PSLE kept at ‘consistent standard of difficulty’, 15% of questions ranked as ‘challenging’ each year: MOE

SINGAPORE: The Primary School Leaving behind Examination (PSLE) will be kept at a “consistent standard of difficulty” over the years, with fifteen per cent of queries classified as “challenging” each year, said the particular Ministry of Education’s (MOE) director-general associated with education on Fri (Jul 15).  

In a post on LinkedIn and MOE’s Schoolbag website, Ms Liew Wei Li mentioned that in recent years, specific mathematics problems in the PSLE papers are actually “the centre associated with public discussion and debate”.  

However , such questions are “actually few and far between” in the examinations, the girl wrote.  

“It is important to keep in mind that the overall regular of any examination paper is determined by the particular mix of questions as a whole, and not by just the ‘Helen and Ivan’ question for that 12 months, ” the publish read.  

The “Helen and Ivan” question refers to a question in the 2021 Mathematics PSLE document that was reportedly so difficult that it delivered students home within tears.

“In Singapore, the PSLE is kept in a consistent standard associated with difficulty across the years. This standard is maintained by capping the proportion of questions that are categorized as ‘challenging’ with 15 per cent every year, ” wrote Ms Liew in the girl post.  

“What this means is the fact that there will only become a few challenging queries set each year, making up about 15 marks of the paper. ” 

The PSLE is designed to cater to college students of different abilities, and the “majority” of questions are accessible to the majority of students, Ms Liew wrote.  

A “small number” of questions permit stronger students to “demonstrate their mastery” of the subject, the lady continued.  

“At the heart of the matter, no parent ever wishes for child to become unhappy while in the pursuit of their goals. As parents, we wish to multiply our children’s delights, whilst protecting them from adversities plus hurt, ” Microsoft Liew said in her post.  

“Yet we all cannot shield all of them from all the problems and setbacks that they may face in life. Tests and exams, just like sports or even arts competitions, a few early opportunities for us to teach our children regarding courage, and getting the resilience and dedication, to work towards the goals. ”