English

Synthesis

The most common mistakes Singapore primary students make in Synthesis, distilled from 157+ MOE-aligned questions across P4, P5, P6. Free practice at every level.

From the question bank

Top 10 mistakes in Synthesis

  1. #1Misconception

    And simply adds information without capturing the concession (despite the obstacle) relationship; the three ideas are loosely connected rather than precisely integrated.

    Seen in 1 question

  2. #2Misconception

    Although having is grammatically incorrect — although introduces a full clause, not a participial phrase (despite having is the correct form). Additionally, so it changed creates two separate ideas rather than integrating the third sentence as a relative clause.

    Seen in 1 question

  3. #3Misconception

    Because introduces a cause — but having little funding is an obstacle, not the reason for the discovery. This option reverses the logical relationship from concession to cause.

    Seen in 1 question

  4. #4Partial logic

    'So' shows the congestion reduction CAUSED the cost increase. But the two effects are independent trade-offs of the same policy, not one causing the other.

    Seen in 1 question

  5. #5Misconception

    'Unless' introduces a condition meaning 'except if'. This changes the meaning to: the policy only reduced congestion if costs did NOT increase, which contradicts the two facts given.

    Seen in 1 question

  6. #6Misconception

    'Will' is not backshifted. In reported speech with a past reporting verb ('announced'), 'will' must shift to 'would'.

    Seen in 1 question

  7. #7Misconception

    'Had inspected' is past perfect, used to backshift past simple or present perfect. The original 'will' (future) backshifts to 'would', not past perfect.

    Seen in 1 question

  8. #8Partial logic

    'Would have inspected' is the past conditional/perfect form, suggesting the inspection did not happen. The original 'will inspect' is a simple future, which backshifts to 'would'.

    Seen in 1 question

  9. #9Misconception

    Missing the auxiliary verb 'be'. Passive voice always needs a form of 'be' before the past participle.

    Seen in 1 question

  10. #10Misconception

    Wrong tense. The active sentence is past simple (cooked), so the passive must also be past: 'was cooked', not present 'is cooked'.

    Seen in 1 question

Free practice

Practise Synthesis by level

Practise every Synthesis question — plus 75,000+ across all PSLE topics — with full worked solutions and misconception-specific feedback on Superholic Lab.

Start Free Trial — 7 Days FreeBrowse all PSLE topics →