Singapore Math Drills Team · 11 June 2026
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If your child is in primary school this year, they're learning under the fully implemented 2026 Primary Mathematics syllabus — the rollout of the MOE's 2021 curriculum revision, now in effect at every level. For parents, this raises a fair question: is the maths I remember still where it used to be?
In several important cases, no. A few well-known topics have moved between year levels, and one has left primary school entirely. If you're using older assessment books or remembering the syllabus from your own school days, you could easily practise the wrong topic at the wrong level. Here's a plain-English guide to what actually changed.
The 2021 revision rebalanced when certain topics are taught, so that each builds on a firmer foundation. These are the changes most likely to trip up a parent.
"Nets" are the flattened-out shapes you fold to make a cube, cuboid, cone, cylinder, prism, or pyramid. This used to be a Primary 6 topic; under the 2026 syllabus it's taught in Primary 4. If your P4 child comes home talking about nets, that's correct and on-schedule — not something they've jumped ahead to.
Reading and interpreting pie charts is now introduced in Primary 4, with fuller data analysis in Primary 5. Previously this sat in P6. So a P4 or P5 child working with pie charts is squarely within the current syllabus.
This is the big one. Speed (distance, time, and rate problems) is no longer in the primary syllabus at all — it has moved up to Secondary 1. For years, speed was a feared Primary 6 / PSLE topic. Under the 2026 syllabus, your P6 child should not be drilling speed problems for the PSLE. If an old assessment book is pushing speed, set it aside — it's testing your child on something outside their syllabus.
Ratio used to appear only in Primary 6. Now it's introduced in Primary 5 — simplest form, equivalent ratios, and dividing a quantity in a given ratio — with the more complex work (before-and-after problems, three-part ratios) saved for Primary 6. So a P5 child meeting ratio for the first time is right on track.
One reassuring non-change: algebra — using letters for unknown numbers and solving simple one-step equations — remains a Primary 6 topic, as it was before. Nothing to relearn here.
| Topic | Where parents remember it | Where it lives in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Nets of 3D solids | P6 | P4 |
| Pie charts | P6 | P4 (reading), P5 (analysis) |
| Speed | P6 / PSLE | Secondary 1 (gone from primary) |
| Ratio | P6 only | P5 (basics) + P6 (complex) |
| Algebra | P6 | P6 (unchanged) |
The pattern behind the changes is better sequencing. Nets sit more naturally alongside the P4 work on shape properties and symmetry. Ratio benefits from being introduced gently in P5 before the demanding before-and-after problems in P6. And removing speed from primary frees up time for the number sense and problem-solving that the PSLE genuinely rewards — and gives students a stronger run-up to it in secondary school.
For you as a parent, the practical takeaway is simple: what level a topic belongs to matters as much as whether your child can do it. Practising P6 speed problems "to get ahead" now wastes effort on material that's been removed. Drilling nets in P6 means your child met them two years late.
You don't need to memorise the syllabus document. But three habits will keep your child practising the right things:
If you only remember one thing: the curriculum your child sits today is not the one most parents grew up with, and a quick level-check before you practise saves a lot of wasted effort.
This is exactly why alignment matters in whatever your child practises with. Singapore Math Drills covers Primary 1 to Secondary 4: its Primary questions are directly mapped to the Singapore MOE Primary Mathematics syllabus through Primary 6, and its Secondary 1 practice includes topics such as prime factorisation and algebra, with selected Secondary 2, Secondary 3, and Secondary 4 topics available too. G3 Mathematics — Additional Mathematics is not covered yet. The Primary coverage reflects the 2026 placements above — nets appear at P4, ratio starts at P5, and speed simply isn't there for P6.
Practically, that means you don't have to audit every worksheet against the latest syllabus yourself. When your child practises a topic, it's the one their school is actually teaching at their level — not a leftover from an older edition. For a parent trying to support a child through a changing curriculum, that quiet confidence is worth a great deal.
See your child practise the current MOE syllabus, level by level — start today, no credit card required.