What's inside the report
13 pages. Everything a Singapore P6 parent needs to know.
01
The 2021 turning point
Why the Helen & Ivan question went viral — and what MOE's "15% challenging" response actually said, and didn't say.
02
The 5-tier difficulty framework
A clearer way to understand what each PSLE Math question actually demands — and why the AO1/AO2/AO3 system misses the most important distinction.
03
Full 2021 question breakdown
Every question from the 2021 paper classified by tier — including the questions that actually drove the score gap that year.
04
Full 2025 question breakdown
Every question from the 2025 paper classified by tier. See where the framework-dependent questions now sit in the paper — and why the location matters.
05
2021 vs 2025 — what actually changed
A direct comparison of all five tiers across both years. One finding in particular will likely surprise you.
06
What 2026 parents need to know
The new paper format, what it means for preparation, and how the pattern from past papers tells us what to expect in 2026 Paper 1.
The five-tier framework
Not all "hard" questions are hard in the same way
AO1 · Easy
Direct recall and single-step computation. Any student who has attended school can answer these.
AO2 · Moderate
Multi-step reasoning. Careful, systematic thinking gets you there — even without prior exposure to that exact question.
AO2 · Upper
Sustained multi-step reasoning under time pressure. Still discoverable, but demanding. Frameworks help but aren't required.
AO3 · Advanced
Requires a specific problem-solving structure. Without prior exposure tp the framework, the question is likely naccessible — regardless of effort or ability.
AO3 · Challenging
Requires both the right framework and a non-obvious structural insight. These are the questions SEAB designates as "challenging" — capped at 15 marks per year.
The finding that matters most for 2026
In 2021, a student whose preparation stopped at the common school curriculum could access 73 marks -- ie. 73% of the paper. By 2025, the same preparation reaches only 55 marks. An 18-mark shift out of zone where classroom preparation alone is enough -- to change a child's AL band.
Where did those 18 marks go? Into AO3 Advanced questions, which more than doubled -- from 8 to 21 marks. These are questions requiring advanced problem-solving structures that are not uniformly taught in school. Whether a child has been shown them depends on their school, their teacher and what they've been exposed to -- outside the classroom.
At the same time, AO3 Challenging weightage barely moved -- from 9 marks in 2021 to 7 marks in 2025. The paper is not getting harder at the extreme end. The difficulty is growing in the middle, embedded throughout Paper 1's 2-mark MCQs and Booklet B, and the mid-section of Paper 2  — where students dont typically expect them.Â
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The difficulty-tier classifications in this report are based on independent analysis and do not represent official classifications by MOE or SEAB. © Helen & Ivan. All rights reserved.Â
Free research report · PSLE Mathematics
The quiet shift in PSLE Math
In 2021, the weight of Helen and Ivan's coins set off a national debate about PSLE Math. Since then, the paper has quietly shifted -- and the weight of that shift falls on every PSLE parent. Â This is an independent, question-by-question analysis of what's changed, and what P6 students actually need to score well in 2026.Â
   13 pages of analysis
    All 47 questions classified
    5-tier difficulty framework
   2021 vs 2025 comparison
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