We all know national exams are not easy in Singapore. And sometimes, the difficulty of some of these questions can even confound adults.

On Sept. 20, local Chinese morning daily Lianhe Zaobao, reported the case of one question that was posed to students in the recent Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) Chinese Listening Comprehension test.

It has since baffled many students and parents, as all three options offered for students to select their correct answer all seemed plausible.

The question that stumped students and parents

We have translated the question below:

Student A is wearing a set of new clothes. Student B asks A: "You bought new clothes?"

Student A said: "These clothes were not bought but were personally tailored by my mother. Do you think they're pretty?"

Student B said: "They're really pretty! I didn't know your mother could tailor clothes!"

What do you think Student A will say next?

Options:

1. Whenever my mother is free, she will tailor clothes for me.

2. My mother does not like to spend money buying clothes.

3. My mother just started to learn how to tailor clothes

If you can read Chinese, here's the original Chinese version:

A同学穿了一件新衣服，B同学问A：“你买了一件新衣服啊？”

A同学说：“不是买的，是我妈妈亲手帮我缝的，你觉得漂亮吗？”

B同学说：“漂亮极了，我不知道你妈妈还会缝制衣服呢！”

问题：A同学接下来会说什么？

选项：

1. 我妈妈一有空就帮我缝衣服

2. 我妈妈不喜欢花钱买衣服

3. 我妈妈刚刚开始学缝制衣服

Okay, if you are as confused as us, you are not in the minority.

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Rejoinder questions

If you think there's probably an error in the question design, there isn't.

Responding to Lianhe Wanbao's request for comments, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said that they have revised this year's PSLE Chinese Listening Comprehension test to include "rejoinder" questions.

According to the 2010 Mother Tongue Languages Review Committee Report, "rejoinder" questions are "for students to choose the most appropriate response to complete a dialogue".

A representative of SEAB said:

"Candidates have to give an appropriate answer to the question based on the conversation's background information, and the words, phrasing and tone used in the conversation. A particular option may seem correct on its own, but if we combine it with the conversation's cause and effect, the option may not be the right one."

SEAB added that as the PSLE is still ongoing, they will not give further comments to prevent any unnecessary anxiety. However, they stressed that "there was no mistake in the question".

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A report published on Sept. 16 by Lianhe Wanbao quoted a parent of a Primary 6 student who said that the question was not testing the students’ listening or comprehension skills, but rather their reasoning abilities.

She thought such questions should not appear in the exam, as it may mislead students.

But the paper also interviewed an unnamed education professional who said that "there is no such thing as an unsuitable question for a listening comprehension test".

She said "listening and reading are the processes in which a student gains input", and thus such tests are "apt" for testing a student's "reasoning and deduction skills".

Whatever the case, it seems that until now, no one has any idea what is the correct answer to this question.

Top image via here via the web

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