Stage 1 maths: topics, format and a preparation plan

• 30 multiple-choice questions, 4 options each.
• Timed: the 2025 announcements gave 60 minutes, so about 2 minutes a question.
• No calculator or phone; rough paper is provided.
• Topics come from the year 1–4 syllabus, but the questions are harder than the textbook: most take two or three steps.

Results are ranked per school: of those who applied to a given Presidential School, the 480 highest scorers go to stage 2. The procedure is on Admission 2027.

• Whole numbers: digits and place value, reading numbers, comparing and rounding.
• Building numbers from digits: the largest and smallest number, building to a condition.
• Sum and difference, product and quotient: multi-digit numbers, order of operations, brackets.
• Equations: finding the unknown, writing an equation from a word problem.
• Fractions: a part of a number, a number from its part, comparing.
• Units: length, mass, volume, time and money; converting units.
• Triangle, square, rectangle: perimeter and area, finding a side.
• 3D shapes: cube and cuboid — edges, faces, nets.
• Word problems: price–quantity–cost, speed–time–distance, work and rate.
• Logic and counting: patterns, reading tables, counting cases.

In Prezi Prep this syllabus is split into 20 topic tests of 20–30 questions, each answer explained. The weekly mock exam gathers every topic into 30 questions.

• Not reading to the end. The question asks how much was saved; the child finds the total price.
• Mixed units. One side in cm, the other in m; the answer wanted in so'm, the working in thousands.
• Order of operations. The bracket is done last, the multiplication before addition is forgotten.
• Time. One hard problem takes 6–7 minutes and the last 5 questions go unread.
• No checking. An answer being among the options does not make it right: the wrong answers are options too.

1. Monday–Friday: one topic test (10 minutes) and the explanations for the wrong answers (5 minutes).
2. Saturday: a 30-question mock exam, timed, no break, just like the real one.
3. Sunday: rest, or go back to the week's weakest topic.

Two results in a row above 80% on a topic is the signal to move on. From January a mock exam every week: speed is practised too.

Eight more questions with solutions are on Sample test questions.