PSLE percentage questions with answers
Percentage questions often change the whole halfway through. A second discount is taken on the sale price, not the original price, and your child has to notice which amount each percentage belongs to before working anything out.
What the PSLE tests in percentage
- Finding a percentage of a quantity, and the whole given a part and its percentage
- Discount, GST and annual interest
- Percentage increase and decrease
- Expressing one quantity as a percentage of another
- Problem sums where the percentage is taken of a changed total
Where children lose the most marks
- Successive percentages, such as a further discount on a sale price
- Finding the original price when only the price after discount or GST is given
- Questions that ask for the new amount after an increase, where children stop at the increase
A PSLE-style question, worked
A fan cost $80. During a sale its price was reduced by 15%. Members get a further 10% off the sale price. How much does a member pay for the fan?
- Sale discount: 15% of $80 = 15/100 × $80 = $12
- Sale price: $80 − $12 = $68
- Member discount: 10% of $68 = $6.80
- Member pays: $68 − $6.80 = $61.20
Why $60 is wrong: The child added the two discounts to get 25% and took it off the original $80. The 10% is of the sale price of $68, not of $80.
Free PSLE percentage questions with answers
Careless mistakes to watch in percentage
Percentage of a new total
When the total changes, your child still divides by the old one. See the PSLE percentage mistake in a worked example and how to fix it at home.
See the fix →Found the increase, not the new price
Your child finds the 15% increase but stops before the new price. Why it happens in PSLE percentage increase questions and how to fix it.
See the fix →Calculation slip
Your child uses the right method but slips on the arithmetic, like a missing zero in long division. How to spot calculation slips and cut them down.
See the fix →Questions parents ask
Is GST tested in PSLE Maths?
Yes. GST, discount and annual interest are part of the P6 percentage syllabus and commonly appear in problem sums.
Why does my child get percentage questions wrong when the method looks right?
Usually the percentage is taken of the wrong amount, often the old total after it has changed. Knowbotic traces each wrong answer to that habit and explains it step by step, with a bar model where it helps.
Are percentage questions in Paper 1 or Paper 2?
Both. Short percentage questions often appear in Paper 1 without a calculator, and longer multi-step ones in Paper 2.
See which habits are costing your child marks.
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