Last week, there were complaints from parents and students that the PSLE maths examination was too difficult; now, the PSLE Chinese exam paper has come under scrutiny.

Some parents have told Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao that part of the comprehension passage in this year's PSLE Chinese exam paper was almost identical to the text in an assessment book. Students said that apart from substituting "apples" for "mangoes", the passages were exactly the same.

Concerned parents have questioned if this was permissible, and they are unhappy that students who have done the assessment exercise before would have an unfair advantage over students who are coming across the question for the first time.

One of the concerned parents told Wanbao, "If the student is lucky, he would have come across the passage when he was revising, his tutor may even have gone through the passage with him before, and supplied him with model answers. Naturally the question would be much easier for him."

Another parent said that her child had not encountered the passage before, "Is it just a matter of luck? So what if they change the mangoes to apples? It's just unfair to students who haven't read that passage before."

Exam wasn't difficult

On the other hand, students interviewed by Lianhe Wanbao said that compared to the English and maths PSLE exams, the Chinese paper was not difficult.

A primary school teacher told Wanbao that the questions set were all within the syllabus.

Chinese tutor Miss Chen said that the questions are similar to those students have practiced on in class, and even students who are seeing it for the first time should not have problems answering them.

Another parent also said that even though the content of the passage was the same, only one question was the same as those found in the assessment book. The rest were new.

The passage in question

A girl fell down as she was passing by a fruit stall, and kicked a wooden crate. She found that there were many apples in the crate, and took one as she got up. At home, her father asked where she found the apple, but she could not answer. Her father guessed that she could have stolen the apple. He asked her to return it to the stall owner, and to find another item for the stall owner.

• One of the questions posed was: How did the girl obtain the apple?
• Another asked: What did the girl have to give the stall owner.