PSLE Editing List 2017 – 2025 & 7 ways students can excel in the PSLE Editing Component

The Editing section carries a weightage of 10 marks. Students are expected to correct a series of mistakes in a passage. There are 5 grammatical mistakes and 5 spelling mistakes. Sounds easy enough? Not always so.

This component is often overlooked in favour of the more complex components – Cloze, Synthesis & Transformation & Comprehension Open-ended. Yet this section carries a higher weightage than Synthesis & Transformation. Many times, parents and teachers assume that students should not have any issue correcting spelling mistakes. However, many of the words in the Editing section, are from commonly misspelled words. This means that even students (and adults) with a strong grasp of the language are able to misspell these words. For a fuller understanding of Paper 2’s structure and focus, please explore our P5 Paper 2 overview page for more tips and advice.

Below are four ways that students can improve on the PSLE Editing section

Read the whole passage first

It helps students identify the correct grammar and spelling.

Many grammar mistakes in the Editing section depend on when the action happens. By reading the full passage first, students can tell whether the events are in the past, present, or future.Without understanding the overall timeline, students may choose the wrong verb tense even if they know grammar rules.

Reading the whole passage helps students decide whether the mistake is a spelling error or a grammar or usage error based on how the word is used in the sentence. This prevents guessing and leads to more accurate corrections

Check the Verb (Tense and Form)

Most grammar mistakes in PSLE Editing involve verbs.

When you see an underlined verb, ask yourself:

– Is the sentence talking about the past, present, or future?

– Is the verb in the correct form?

Look out for:

– to + base verb

– had + past participle

– time clues such as yesterday, soon, or after that

If the verb does not match the sentence, it needs to be changed.

Match the Verb to the Subject

Another common grammar mistake is subject–verb agreement.

Always check:

– Who or what is doing the action

– Whether the subject is singular or plural

Be careful with tricky subjects such as:

– a group of

– a team of

– each of

– everyone

Even if there are many people, the subject may still be singular.

Look for Common Grammar Patterns and Fixed Structures

PSLE Editing often tests whether you know correct sentence structures.

Pay attention to:

– correct prepositions (ideal for, not ideal of)

– correct verb patterns (waste no time, aim to, capable of)

– correct connectors (so, because, since)

If a sentence sounds wrong, it is often because the structure is incorrect.

Identify the word with the spelling error by breaking the word into syllables

If a student cannot identify the word that has been misspelled, he or she cannot correct the mistake. The misspelled word phonetically sounds the same as the correct word. If students are unable to identify the word just by reading the sentence and the passage, they will need to identify it by sounding it out.

At TF, our P5 and P6 students receive editing lists and are tested throughout the year. We also provide lists of commonly misspelled words on regular basis. While we would love all our students to be voracious readers and have a good body of vocabulary and a good knowledge of spelling, realistically, this is never the case. Memorising the spelling of words that students commonly make spelling errors in can be a great help to them.

Memorise words that are commonly misspelled words

Every year, we want our P5 and P6 students to know which words were tested for the past PSLE years, so we create a list of all the Editing spelling words tested from PSLE 2017 – 2025.

Words previously tested will not appear again in the PSLE English editing section. However, these words may appear in weighted assessments, EYE exam papers and the preliminary English exams.

These lists are also a good source of revision material just before an examination.

Read the passage again

Read the passage again with the corrected spelling and grammar mistakes.

Below is the list that we give our P5 and P6 students yearly.

PSLE Editing lists from 2017 until 2025

PSLE 2017

1. announcements
2. scissors
3. apparently
4. innovative
5. deadline
6. dialogue

PSLE 2018

1. accomplished
2. vacation
3. souvenirs
4. enthusiasm
5. compliments
6. technique

PSLE 2019

1. immediately
2. contagious
3. fluid
4. scratching
5. recuperate
6. lethargic

PSLE 2020

1. atmosphere
2. beverages
3. scrumptious
4. unique
5. mechanical
6. appropriately

PSLE 2021

1. opposite
2. nostalgia
3. museum
4. reminisce
5. embarrassment
6. twentieth

PSLE 2022

1. exhilaration
2. miserable
3. grimace
4. consciousness
5. avail
6. pessimistic

PSLE 2023

1. decade
2. features
3. reluctance
4. visibly
5. scenery
6. awkward

PSLE 2024

1. awfully
2. weather
3. Reservoir
4. unbelievable
5. assured
6. guarantee

PSLE 2025

1. distraction
2. surpassing
3. exerting
4. taut
5. hasty

PSLE Specimen

1. accomplished
2. vacation
3. enthusiasm
4. compliments
5. technique