam tested was the ability to visualize mathematical concepts and their applications. Many times, you may know what the question is asking for, and you may know where to start, but you can’t really visualize the thought process that happens in between. Visualization techniques like drawing models or pictorial representations help to see different perspectives of the question you won’t normally get by just analyzing it in your brain. I feel it is a key skill that students should have when attempting the PSLE Maths paper.
If you wish to do well for the exams, you have to be able to answer some of the more challenging questions, which are typically found in Paper 2. This is probably where the anger and frustration come in. You need to have the passion to study and read widely and deeply beyond the topics you are taught at school. After re-looking at the questions that I did not answer correctly in Paper 2, I don’t think where were any extremely tough ones. However, I could imagine from parents’ comments, those questions actually tested on knowledge not taught in Primary school Maths syllabus.
Lastly, you also need to allocate some time to check your work! I didn’t and lost many marks to carelessness and oversight. 15 mins might be a good time for each paper but that means you need to answer each question promptly just to have that time buffer to check your answers.
With all factors considered, all in all, this is not an exam to be taken lightly.
Will my children be able to pass the exam?
I wouldn’t be able to answer this question for you as every child is at a different stage of their learning journey and I would have no way to know their ability. A quick gauge would be to have your child attempt a past year PSLE Maths paper like I did.
Beyond attempting a past year paper, we wouldn’t want to be too exam focused and hence you should incorporate other approaches (which I have detailed below) as part of your child’s learning journey.
How can I help my child to pass the PSLE Maths exam?
Cultivating genuine interest of Maths and the appreciation of the applications of Maths would be beneficial for the longer run. Like it or not, Maths will continue to be a part of children’s higher education even after PSLE. Maths is a useful skill to have that has many real life applications. We should look beyond the paper itself and view Maths as a way of understanding the world around us and as a way to hone our thinking skills.
There should also be consistent effort on a daily basis to understand and practise Mathematical thinking, focusing on conceptual understanding, and testing the brain on the different ways concepts are presented. Another important point is to develop good visualization skills, because it helps students see questions in a different dimension, beyond paper based analysis of the question.
The PSLE is after all an exam. And as an exam, it has unique features that one should be familiar with. Hence, dedicate some time to have your child attempt the PSLE Maths past year papers so as not to fumble during the actual examination and make careless mistakes like I did.
I plan to do a separate article on tips to help children learn Maths in time to come.
What’s Next
After consolidating my learnings from the 2021 PSLE Maths paper, I plan to attempt another PSLE Maths paper to apply those learnings. I hope to post my views again after the 2nd attempt.
A Low-down on PSLE Maths exam format
Here is a quick overview of the PSLE Maths exam format. Information below is based on the 2021 PSLE Maths paper format.
The PSLE Maths exam is a written exam which means there are hardcopy exam papers and requiring students to be seated in school to take them. It consists of 2 written papers comprising of 3 booklets:
Paper 1 has booklets A and B. Booklet A has 15 Multiple-choice questions – the first 10 questions carry 1 mark each, while the next 5 questions carry 2 marks each. Booklet B has 15 short-answered questions – the first 5 questions carry 1 mark each, while the next 10 questions carry 2 marks each. The total marks for Paper 1 is 45 marks and it should be completed in 1 hour. You cannot use a calculator for Paper 1.
Paper 2 has only 1 booklet. It consists of 17 questions. The first 5 questions are short-answered and carry 2 marks each, while the next 12 questions could carry 3, 4, or 5 marks each depending on the question. Paper 2 carries 55 marks but the majority of marks are with the last 12 questions of Paper 2, where (you guessed), the difficulty and hype is. Paper 2 is to be completed within 1 hour 30 mins. You can use a calculator for Paper 2.
Both Papers 1 and 2 add up to 100 marks. In a realistic school environment setting, both papers are scheduled on the same day with a short break between the 2 papers for consolidation of papers and for hygiene break if required.
The other thing that you should know are the topics that PSLE Maths tests. There are currently 9 Maths topics being tested. They are: Whole Numbers, Measurement, Geometry, Data Analysis, Fractions, Decimals, Percentage, Ratio.