SINGAPORE – Why is the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) so difficult? Are the challenging questions meant for pupils in the gifted education programme who also sit the exam? These were some of the questions posed by parents of Primary 6 pupils at The Straits Times Smart Parenting PSLE Prep...
SINGAPORE – Why is the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) so difficult? Are the challenging questions meant for pupils in the gifted education programme who also sit the exam?
These were some of the questions posed by parents of Primary 6 pupils at The Straits Times Smart Parenting PSLE Prep Forum on April 4.
Responding to the queries, Mr Ong Kong Hong, divisional director of curriculum planning and development division 1 at the Ministry of Education, said the PSLE does not test beyond what is taught in the primary school syllabus.
Though some parents feel that classroom teaching alone is not enough to prepare pupils for the exam, Mr Ong said that questions may not mirror textbook examples, but are still based on concepts that they have learnt.
“It is meant to test the thinking and application... When you say it’s difficult or easy, it’s whether the child is able to make that connection and apply what they have learnt in the classroom,” he said.
One parent asked if textbooks and worksheets are designed to include the more challenging questions – that comprise 15 per cent of the PSLE – so that pupils are better prepared to handle them.
Mr Ong explained that textbooks focus on foundational concepts and cannot be pitched at a very high level as they are meant for pupils across all schools. However, more advanced content is introduced through classroom teaching and school-based materials for those who benefit from more challenging content.
“We generally use the textbooks to lay out the basic concepts to make sure that everybody can develop their foundation of understanding at the start. The differentiation comes in the classroom at the school level, sometimes in terms of the school-based resources that teachers will then develop,” he said.
Mr Ong added that the Student Learning Space (SLS), an online platform by MOE, is a resource for students to access additional learning materials and practise questions.
It features adaptive learning tools that can adjust the difficulty of questions based on the student’s performance.
“Increasingly in SLS, we’re building in more AI features to be a learning companion to the students,” he said.
Close to 200 people attended the forum online or in person at the SPH Media Auditorium.
During a discussion with ST senior education correspondent Sandra Davie, Mr Ong also addressed concerns about the unequal bands in the new achievement level (AL) scoring system for the PSLE, where students are graded on their individual performance from AL 1 to 8.
Some parents felt that wider bands, such as AL 6, which covers scores from 45 to 64 – a range of 20 marks -– make it difficult for students to move up to higher bands. In comparison, higher bands from AL 5 to AL 1 have a smaller range of either five or 10 marks.
Mr Ong said the bands are not equal because they are based on the performance of pupils in the past. On average, almost half of the pupils scored at least 75 marks for each of the four subjects in the PSLE.
As a result, higher bands are intentionally narrower to better differentiate students who are more suited for integrated programmes (IP) or specialised schools, such as NUS High School of Math and Science and School of Science and Technology.
Mr Ong assured parents that unlike the previous T-score system, the AL scoring does not grade students on a bell curve.
“If your raw score shows that you have fulfilled the requirement, we will give you the marks and the appropriate AL score,” he said.
To dispel misconceptions about rigid marking schemes, especially the perception that specific keywords are required in Science answers in the PSLE – Mr Ong cited an example from the 2025 PSLE Science paper.
Considered a challenging question, it tested pupils’ understanding of density and volume, he said.
The pupils gave their answers in different formats – prose, diagrams or drawings – and were awarded marks as long as they demonstrated an understanding of the concepts.
Said Mr Ong: “There’s not only one way of showing the answer, there are actually many different ways. As long as it’s reasonable, as long as we can understand, we will give the mark.”
Maths is nurture, not nature
Mathematics expert Yeap Ban Har, who shared tips and strategies to help parents better support their children in PSLE maths, said skill in the subject has nothing to do with genetics, but more to do with opportunities to hone it.
“You can, through the environment you create and through the way you interact with them, help your child become good in mathematics,” said Dr Yeap, a former National Institute of Education lecturer and maths textbook author.
Helping children with maths involves adults role-modelling how to problem-solve, instead of just telling them how to arrive at an answer.
This may include helping them break down and understand a task, visualise a problem, and clearly express their thinking or approach to problem-solving in a written form.
“In the exams or when they’re all by themselves, there’s no one to tell them whether they are right or wrong. They need to develop this internal mechanism to monitor whether they are right or they are wrong,” said Dr Yeap.
He recommended consistent daily practice of Maths questions, amounting to not more than 20 marks. This could be 20 one-mark questions, or four challenging five-mark questions.
He added that parents should not be the ones holding the pencil when helping their children with a maths question.
“When we hold the pencil, we take over. Then we are the ones who become better in maths every single day,” he said.
When asked how parents can help their children who are not motivated to improve their Maths, Dr Yeap said the adult-child relationship can make a difference.
“If they have a connection with you, if they like you, then they will do even the most mundane thing,” he said.
Mr Shan Wee, a radio presenter from ONE FM 91.3, who hosted the forum, said this advice resonated most with him.
As a parent of a P6 pupil preparing to take the PSLE this year, he said this was evident in his search for a tutor.
“The tutor who came in did not have great social skills, though obviously a very smart person... Then I realised a tutor who is more engaging, fun and likeable, is probably going to be more of a success in the long run,” he said.
He added that this also reinforced the need to keep calm and optimistic when revising with his daughter at home.
This story was independently reported by 1 sources. Click any source to read the original article.
Science