2026 · Paper 2 Question 13 · 5 marks
The painted cube cut in two
A cube has 6 faces, so many children did 1152 ÷ 6 = 192. But 192 isn't a square number. That's the clue: the cut made 2 new faces.
Answer(a) 12 cm · (b) 2.5 cm
Hardest questions
The hardest PSLE Maths questions, year by year
The short version
No PSLE Maths question is officially the hardest: MOE caps the challenging ones at 15 marks of 100, and SEAB judges a paper as a whole. These are the 15 hardest from the 2024 to 2026 papers, each with its answer. In all three papers here, geometry and circles were among the hardest, and so were Paper 2 Question 13 and Paper 1 Question 30.
- Questions
- 15
- Papers
- 2024 to 2026
- Every year
- Geometry and circles
· Sources
2026 · P2 Q135 marks
The hardest PSLE Maths questions, one from each year
Each paper's lead question with its answer. Its year's page quotes it as printed and works it step by step, with the others from that paper.
2025 · Paper 2 Question 17 · 4 marks
The three overlapping triangles
The diagram gives you three lengths, and not one of them is the side of a triangle. Until your child finds one side, there is nothing to calculate with.
Answer(a) 26 cm · (b) 145 cm
2024 · Paper 2 Question 17 · 4 marks
The folded and cut paper
The fold does something most children never notice. The scissors go through two layers, so the piece that comes away is two triangles, not one. Part (b) is where that bites, and the wrong working looks perfectly reasonable all the way down.
Answer(a) 40 cm · (b) 1500 cm²
Want a whole paper to try? The free P6 paper is set like the PSLE and marked for you. Free P6 Maths exam paper
Why are some PSLE Maths questions so hard?
A few are meant to be. The 15 here come down to five kinds of difficulty, and none of them is the arithmetic.
15
of 100 marks
are for challenging questions. MOE writes the rest to be accessible to most children.
MOE
These 'challenging' questions are capped at 15% of the paper, i.e. 15 marks out of 100.1
Figure 1 5 of the 15
A length the figure never prints
The length the working needs is not on the figure. It is found from the lengths that are, or turns out not to be needed at all.
2026 P1 Q302025 P2 Q172025 P2 Q132025 P1 Q302024 P2 Q104 of the 15
A figure to read before any sum
The marks go to seeing what the figure really shows. The arithmetic after that is short.
2026 P1 Q292026 P22025 P1 Q152024 P2 Q133 of the 15
A fold or a cut that changes what you count
Folding or cutting adds faces, layers or equal lengths that are easy to miss.
2026 P2 Q132025 P1 Q142024 P2 Q17Figure 1 2 of the 15
No formula to follow
A pattern with no single step, or a smallest number to search for: the child has to try, check and organise.
2026 P2 Q152024 P1 Q301 of the 15
A whole to name first
Fractions of different amounts only compare once one unit is chosen for all of them.
2024 P2 Q16
Which year was the hardest PSLE Maths paper?
None, officially: SEAB judges each paper by all of its questions, never by one or two. The years still named most often are 2017, 2019 and 2021, each below with what was said.
- 2015the coins
- 2017the ribbons
- 2019open letter
- 2021SEAB replied
- 20221.5% appealed
- 2023a forum
- 5 questions
- in Parliament
- new format
2026
The first paper with Paper 1 and Paper 2 at 50 marks each.
SEAB, PSLE Mathematics syllabus, from 20262
2025
MOE
Challenging questions make up approximately 15% of total marks in each subject.3
MOE, reply in Parliament, 4 November 2025 2023
At a Straits Times forum, parents asked MOE whether PSLE Maths questions are unreasonably hard.
NIE commentary, May 20234
2022
MOE
About 1.5% of the 2022 PSLE cohort appealed to review their results for the Mathematics subject.5
MOE, reply in Parliament, 10 January 2023 2021
SEAB
the standard of the examination paper as a whole is comparable to past years'6
SEAB, 7 October 2021, after a coins question went viral 2019
A mother's open letter to the Education Minister, asking why the paper was so tough, was shared widely.
MustShareNews, 1 October 20197
2017
How many rolls of ribbon a party needs: first on the same list.
TheSmartLocal, March 20268
2015
The weight of eight $1 coins, still on the lists of famous PSLE questions.
TheSmartLocal, March 20268
The hardest PSLE Maths questions, by topic
P6 Angles in Geometrical Figures and P6 Circles carry the most of them. Each topic links to the page that teaches it from the start.
Questions parents ask about the hardest PSLE Maths questions
Is PSLE Maths hard?
Most of it is not. MOE caps challenging questions at 15 marks of 100, and designs the rest to be accessible to most children.
What is the hardest PSLE Maths question ever?
There is no official answer: SEAB judges a paper by all of its questions, not by one. The ones parents still share are the 2015 coins, the 2017 ribbons and the 2021 coins questions.
Was PSLE Maths 2026 harder than 2025?
No official measure compares them. 2026 was the first paper with both papers at 50 marks, and MOE keeps challenging questions to 15 marks every year.
How many marks are the hardest PSLE Maths questions worth?
Each of the 15 here was worth 2 to 5 marks. MOE's cap keeps all the challenging questions in a paper to 15 marks.
Which topics do the hardest PSLE Maths questions come from?
Geometry and Circles had a question among the hardest in every paper from 2024 to 2026.
Is speed still in the PSLE Maths syllabus?
No. Speed, distance and time are not in the current primary syllabus, so none of these questions tests it.
Can my child use a calculator in PSLE Maths?
In Paper 2 only. The Paper 1 questions here were done without one.
Where can I find hard PSLE Maths questions with answers?
Each year's page here quotes up to 5 of them as printed, with every answer worked. The free P6 paper adds a full paper to practise, marked.
How do I help my child with the hardest questions?
Practise seeing before calculating, one topic at a time: each question here links the topic page that teaches its method.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these, read on the day shown.
- 1Ministry of Education, Is the PSLE Mathematics paper so difficult?, read 24 October 2026The cap on challenging questions: 15 marks of 100
- 2Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, PSLE Mathematics (0008) syllabus, for examination from 2026, read 22 October 2026
- 3Ministry of Education, Percentage of Challenging Questions in the 2025 PSLE Papers (parliamentary reply), read 24 October 2026
- 4National Institute of Education, The reason why some PSLE maths problems are so tough, read 24 October 2026Jason Tan's commentary on the May 2023 Straits Times forum
- 5Ministry of Education, Appeals for 2022 Math PSLE Results (parliamentary reply), read 24 October 2026
- 6Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, Standard of this year's PSLE Maths paper comparable to past years' (media reply), read 24 October 2026
- 8TheSmartLocal, 9 Iconic PSLE Maths Questions That Will Probably Still Make Us Cry In 2026, read 24 October 2026
Now the practice has to happen.
These guides tell you what usually goes wrong. Your child's own practice tells you what's going wrong for them. StudyLah does the second part, and shows you the answer.