PSLE Maths and Science Papers: The 2026 Format

Most PSLE past papers online share one problem this year. SEAB marks both the Mathematics and the Science formats as revised for the 2026 PSLE, so a paper from an earlier year may be laid out differently from the one your child will sit. The questions are still useful. Its timing and split of marks may not be. This guide sets out the current format, where real papers come from, and how to use them.

PSLE Mathematics from 2026

Two written papers on the same day, with a break between them. Paper 1 has two booklets and no calculator. Paper 2 is one booklet, and a calculator from SEAB’s approved list is allowed.

That is 45 questions and 100 marks, split evenly between the two papers. Three rules from SEAB’s format document are worth knowing before the day:

• Every multiple-choice question has four options. The 1-mark ones are straightforward checks of basic concepts and skills.
• A short answer can still earn a mark when it is wrong. On a one-part question, 2 marks go to the right answer, and 1 mark goes to the right method when the answer is not right. On a two-part question, each part is worth 1 mark.
• Paper 2 marks the working. Each structured question asks your child to show the method of solution clearly. Where an answer needs a unit, the unit is given, and the answer must be in that unit.

PSLE Science from 2026

One paper of 1 hour 45 minutes, set on the 2023 primary science syllabus.

SEAB’s assessment objectives say what Booklet B is for: applying a concept to a setup your child has not seen, predicting, reading information from a table or graph, judging an experiment, and explaining the reasoning in words or a diagram. It rewards practice at writing a complete explanation, not just knowing the fact.

Where real past papers come from

PSLE papers are SEAB’s copyright. SEAB sells past years’ papers through two authorised publishers, Shing Lee Publishers and Educational Publishing House, and lists their contact details on its distributors page. Those booklets are the real questions. The free PDFs that fill the search results are copies of them or of school preliminary papers, and often come without worked solutions.

How to use papers from before 2026

1. Use them for the questions, not the clock. The syllabus topics carry over, so a 2023 problem sum is still good practice. Its paper is not a safe guide to how long each part should take now.
2. Retime them to the 2026 papers. Give Paper 1 work 1 hour 10 minutes without a calculator, and Paper 2 work 1 hour 20 minutes with one, so the pace your child learns is the pace of the real day.
3. Mark the working, not just the answer. On Paper 2 and in Science Booklet B, read the method or the explanation against the answer key and ask: would this earn every mark?
4. Keep a list of the mistakes. One wrong question type, seen three times, is worth more revision time than a whole new paper.

How the marks become a PSLE Score

Each Standard subject is graded in an Achievement Level (AL) from 1 to 8, by the percentage score, not by how other children did:

The PSLE Score is the four subjects’ ALs added together, from 4, the best, to 32. The bands are narrow at the top, so on a strong paper a few marks in Paper 2’s working can move a whole AL. MOE’s score calculator shows how a set of ALs maps to a posting group.

Practice in the 2026 format

We write PSLE-style practice papers to SEAB’s 2026 format, and each one is new when your child opens it. Mathematics has both papers, Paper 1 without a calculator and Paper 2 with one, marked with the PSLE’s marks per question. Science has Booklet A’s 30 multiple-choice questions across the five syllabus themes, and Booklet B’s structured questions, which your child answers in sentences and marks against a model answer, one marking point a mark. English has both written papers. Paper 1’s situational and continuous writing are typed and marked on the areas schools use. Paper 2 has Booklet A’s grammar, vocabulary, vocabulary cloze and visual text, and all of Booklet B: grammar cloze, editing, comprehension cloze, synthesis and open-ended comprehension. Paper 3, listening, is 20 questions on texts read aloud twice, the first 7 answered with pictures. Paper 4, oral, has both parts, spoken into the microphone: reading aloud, and a conversation about a picture.

To be clear about what these are: papers we wrote, not SEAB’s. We do not use past PSLE papers, and we are not connected with SEAB or MOE. A typed answer cannot show working, so have your child write the method on paper and check it against our worked solution. Science Booklet B is self-marked: the mark is yours, kept apart from Booklet A’s. A free account includes 3 practice tests, and a plan opens unlimited tests and unlocks the answers and worked solutions.

What’s next

Start on the PSLE practice page. For the years before, there are free Primary 3 to 6 Maths exam papers to print or sit online. If your child is also sitting a maths olympiad or moving schools, see the Singapore practice tests for SASMO, the SMO, SMKC and AEIS, read about SASMO past papers, or read what the AEIS tests.