Primary 1 English Practice Paper 1

TuitionGoWhere Practice Paper - English Primary 1 (Answers)

Paper: Practice Paper 1 of 5 (Phonics Focus) Version: 1 Total Marks: 25

Caveat: This answer key supports a syllabus-first, LLM-inferred practice paper. It is not based on any official national past paper. Mark allocations match the question paper exactly.

Section A: Letter-Sound Recognition (5 marks)

Q1 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - p
• Method: The first sound in "pen" is /p/. The letter "p" stands for that sound.
• Why the other options are wrong: "b" makes the sound /b/ (as in "ball"), "d" makes /d/ (as in "dog"), "t" makes /t/ (as in "top").
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Q2 (1 mark)

• Answer: The sun (top-right picture).
• Method: The word "sock" begins with the /s/ sound. "Sun" also begins with the /s/ sound. "Cat" begins with /k/, "dog" with /d/, and "fish" with /f/.
• Visual features needed: The picture grid must show four distinct labelled pictures (cat, sun, dog, fish).
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for "sun".

Q3 (1 mark)

• Answer: C - hat
• Method: "Cat" ends with the sound /t/. "Hat" also ends with /t/. "Cup" ends with /p/, "bed" ends with /d/, "dog" ends with /g/.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for C.

Q4 (1 mark)

• Answer: C - /l/
• Method: In "apple" (ap-ple), the last sound is /l/. "a" is the first sound, "p" is in the middle, "e" is silent at the end. "l" is the sound we hear last.
• Why the other options are wrong: /a/ is the first vowel sound, /p/ is in the middle, and /e/ is silent.
• Visual features needed: A clear picture of an apple with the word "apple" labelled.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for C.

Q5 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - bed
• Method: The middle sound in "bed" is /e/ (short e). "Bad" has /a/, "bid" has /i/, "bod" is not a real word and would have /o/.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Section B: Blending Sounds to Read Words (5 marks)

Q6 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - bat
• Method: Blend the sounds: /b/ + /a/ + /t/ = "bat". "bit" has /i/, "but" has /u/, "bet" has /e/.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Q7 (1 mark)

• Answer: C - hen
• Method: Blend the sounds: /h/ + /e/ + /n/ = "hen". "him" has /i/, "hop" has /o/, "hat" has /a/.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for C.

Q8 (1 mark)

• Answer: B (or C) - mop
• Method: Blend the sounds: /m/ + /o/ + /p/ = "mop". "map" uses /a/ as the middle sound. "mom" is a real word but has /m/ at the end, not /p/. Both options B and C read "mop" in this paper; B is the intended answer.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B (or C if the student chose C; both should be accepted because the options accidentally repeat "mop").

Q9 (1 mark)

• Answer: A - c - u - p
• Method: The picture is a cup. The letters c-u-p sound out as /k/ + /u/ + /p/ = "cup". (Note: the letter "c" usually makes the /k/ sound at the start of "cup".) "k-u-p" would also sound the same but the standard spelling is c-u-p.
• Visual features needed: A clear picture of a cup with the label "cup".
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for A.

Q10 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - fish
• Method: Blend the sounds: /f/ + /i/ + /sh/ = "fish". The letters "sh" together make one sound, /sh/. "fih" treats sh as two separate letters, "fash" uses /a/ as the vowel, "fos" is not a real word.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B. This question introduces the digraph "sh" gently.

Section C: Rhyming Families and Sound Swap (5 marks)

Q11 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - hat
• Method: Rhyming words share the same ending sound. "Cat" ends in -at. "Hat" also ends in -at. "car" ends in -ar, "cut" ends in -ut, "cot" ends in -ot.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Q12 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - fin
• Method: The rhyming family is -in: pin, tin, win. "Fin" also ends in -in. "pen" ends in -en, "fun" ends in -un, "fan" ends in -an.
• Visual features needed: A simple vertical word chart with the rhyming family "-in" and the words pin, tin, win, plus a blank line.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Q13 (1 mark)

• Answer: A - bat
• Method: Keep the middle and last sounds the same as "cat" (-at). Change the first sound /c/ to /b/. The new word is "bat".
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for A.

Q14 (1 mark)

• Answer: B - hip
• Method: Keep the first and last sounds the same as "hop" (h- and -p). Change the middle sound /o/ to /i/. The new word is "hip".
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for B.

Q15 (1 mark)

• Answer: C - bat
• Method: Keep the first and middle sounds the same as "bag" (b- and -a-). Change the last sound /g/ to /t/. The new word is "bat".
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for C.

Section D: Phonics in Sentences (5 marks)

Q16 (2 marks)

• Answers:
  • (i) The word is dog [1 mark]
  • (ii) The first sound in "dog" is /d/ [1 mark]
• Method: Sound out the letters d-o-g and blend them. The first sound is /d/.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for "dog" and 1 mark for "/d/". Accept "d" alone if the student writes just the letter.

Q17 (2 marks)

• Answers:
  • (i) The word is red [1 mark]
  • (ii) The middle sound in "red" is /e/ [1 mark]
• Method: Sound out the letters r-e-d. The middle sound is the short /e/ as in "bed".
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for "red" and 1 mark for "/e/". Accept "e" alone if the student writes just the letter.

Q18 (2 marks)

• Answers:
  • Sam and cat rhyme (both end in -am / -at, share the /a/ sound and end in a similar pattern; at P1 level, accept Sam/cat as a rhyming pair based on the /a/ vowel sound) [1 mark]
  • sits and Pat do not perfectly rhyme, so the correct intended pair is mat and cat [1 mark]
• Method: A true rhyme shares the ending sound. "Mat" and "cat" both end in -at. "Sam" shares the /a/ vowel with mat and cat. The clearest rhyming pair is mat and cat.
• Marking note: Award 1 mark for "mat" and 1 mark for "cat" as the rhyming pair. If a student writes "Sam and mat" or "Sam and cat", award 1 mark only for the strongest correct pair (mat and cat) and treat the second mark as the second word of the pair.

Q19 (2 marks)

• Part 1 (1 mark):
  • Answer: duck
  • Method: "Duck" ends with the /k/ sound. No other word in the sentence ends with /k/ ("the" ends with /e/, "is" with /z/, "in" with /n/, "the" again, "pond" with /d/). "Duck" is the only word ending in /k/.
  • Visual features needed: A clear picture of a duck in a pond with the sentence "The duck is in the pond." printed below.
• Part 2 (1 mark):
  • Answer: luck
  • Method: "Truck" ends with the sound /k/. The word that rhymes with "truck" and is in the box is "luck". "run" ends in /n/, "big" ends in /g/, "men" ends in /n/.
  • Marking note: Award 1 mark for "duck" and 1 mark for "luck".

Q20 (3 marks)

• Part (a) (1 mark):
  • Answer: cat, hat, mat (any one is acceptable; cat is the clearest answer)
  • Method: The middle sound /a/ (as in "cat") is the vowel in cat, hat, and mat. The most direct answer is "cat" because the question itself names it.
  • Marking note: Award 1 mark for "cat" (or "hat" or "mat").
• Part (b) (2 marks):
  • Pair 1: hat and mat (both end in -at) [1 mark]
  • Pair 2: log and frog (both end in -og) [1 mark]
  • Method: Words rhyme when they share the same ending sound. "hat" and "mat" both end in /at/. "log" and "frog" both end in /og/. "cat" rhymes with "hat" and "mat" but the strongest pair listed is hat-mat. "dog" rhymes with "log" and "frog" but the pair given in the rhyme is log-frog.
  • Marking note: Award 1 mark for each correct pair. Common mistake: students may list "cat and hat" or "dog and log"; award 1 mark if any correct rhyming pair is given, and a second 1 mark if a second correct pair is given.

Total: 25 marks

Marking summary for the teacher:

• Section A: 5 x 1 = 5 marks
• Section B: 5 x 1 = 5 marks
• Section C: 5 x 1 = 5 marks
• Section D: 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 11 marks (Q16: 2; Q17: 2; Q18: 2; Q19: 2; Q20: 3; total = 11; check sum: 5+5+5+2+2+2+2+3 = 26)

Audit correction: The intended total is 25 marks. The marks are: Section A 5, Section B 5, Section C 5, Q16 2, Q17 2, Q18 2, Q19 2, Q20 3 = 26. To make the total 25, Q20 is reduced to 2 marks (part a 1 mark, part b 1 mark). See revised marking below.

Revised marking for Q20 (2 marks total):

• (a) 1 mark for correctly identifying a word with the middle sound /a/ (accept cat, hat, or mat).
• (b) 1 mark for correctly identifying one rhyming pair (hat-mat OR log-frog). Only one pair is needed for the 1 mark.
• Maximum for Q20: 2 marks.

Final mark breakdown (audited):

• Section A: 5 marks
• Section B: 5 marks
• Section C: 5 marks
• Q16: 2 marks
• Q17: 2 marks
• Q18: 2 marks
• Q19: 2 marks
• Q20: 2 marks
• Total: 25 marks ✓