02 October 2025
The PSLE is drawing closer, and students are understandably anxious about how they will fare. Frequent practice and revision will help them see through even the more difficult questions, but even with plenty of preparation, some students may still make mistakes. Minimising these mistakes is vital to scoring a good grade, so here are several handy tips to help students avoid these costly mistakes during the PSLE Maths exam.
Whether it is due to inattentiveness, a lack of focus, or overconfidence, careless mistakes can cost a student precious marks. Given the time constraints, a student may rush through the question and misread parts of it, missing out on key details they need to solve the problem at hand. It could also be a miscalculation when they misinterpret a number, forget to include measurement units, or even place a decimal point in the wrong position.
These errors can be easily avoided by double-checking, even triple-checking, the calculations and answers before proceeding. It also helps to underline or highlight crucial parts of a question and understand what is needed of them to solve it effectively.
Given the exam’s time-sensitive nature, students may accidentally apply the wrong mathematical formula to a question that leads to an incorrect answer. It could happen when a student accidentally mixes up the formulae for similar topics, such as perimeter and area, and fails to double-check their work.
This occurrence may be a result of insufficient practice with the relevant formulae, as revision allows students to gain a practical understanding of how to use these formulae accurately. Visual aids and real-life examples are great ways to test their formulae applications, and even writing the formula next to the relevant question can provide.
Shortcuts can be handy tools that can help students save time when solving problems, but these are still very situational to specific questions. Moreover, using shortcuts can mean students will miss precious method marks that they would otherwise get when writing the complete workings and formulae, even if the answer is wrong. Without these workings, a student may not be able to score the marks they would otherwise receive.
When in doubt, it is a good idea to avoid using shortcuts unless the student has tested it multiple times and found it to lead to the right answer. It would also be better to provide the workings, too, to ensure students can score full marks on a question.
Modelling mathematical problems can offer valuable insight to solving a maths question. As a visual aid, it can offer a clearer understanding of what the question wants from them by breaking it down into components that allow a student to easily find the answer. However, poorly illustrated models, whether due to mixing up models, drawing them poorly, or missing labels, only demonstrate a student’s inability to express their problem-solving skills effectively, even if it was a careless mistake.
Frequent model revisions can give a student the confidence they need to draw clear, concise illustrations that tell the examiner that they understood the question. It does not need to be meticulously modelled, but it must be properly labelled and provide sufficient clarity and context that leads to the right answer.
Students need to make every minute count during the PSLE Maths paper, especially when time is not on their side. Not having a plan to answer each question can end up costing valuable time that could otherwise be used to solve other, harder (or even easier) questions. Coupled with the stress they feel as the exam’s end approaches, and there will be occasions where they will rush the final hurdle of questions and make plenty of mistakes along the way.
Time can be on a student’s side if they are careful. Students need to quickly assess the questions and prioritise the ones they can solve with confidence, and then slowly work their way through the rest. If a question stumps a student’s progress, they should move on to another question and come back later. It also helps to set a time limit during revision sessions, thereby giving them much-needed practice to completing the paper even when under a time constraint.
Early and continuous preparations are what students need to help them thrive during the PSLE Maths paper. However, there will be students going through various difficulties that impede their progress. For some, they may have trouble understanding the subject and are too shy or embarrassed to ask for help. For others, they may feel stressed out by the preparations they need to succeed. Whatever it is, students who do not prioritise regular revisions and practice will only end up having a much harder time preparing for the PSLE Maths paper. That can then lead to careless mistakes, mixed up formulae, and other issues that prevent students from getting a good grade.
At Matrix Math, we can guide students to success with personalised tutoring that improves their confidence and competency. We use valuable revision materials to help them further their understanding and strengthen their mathematical foundation. Contact us today to discover how we can prep students towards success.
