Grade 5 English End Term 3 Exam With Answers

The first five questions are free. Learners unlock the full exam, the timer and the complete review.

Grade 5 English exams come from schools and publishers, so formats vary. KPSEA English in Grade 6 tests reading and language use through multiple-choice questions, and that is the style we use here. Composition writing is an important part of the curriculum but can’t be marked fairly by a computer, so it is not part of this online paper. Keep a weekly writing habit at home alongside these exams.

• Story comprehension (8 marks): an original story about a donkey race in Lamu, with questions on facts, reasons and the lesson of the story.
• Poem (4 marks): a short poem about rain and sunshine, including a question on similes.
• Grammar (10 marks): is and are, irregular past tense and plurals, adjectives and adverbs, comparatives, possessive words, joining sentences with “because”, question tags and prepositions.
• Vocabulary, punctuation and spelling (8 marks): places, opposites and synonyms, young ones of animals, commas in lists, exclamation marks and commonly misspelt words.

Encourage your child to read the questions first and then read the passage carefully once, not quickly twice. For “why” questions, the answer is usually in a sentence with “because” or a reason nearby. For poems, read aloud: rhythm and rhyme make the meaning clearer. Teach the word “simile” with fun examples (“as busy as a bee”, “shone like mirrors”), because similes appear in most Grade 5 and KPSEA English papers.

Question tags confuse many Grade 5 learners. The rule is simple: a positive sentence takes a negative tag (“You are coming, aren’t you?”) and a negative sentence takes a positive one (“She isn’t late, is she?”). Practise a few at dinner. Comparatives are another easy win: big, bigger, biggest; good, better, best.

• Writing “buyed” instead of “bought”.
• Using “she” where “her” is needed before a noun.
• Spelling “friend” as “freind” and “beautiful” with a double l.
• Picking a story answer that sounds nice but isn’t in the text.

The donkey-race story and its first five questions are free for everyone. Learner members unlock the rest of the comprehension, the poem, all grammar and vocabulary items, timed mode and an explanation for every answer. Saved results show whether your child struggles more with reading or with language use, which helps you choose the right practice. Membership is free for 7 days, then KES 500 a month.

Try the other exams on the Grade 5 revision papers page, practise daily in the Grade 5 CBC Challenge, and look ahead to the KPSEA Grade 6 English practice papers.