Singapore exam board says credit to any solution used in PSLE mathematics paper

The Singapore Examination and Assessment Board said on Thursday that full credit will be given for any solution used in the Primary School Leaving Examination PSLE mathematics paper if it demonstrates the correct application of concepts, as requested by the question, and that this included the use of algebra to solve problems.

The examination board is responding to questions of CNA regarding a forum letter in Lianhe Zaobao.

The letter, which was published on December 1, was written by a group of parents of graduating Primary 6 students from Nan Hua Primary School.

The 11 parents said in the letter that their children had always scored 95 marks and above for their maths exams in school, or the equivalent of Achievement Level AL 1.

For this year s PSLE maths paper, they were shocked to find out that their children had scored AL 3, AL 4 or AL 5.

If a single child's carelessness caused them to stumble on the exam, we have nothing to say. The letter was read when almost a third of the students in the class have a similar score gap, it is hard not to be puzzled.

The parents said that they had appealed to the Ministry of Education MOE and SEAB through the school for a review of the exam papers, but were told that the success rate of past appeals was almost zero.

They said that there was no way to verify whether the sum of the scores of each part of the appeal subject test paper is correct, but they also said that there was no way to verify if the supposed discrepancy was due to other factors.

If SEAB ignores parents' calls to check the answer sheets, and dismisses it with an excuse that the system is always accurate, this kind of operation may not be convincing to people. The examination board said that the SEAB has stringent processes in place to ensure that the PSLE papers are set at appropriate standards. The panel of exam reviewers also includes experienced teachers and specialists from MOE and SEAB, and they ensure that there is a consistent balance of easy, average and difficult questions over the years.