No Mid-Year Exams in P4: How Do You Know If Your Child Is On Track in English?
Without a mid-year exam, the clearest signs of your child's progress in Primary 4 English come from smaller, more frequent evidence: weighted assessment results, patterns in marked homework, how they handle longer comprehension questions, and whether their writing is becoming more organised. Looking at these together, term by term, tells you more than a single exam score ever did.
For many Singapore parents, the mid-year exam was the one fixed checkpoint of the school year. By 2023, the Ministry of Education (MOE) had removed mid-year examinations at every primary and secondary level, to reduce the emphasis on high-stakes testing and give schools more time for learning.
That is good news for children. It does leave parents with a fair question, though: if there is no mid-year paper, how do I know whether my child is keeping up?
The question matters most in Primary 4, because it sits just before the jump in expectations at Primary 5.
Why is P4 the year this question matters most?
Primary 4 is the last year before upper primary. In P5, children are expected to handle harder comprehension passages, write with more structure and work with much less prompting from the teacher.
A gap that is still small in P4, say in inferential comprehension or in organising a composition, usually does not close on its own. Harder P5 work gets added on top of it. Spotting it in P4 gives a child more than a year to strengthen the skill calmly, before the PSLE year.
Five checks you can use this term
You do not need an exam to get a useful read on your child's English. Try these:
Look at the pattern in marked work, not a single score. Lay out the last four or five pieces of marked English homework. Are the same kinds of mistakes coming back (tenses, prepositions, missing punctuation)? A repeated error tells you more than one low mark.
Ask your child to explain one comprehension answer. Pick an answer they got right and ask, "How did you know?" Children who can point to the line in the passage that gave them the answer are building the skill PSLE comprehension rewards.
Read one of their compositions for structure, not spelling. Does it have a clear beginning, a problem, and an ending that resolves it? In P4, organisation matters more than fancy vocabulary.
Listen to them read aloud for one minute. Notice whether they pause at full stops, stumble over longer words, or read in a flat voice. Oral now makes up 20% of the PSLE English grade, and reading aloud with expression is a skill built over years.
Ask the school the right question. Instead of "How is my child doing in English?", ask "Which English skill is my child finding hardest right now?" You will usually get a far more useful answer.
What replaced the mid-year exam?
Most schools now use weighted assessments: smaller pieces of assessed work spread across the year, such as class tests, quizzes and assignments. Each carries a share of the term's overall result. The information is still there. It simply arrives in smaller, more frequent pieces, so it is worth following it as it comes rather than waiting for the report book.
How does Success 4 make progress visible?
At LCentral, Success 4 is our Primary 4 English programme. In Terms 1 to 3, each term runs in three learning cycles. The first two follow a Learn, Apply, Master sequence across the English components. The third is Test, Teach, Master: a short assessment of what has been taught, followed by more teaching on anything not yet mastered, so a gap is caught and worked on rather than simply recorded. Term 4 is structured differently to optimise exam preparation.
Parents stay informed through WorkBook feedback and parent-teacher meetings, and classes have a maximum of 10 students, so teachers can see how each child is approaching the work.
Want an expert view of where your child stands?
If you have questions about how your child is getting on in English, book a free English consultation and speak with an LCentral English Specialist. Tell us what you have noticed at home and in school, and we will talk through your child's learning needs, the areas worth strengthening and a suitable next step. If you have recent worksheets, test papers or compositions, you are welcome to send them to us before the consultation so our Specialist can look through them beforehand.
You are also welcome at our Islandwide Discovery Day on Saturday 7 November, at all 17 LCentral centres, where you can speak with an English Specialist about your child's next step for 2027. Find your nearest centre.
Frequently asked questions
Are there still exams in Primary 4?
There is no mid-year exam. Most schools still hold a year-end examination in P4, alongside weighted assessments during the year. Check your school's assessment plan, as arrangements vary between schools.
What is a weighted assessment?
A weighted assessment is a smaller piece of assessed work, such as a class test or assignment, that counts towards a child's overall result for the term. Schools use several across the year instead of one mid-year paper.
Is P4 too early to think about PSLE English?
Not if the aim is building skills rather than drilling exam papers. The PSLE English skills of comprehension, structured writing and spoken expression develop over years, and P4 gives a child time to strengthen them before expectations rise in P5.
What should I do if I spot a gap?
Start with your child's teacher and ask which specific skill is the issue. If you would like a second view, an English consultation can help you understand where your child stands and what to focus on next.
How much of PSLE English is oral?
Oral Communication is 40 of the 200 marks, or 20% of the PSLE English grade, since the 2025 format change.
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