PSLE English composition, in one screen
- Composition is Continuous Writing: 36 of the 50 marks in Paper 1 (Writing). Paper 1 is 25% of the English grade.
- At least 150 words on a given topic. Three pictures are provided, and the composition must be based on at least one of them.
- Past-year topics (2015–2025) are below — as published by tuition centres after each paper, because SEAB does not publish them.
- Every past topic is a short, open title. The skill being tested is turning a title into one clear story, which can be practised.
- SEAB does not publish a content/language mark split. Any exact split you see online is not from SEAB.
Most lists of past PSLE composition topics are exactly that: a list, and nothing to do with it. This page gives the list, says honestly where it comes from, and then shows the thing that actually helps a child — how to turn any of these titles into a planned composition in about five minutes.
What is settled, and what isn't
Settled: the format — marks, time, word count and the picture rule — from SEAB's PSLE English Language syllabus (0001), in force from the 2025 examination. Not settled: the past-year topics. SEAB does not publish them and no news outlet reports them, so the titles below are what several tuition centres published after each paper. We list a year only when at least two of them agree.
A note on who we are: PSLEPrep is an oral practice product, and we do not mark compositions. If you arrived looking for oral topics — the photographs and conversation themes — they are on a different page: past-year PSLE English Oral topics.
The format: what the paper actually asks for
PSLE English Paper 1 (Writing) has two parts, sat together in one sitting.
| Situational Writing | Continuous Writing (composition) | |
|---|---|---|
| Marks | 14 | 36 |
| Task | A short functional piece — e.g. a letter, email or report — to suit the purpose, audience and context of a given situation | A composition of at least 150 words in continuous prose on a given topic |
| Stimulus | A given situation | Three pictures on the topic, offering different angles of interpretation. The composition must be based on at least one of them. |
Marks
Situational Writing
14
Continuous Writing (composition)
36
Task
Situational Writing
A short functional piece — e.g. a letter, email or report — to suit the purpose, audience and context of a given situation
Continuous Writing (composition)
A composition of at least 150 words in continuous prose on a given topic
Stimulus
Situational Writing
A given situation
Continuous Writing (composition)
Three pictures on the topic, offering different angles of interpretation. The composition must be based on at least one of them.
Source: SEAB PSLE English Language syllabus (0001), from the 2025 examination, pp.4–5
Together the two parts make 50 marks, 25% of the English grade, in one sitting of 1 hour 10 minutes.
Three details matter more than they look. The composition must use at least one of the pictures, so a story that ignores all three is not answering the question. The 150 words is a minimum; SEAB sets no maximum and ties no length to a grade. And the 70 minutes cover both parts — SEAB does not say how to divide them, so any split you read is someone's advice, not a rule.
On marking, the syllabus gives two objectives for Paper 1: write effectively to suit purpose, audience and context, using accurate and appropriate vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling; and generate and select relevant ideas, organising and expressing them in a coherent and cohesive manner. It does not publish a mark split between content and language, or band descriptors. Schools and tuition centres use their own, which can be useful feedback, but they are not SEAB's.
Past-year PSLE English composition topics, 2015–2025
These are the Continuous Writing titles as published by Singapore tuition centres after each year's paper. The pictures that came with each title are not included, because we could not check them against enough sources.
| Year | Topic | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Being Thankful | 2 independent sources |
| 2024 | Trying Something New | 4 independent sources |
| 2023 | A Change for the Better | 5 independent sources |
| 2022 | A Long Wait | 5 independent sources |
| 2021 | A Promise | 5 independent sources |
| 2020 | Something That Was Lost | 5 independent sources |
| 2019 | A Celebration | 5 independent sources |
| 2018 | Teamwork | 6 independent sources |
| 2017 | A Special Gift | 6 independent sources |
| 2016 | A Secret | 6 independent sources |
| 2015 | Being Considerate | 5 independent sources |
2025
Topic
Being Thankful
Published by
2 independent sources
2024
Topic
Trying Something New
Published by
4 independent sources
2023
Topic
A Change for the Better
Published by
5 independent sources
2022
Topic
A Long Wait
Published by
5 independent sources
2021
Topic
A Promise
Published by
5 independent sources
2020
Topic
Something That Was Lost
Published by
5 independent sources
2019
Topic
A Celebration
Published by
5 independent sources
2018
Topic
Teamwork
Published by
6 independent sources
2017
Topic
A Special Gift
Published by
6 independent sources
2016
Topic
A Secret
Published by
6 independent sources
2015
Topic
Being Considerate
Published by
5 independent sources
Titles as published by tuition centres — not by SEAB. Sources listed below; each page checked 28 Sep 2026.
Every source that covers a year names the same title; the only differences are capital letters. 2026 is not listed yet. The paper was sat on 24 September 2026 and so far only one published source names a topic. We will add it when a second does.
If you want the exact papers
SEAB sells past years' PSLE question papers through its authorised publishers, Shing Lee Publishers and Educational Publishing House, listed on SEAB's “Distributors of Past Years' Question Papers” page. Those carry the real wording and the real pictures, which no online list does.
The sources for these titles
- Writers at Work
- LearningGems
- Lil' but Mighty English
- The Write Tribe
- illum.education
- pslenewformat (WordPress)
- Buns Academy
Each page was fetched on 28 Sep 2026 and checked for the title and year it gives. Which page supports which year is recorded in our repository alongside this article.
What the list tells you (and what it doesn't)
Look at the titles themselves: every one is two to five words, and none names a place, a person or an event. “A Promise”, “A Long Wait”, “Trying Something New” — each could fit a hundred different stories. Guessing next year's title is therefore close to pointless. The title only tells your child what the story must be about; your child still has to invent the story.
That is the skill worth practising. SEAB's own objective asks for relevant ideas, and a story is relevant when the title is the thing the story turns on — not a word that appears once in passing.
So the best use of this list is not to predict. It is eleven real titles to practise planning on.
How to plan any composition topic in five minutes
This is the plan we suggest. It is our method, not an official one — SEAB prescribes none — and it is built backwards from the two things the syllabus asks for: relevant ideas, organised coherently.
| Step | Your child writes down | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The topic moment | The one scene where the title is plainly true. For “A Promise”: the moment the promise is kept, or broken. | This is what the composition is about. It gets the most words. |
| 2. The picture | Which picture (at least one) the story uses, and where it appears. | The composition must be based on at least one picture. |
| 3. The one-line story | Who wants what, what gets in the way, and what changes — one sentence. | If it will not fit in one sentence, it is not clear yet. |
| 4. Before and after | One line for the opening, one line for how things end. | Gives the beginning and ending a job: leading to the moment, and showing what it changed. |
| 5. The last line | How the ending shows the title — without announcing it. | Keeps the whole story on the topic set. |
1. The topic moment
Your child writes down
The one scene where the title is plainly true. For “A Promise”: the moment the promise is kept, or broken.
Why
This is what the composition is about. It gets the most words.
2. The picture
Your child writes down
Which picture (at least one) the story uses, and where it appears.
Why
The composition must be based on at least one picture.
3. The one-line story
Your child writes down
Who wants what, what gets in the way, and what changes — one sentence.
Why
If it will not fit in one sentence, it is not clear yet.
4. Before and after
Your child writes down
One line for the opening, one line for how things end.
Why
Gives the beginning and ending a job: leading to the moment, and showing what it changed.
5. The last line
Your child writes down
How the ending shows the title — without announcing it.
Why
Keeps the whole story on the topic set.
Our planning method — SEAB prescribes none
A worked example on a practice topic
To avoid rehearsing a real paper, here is the plan applied to a practice topic we made up: “A Difficult Choice”, with three pictures — a bicycle with a flat tyre, a school bus pulling away, and an elderly woman at a window.
Topic moment: Wei Ming has to choose between catching the bus to his team's final and staying with his elderly neighbour, Mdm Tan, who has fallen and cannot reach the phone.
Picture: the bus pulling away — seen from Mdm Tan's window as he decides.
One-line story: A boy who has trained all year for a football final misses it to help a neighbour, and finds the team did not need him as much as she did.
Before: the morning rush; boots packed; the bus stop in sight.
After: the team lost narrowly; Mdm Tan's daughter comes to thank him; he is not sorry.
Last line: something he does, not a moral — he unpacks his boots and pins the team photo on the wall anyway.
Notice what the plan does not contain: no list of fancy words, no memorised opening. It fixes the one thing the whole composition depends on — the choice — and gives every paragraph a job relative to it. A child can do this on scrap paper in five minutes, and the writing that follows has somewhere to go.
How to practise at home
Plan more than you write. Give your child one title from the list above, five minutes, and ask only for the plan. Talk through the topic moment together — is the title really what the story turns on? Ten plans take less time than one full composition and teach the part that decides most of it. Every couple of weeks, have them write one plan out in full under timed conditions.
The paper we do help with is the oral. PSLE English Oral is 20% of the grade — close to the 25% of the whole Writing paper. PSLEPrep lets your child practise Reading Aloud and the Stimulus-Based Conversation at home, in the exam format, with feedback after every attempt.
See how oral practice works →Where to go next
Frequently Asked Questions
What were the past-year PSLE English composition topics?
As published by several Singapore tuition centres: 2025 Being Thankful, 2024 Trying Something New, 2023 A Change for the Better, 2022 A Long Wait, 2021 A Promise, 2020 Something That Was Lost, 2019 A Celebration, 2018 Teamwork, 2017 A Special Gift, 2016 A Secret, 2015 Being Considerate. SEAB does not publish topics; the real papers are sold through SEAB's authorised publishers.
How many words is the PSLE English composition?
At least 150 words, according to the SEAB syllabus. There is no maximum, and SEAB does not link length to a grade.
How many marks is PSLE English composition worth?
Continuous Writing is 36 marks and Situational Writing 14, making Paper 1 (Writing) 50 marks and 25% of the English grade. Both parts are done in one sitting of 1 hour 10 minutes.
Does my child have to use the pictures?
Yes — at least one of the three. The syllabus states that the composition must be based on at least one of the pictures, which are there to offer different angles on the topic.
What is the PSLE English composition marking scheme?
SEAB publishes the objectives, not a scheme: writing that suits purpose, audience and context with accurate language, and relevant ideas organised coherently and cohesively. It does not publish a split between content and language marks or band descriptors, so exact splits found online come from schools or tuition centres.
What was the 2026 PSLE English composition topic?
We have not listed it yet. The paper was sat on 24 September 2026, and so far only one published source names a topic. We list a year only once at least two independent sources agree.