PSLE Percentage Questions, Shown Working

Q: Can I get the videos and similar questions to practise?

Yes. Genius Plus Academy publishes a worked solution and a video for PSLE Paper 2 questions, and parents can request similar questions per type to practise, from the worked-solutions library.

PSLE percentage questions, shown working.

The short version

Percentage questions reward one discipline: never chase a percentage of an unknown. Anchor each percentage to a quantity you actually know, underline what every percentage is of before you compute, and step through the layers one at a time. For reverse percentage, work back from the known amount. Get the base right and the arithmetic is gentle. Below are two worked examples, each solved cleanly and checked.

Figures from GPA's tagged index of 709 PSLE questions, 664-basis, with the MOE Specimen reported separately · every solution worked independently then checked against the verified GPA key · Mrs Eileen Toh signs off the mathematics · last reviewed 22 Jun 2026

A percentage problem has opened Paper 2 in 13 of the 14 years counted.

It is one of the paper's most reliable openers, and it returns again later in the harder tail. The discipline that cracks them is simple: never chase a percentage of an unknown, anchor to a quantity you actually know, and step through the layers. Learn that one move and the type stops being a source of careless marks.

Anchor to the known

Fix the percentage to a quantity you actually have, never to a price or total you have not found yet.

Name the base

Underline what each percentage is "of" before computing. The remainder is not the whole.

Work the layers

For reverse percentage, step back from the known amount one layer at a time to the whole.

Percentage as a content area appears 29 times. Figures from GPA's tagged index of 709 PSLE questions, 664-basis, MOE Specimen reported separately. This is analysis of past papers, not a forecast of the next one.

Anchor to what you know, then step through the layers.

Every percentage question hides one question inside it: a percentage of what. Once you can answer that, the rest is arithmetic. The method has four moves, and they are the same whether the question reads forwards or backwards.

Anchor each percentage to a quantity you actually know, never to a price or total you have not yet found.

Underline what each percentage is "of" before computing, so the base is fixed before any sum.

For reverse percentage, work back from the known amount: the part you are given is a known fraction of an earlier whole.

Step through the layers one at a time, and never collapse two bases into one.

Notice what is not on that list: speed. Neither example below is won by faster arithmetic. Each turns on naming the base correctly, then anchoring to the one quantity the question actually hands you.

2019 · Paper 2 · Q14 Percentage · reverse percentage

The two shoppers who spent the same

The question

Kevin and Julie each spent exactly $61.20 on egg tarts. Julie got 6 more tarts than Kevin, because she had a coupon giving her 15% off. (a) How many tarts did Julie get? (b) What was the full price of one tart?

We reproduce this one because it made national news — one of the 2019 PSLE questions widely shared online, covered by Mothership. For other questions our pages point you to your Ten-Year Series instead.

Video: a Genius Plus Academy teacher solving PSLE 2019 Paper 2 Question 14

Teacher video · 2019 P2 Q14

The lock

The trap is to hunt for 15% of a price you do not yet know. The real structure is hidden: both children spent the same total, so the discount did not save Julie money, it bought her more tarts with the same money.

The key

Anchor the percentage to the equal spend. The 15% Julie did not lose on price became 15% of $61.20 worth of extra tarts.

Worked steps

Julie's extra tarts are worth 15% of her $61.20 spend: $0.15 \times 61.20 = 9.18$.
Those extra tarts number 6, so each tart at the discounted price costs $9.18 \div 6 = 1.53$.
(a) Julie's total tarts $= 61.20 \div 1.53 = 40$ tarts.
The discounted $1.53 is 85% of the full price, so full price $= 1.53 \div 0.85 = 1.80$.

Answer: (a) 40 tarts. (b) $1.80 full price.

What makes it click. The moment you see "same spend", the discount stops being about money saved and becomes about tarts gained. Find what 15% of the spend bought, and the rest is division.

Independently solved, matches the GPA marking-scheme key. Open the full worked solution →

2023 · Paper 2 · Q9 Percentage · percentage of the remainder

The money spent in layers

Where to find it

This is a worded PSLE question, so we don’t reproduce it here. Find it in your Ten-Year Series (TYS) or the official paper — 2023 Paper 2, Q9 (the percentage-of-the-remainder money question) — then follow our worked solution below.

Video: a Genius Plus Academy teacher solving PSLE 2023 Paper 2 Question 9

Teacher video · 2023 P2 Q9

The lock

The 40% is of the remainder, not the original money. A child who takes 40% of the whole gets the wrong base. Underline what each percentage is of.

The key

Anchor to the $6.90, which is 60% of the remainder, and work back to the whole.

Her money in layers (the remainder is 25% of the whole):

calculator 75% book $6.90 left

Worked steps

After the calculator, the remainder is 25% of her money.
The book took 40% of that remainder, leaving 60% of the remainder $= 6.90$.
Remainder $= 6.90 \div 60 \times 100 = 11.50$.
Money at first $= 11.50 \div 25 \times 100 = 46$.

Answer: $46 at first.

What makes it click. The whole question turns on one phrase: 40% of the remainder. Once you fix the base, the $6.90 anchors the remainder, and the remainder anchors the whole.

Independently solved, matches the GPA marking-scheme key. Open the full worked solution →

Taking a percentage of the wrong whole.

When a question says "40% of the remainder" or "the price after a discount", children apply the percentage to the original total instead of the stated base. The number they reach is clean and confident, and completely wrong, because it was a percentage of the wrong whole.

The fix is one habit, done every time: underline what each percentage is "of" before computing. The remainder is not the whole. The discounted price is not the full price. Once the base is named on the page, the careless mark stops being possible.

Questions parents ask

How often do percentage questions appear in the PSLE?

In GPA's tagged index, percentage as a content area appears 29 times, and a percentage problem has opened Paper 2 in 13 of the 14 years counted. Figures are on the 664 sat-paper basis, with the MOE Specimen reported separately. This is analysis of past papers, not a forecast of the next one.

What is the single most common mistake?

Taking a percentage of the wrong whole. When a question says "40% of the remainder" or "the price after a discount", children apply the percentage to the original total instead of the stated base. The fix is to underline what each percentage is "of" before computing.

What is reverse percentage, and why is it tricky?

Reverse percentage means working back from a known amount to an earlier whole, rather than forwards from the whole to a part. It is tricky because the quantity you are given is a fraction of something you have not found yet. The discipline is the same: anchor to the amount you actually know, then step back one layer at a time.

Can I get the videos and similar questions to practise?

Yes. We publish a worked solution and a video for PSLE Paper 2 questions, and you can request similar questions per type to practise. Browse them all in our worked-solutions library.

PSLE percentage questions, shown working.

A percentage problem has opened Paper 2 in 13 of the 14 years counted.

Anchor to what you know, then step through the layers.

The two shoppers who spent the same

The money spent in layers

Taking a percentage of the wrong whole.

The 10 PSLE Question Types, cheat sheet

This trains anchoring a percentage to a known quantity.

Keep reading

Questions parents ask

See how your child reads a percentage question.