21 July 2022
Ms Liew Wei Li, the Ministry of Education’s director-general of education, said that fifteen per cent of Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) questions are classified as “challenging” each year, and the national exam is kept at a consistent standard of difficulty.
PSLE maths exams have been a source of angst over the years, with complaints surfacing from time to time and parents taking issue with certain questions.
Ms Liew said each pupil’s marks in the new scoring system reflects the child’s mastery of the subject as there is no bell curve or quotas imposed on the number of pupils for each Achievement Level (AL) band. Under this new system, which took effect last year, pupils attain ALs of 1 to 8 for each of four subjects, with their final PSLE score being the sum of the ALs.