PSLE Higher Chinese: try a Paper 2 first

Children who take Higher Chinese sit it as a separate PSLE subject on top of Chinese. Its Paper 2 looks quite different from the Chinese paper: the cloze is choose-5-of-8, the corrections must be written out, and both comprehensions are open-ended. Here is an original sample paper written to the SEAB format, 23 questions and 60 marks, with the objective part marked the moment you submit. Free, no sign-up needed.

Start the sample paper →Printable version with answers

Key points

PSLE Higher Chinese has two papers: Paper 1 composition (50 minutes, 40 marks; a set-topic composition or a story continuation, at least 200 characters) and Paper 2 language use and comprehension (1 hour 20 minutes, 60 marks). There is no oral and no listening.
Paper 2 has four parts: cloze with a word bank (5 questions, 10 marks), corrections (5 questions, 10 marks), comprehension 1 (6 questions, 16 marks) and comprehension 2 (7 questions, 24 marks), 23 questions in all.
Higher Chinese is graded Distinction, Merit or Pass only and does not count towards the PSLE Score. Students with a PSLE Score of 14 or better and a D, M or P in Higher Chinese are placed ahead of others with the same score when applying to SAP schools.
From P1 to P4, Higher Chinese uses the same reading character list as Chinese. By the end of P5 a Higher Chinese pupil should recognise 1,565 characters, 79 more than in Chinese; by the end of P6, 1,815, which is 160 more.

Sources: SEAB PSLE Higher Chinese syllabus 2026; MOE 2015 Chinese and Higher Chinese character lists (deduplicated counts are ours); MOE PSLE scoring information.

What the sample paper covers

Q1–5 · 10 marks

Cloze with word bank

One passage, five blanks, choose 5 of 8 words by number. Marked automatically.

Q6–10 · 10 marks

Corrections

One passage with five errors: wrong characters in brackets and misused underlined words. Marked automatically; the single character or the whole word both count.

Q11–16 · 16 marks

Comprehension 1

A narrative: find synonyms (marked automatically), compare feelings, explain reasons, choose a title and justify it.

Q17–23 · 24 marks

Comprehension 2

A longer narrative: explain phrases, a paragraph summary of at most 15 characters, character traits, and an opinion with a real-life example.

The level is P5 to P6, and every character is within the MOE Higher Chinese character list. 24 marks (Q1–12) are marked automatically; for the open questions you see a model answer and tick off marking points, in steps of half a mark.

Who it is for

P5 and P6 pupils taking Higher Chinese: get to know the four parts of Paper 2 and how marks are given.
P4 parents: see what a Higher Chinese paper looks like, and let your child try it, before the school asks whether to take it.

This is a practice paper; the score cannot be converted to D, M or P. SEAB does not publish Higher Chinese grade cut-offs.