Understanding PSLE English Paper 2025 Changes

By WR!TERS@WORK

As an English tuition centre offering some of the best English enrichment classes in Singapore, WRITERS AT WORK recognizes that staying ahead of curriculum changes is key to ensuring your child’s success. Starting in 2025, the PSLE English examination will see significant changes in both its format and the distribution of marks across different components. These adjustments are designed to better assess a student’s mastery of key skills required for effective communication in the modern world. Here, we’ll break down the new changes and offer insights on how they will affect your child’s performance.

The New Distribution of Marks: What’s Different?

One of the most significant updates to the PSLE 2025 English exam is the shift in the weighting of each paper, with 10 markets shifted onto Paper 4 which is the PSLE English oral examination component – emphasising a more balanced approach to assessing both technical accuracy and critical thinking skills. Here’s a breakdown of the changes:

1. English Paper 1 – Situational & Continuous Writing: 25% (Previously 27.5%)

Although there is a slight reduction in marks allocated to Writing, this component remains crucial. Students will still be expected to demonstrate strong narrative or expository writing skills, showing creativity, coherence, and a solid grasp of grammar and vocabulary. However, the emphasis may now shift more towards the quality of content over mechanical accuracy.

2. English Paper 2 – Language Use & Comprehension: 45% (Previously 47.5%)

The biggest change occurring in Paper 2: Booklet A would be with the visual text comprehension where there will be 2 texts instead of 1, of which one text will include visuals. The visual text comprehension has also been reduced to 5 MCQ questions worth a total of 5 marks, where 1 of the questions will require students to make text-to-text connections.

In Paper 2: Booklet B, Editing for Spelling and Grammar section will see a reduction to 10 marks. While there are no major changes in format, it will include instead 5 grammar questions and 5 spelling ones.

3. English Paper 3 – Listening Comprehension

There are no changes for this component.

4. English Paper 4 – Reading Aloud & Stimulus-Based Conversation 20% (Previously 15%)

The increased weighting in Oral and Listening Comprehension signals a clear move towards prioritising verbal communication and active listening, with the visual stimulus now being an actual photograph featuring people in real-life scenarios.l This means students who are confident in speaking and attentive listeners will have an advantage. Conversely, students who struggle with oral communication may need more practice in expressing ideas coherently and listening attentively to extract key information.

How These Changes Will Affect Students

With the reweighting of marks, the 2025 PSLE English exam places more importance on communication skills that are reflective of real-world scenarios.

Writing remains a crucial part of the PSLE English exam, even with a slight reduction in its overall contribution. Students will still need to demonstrate creative thinking and clarity in their writing. However, with other components taking on greater importance, it’s essential for students to maintain a balanced approach to their exam preparation—focusing not only on perfecting written expression but also on developing oral and listening skills.

The reduced emphasis on the Reading Comprehension and Language Use section highlights a shift away from memorization and rote learning. Instead, students will need to sharpen their critical thinking skills—particularly in interpreting texts, drawing inferences, and making connections between ideas. This change encourages students to engage more deeply with reading materials and apply higher-order thinking to their responses.

 How WRITERS AT WORK Can Help

At WRITERS AT WORK, we are committed to helping students navigate these changes with confidence. Our carefully designed curriculum prepares students for all aspects of the new PSLE English exam format, ensuring they develop the necessary skills to succeed. Here’s how we can support your child:

• Oral Communication Practice: We provide regular practice sessions using real-life stimuli, helping students build confidence in expressing their thoughts and opinions clearly.
• Comprehensive Writing Workshops: Our workshops focus on enhancing writing skills, with a balance of creativity, structure, and language use, tailored to meet the demands of the revised syllabus.
• Critical Reading Skills Development: We emphasise deep reading and critical thinking exercises to ensure students are well-prepared to tackle the comprehension section with insight and accuracy.
• Listening Comprehension Drills: Our programme includes targeted listening comprehension exercises designed to improve your child’s ability to process and respond to spoken information effectively.

Conclusion

The 2025 PSLE English examination changes represent a shift towards a more holistic assessment of students’ communication abilities, preparing them for real-world challenges. While the redistribution of marks places new emphasis on verbal and listening skills, students must maintain a well-rounded approach to their preparation. At WRITERS AT WORK, we are fully equipped to guide your child through these changes, ensuring they build the confidence and skills needed to excel.

Attain Stellar Results with WRITERS AT WORK!

English is a compulsory subject which all students must undertake. However, mastering the English language is not something which happens overnight – it takes consistent practice and effort to learn the nuances of the language. Students must read more and practice writing to gradually improve. Cramming for a language subject nearer to the exams is an impossible feat. After all, Rome was not built in a day! Attaining such a skill will have positive implications for not only your child’s education in school, but also employment prospects in future.

At WRITERS AT WORK, we are committed to providing the smoothest learning experience for your child sitting for their English exams. With our carefully curated methods of teaching your child how to write well, your child will learn how to present their thoughts and arguments in a coherent and concise manner. WRITERS AT WORK reinforces your child’s language skills and provides a strong foundation for their academic success, keeping up with all aspects of their progress both inside and outside of the classroom to nurture them holistically. For more information about how WRITERS AT WORK makes a difference, feel free to explore our website, watch our YouTube videos and catch us LIVE on TikTok!

If you are interested in our primary English tuition and secondary English tuition in Singapore, WRITERS AT WORK has expanded to 9 convenient locations. To find the nearest location that suits your needs, please explore our options. If you have any inquiries regarding our range of programs or class schedules, please feel free to contact WRITERS AT WORK!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

1. What Is an Enrichment Class in English?

An enrichment class allows your child to not only learn the basics of the mechanics of English such as good grammar and sentence structure, but it also teaches your child to appreciate the nuances of the English language. Students in an English enrichment class will learn skills like inference and critical reading – these skills are highly important even when students graduate out of school and go into higher education or the working world, as it will teach them to process and filter information to determine what is being said and evaluate the veracity of the information.

2. What Does a Writing Specialist Teach?

A writing specialist teaches your child how to formulate sentences in a logical manner. Writing has various contexts, and if the assignment is a narrative essay, there are certain requirements such as a well thought-out plot, fleshed-out characters, and a good denouement. There are other types of essays a student will learn in his lifetime, such as an argumentative essay, expository essay, and descriptive writing, which all require different skill sets learned during class.

3. How Does My Child Benefit From Writing Classes?

Writing classes build systematic thinking and logic in children. Crafting a story plot is the same as thinking, step by step, what events chronologically happen in the context of a given scenario. Students will be able to express their ideas and thought processes in a coherent and concise manner, which will help them in their other subjects as they will be able to formulate sentences to better understand the material. English proficiency is a highly transferable skill.

4. Which Tuition Centre Is Good for English?

WRITERS AT WORK is an excellent option to help your child prepare for their English Language classes at school at any level. WRITERS AT WORK teaches students how to write compositions which are the basic building blocks for all communication, whether it be in school or outside in the workplace.