Free research report · PSLE Mathematics

The quiet shift in
PSLE Math

An independent question-by-question analysis of the 2021 and 2025 PSLE Math papers — and what the data tells us about what P6 students in Singapore actually need to score well in 2026.

8 pages of analysis
All 47 questions classified
5-tier difficulty framework
2021 vs 2025 comparison
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What's inside the report

8 pages. Everything a Singapore P6 parent needs to know.

The five-tier framework

Not all "hard" questions are hard in the same way

AO1 · Easy
Direct recall and single-step computation. Any student who has attended school can answer these.
AO2 · Moderate
Multi-step reasoning. Careful, systematic thinking gets you there — even without prior exposure to that exact question.
AO2 · Upper
Sustained multi-step reasoning under time pressure. Still discoverable, but demanding. Frameworks help but aren't required.
AO3 · Framework
Requires a specific problem-solving structure. Without the framework, the question is inaccessible — regardless of effort or ability.
AO3 · Challenging
Requires both the right framework and a non-obvious structural insight. These are the questions SEAB designates as "challenging" — capped at 15 marks per year.

The finding that matters most for 2026

Between 2021 and 2025, AO3 Framework questions more than doubled — from 8 marks to 21 marks. These are questions where a specific problem-solving structure must already be in place before any meaningful work can begin.

At the same time, AO3 Challenging barely moved — 6 marks to 7 marks. The paper is not getting harder at the extreme end. It's getting harder in the body, with framework-dependent questions now embedded throughout Paper 1 Booklet B and the mid-section of Paper 2 — where students don't expect them.

This tells us that the gap in preparation is not about ability. It's about access to the right problem-solving frameworks — and whether a child's school, teacher, and resources have given them that exposure.

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