Free Practice Questions for Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination
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Sample Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination Practice Questions
Try these sample questions to review concepts for the Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination exam. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.
1What is the value of 45 + 15 × (12 - 4) ÷ 2?
2Evaluate 3/4 + 2/5 - 1/2. Express the final answer in its simplest fractional form.
3A cooperative in Musanze harvested 2,400 kg of Irish potatoes. If 35% of the harvest was sold on the first day, how many kilograms of potatoes were sold?
4What is the result of dividing 14.4 by 0.12?
5A father shares Rwf 75,000 between his two daughters, Keza and Uwera, in the ratio 2:3. How much money does Uwera receive?
6A rectangular school garden in Rwamagana measures 45 meters in length and 20 meters in width. What is the perimeter and the area of the garden?
7A triangular plot has a base of 16 meters and a perpendicular height of 9 meters. What is the area of the plot?
8Taking π = 22/7, what is the circumference of a circular flowerbed with a radius of 14 meters?
9A rectangular water reservoir has an internal length of 5 meters, width of 4 meters, and depth of 3 meters. What is the capacity of the tank in litres? (Recall that 1 m³ = 1,000 litres).
10A farmer deposited Rwf 200,000 in a savings SACCO that pays simple interest at a rate of 6% per annum. How much total interest did the farmer earn after 3 years?
About the Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination Exam
The Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) is Rwanda's national examination at the end of Primary 6, set and administered by the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA). Candidates sit five written papers: Mathematics, Science and Elementary Technology (SET), Social Studies and Religious Education, English, and Ikinyarwanda. A candidate passes with an average of at least 50% across the five subjects, and NESA places successful candidates in Senior 1 according to their marks, their school choices and the places available. This page offers independent practice by OpenExamPrep: English-language multiple-choice questions with explanations. The Ikinyarwanda items keep Kinyarwanda wording because the language itself is being tested. The questions are a study adaptation, not an official translation or a simulation of the written papers, and they do not replace practice in written answers and composition.
Exam sponsor: National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA), Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). The requirements and fees below concern the certification or admission exam, separate from our free practice resources.
Assessment
For 2025-2026, NESA scheduled five 2-hour written papers from 7 to 9 July 2026: Mathematics and Ikinyarwanda (7 July), English and Social Studies and Religious Education (8 July), and Science and Elementary Technology (9 July). Papers are set in English except the Ikinyarwanda paper, which is in Kinyarwanda.
Time Limit
2 hours per paper (five papers)
Passing Score
Since 2025 NESA publishes each subject mark as a percentage. A P6 candidate passes with an average of at least 50% across the five subjects. The 2024 amendment to the Ministerial Instructions also sets letter bands for core subjects: A 80–100%, B 75–79%, C 70–74%, D 65–69%, E 60–64%, S 50–59% (minimum pass) and F 0–49%.
Exam / Certification Fees
No candidate fee is published for school-based candidates. P6 pupils are registered by their head teacher in the School Data Management System (SDMS); for 2026 registration ran from 25 February to 27 March 2026. NESA's 15,000 RWF private-candidate fee applies only to senior-six-level examinations, not to the PLE.
Exam sponsor websiteReported exam pass rate: 75.64% (2024/2025, MINEDUC). MINEDUC reported 166,334 passes from 219,926 candidates who sat the 2024/2025 PLE. This describes exam candidates, not OpenExamPrep users or results from using our resources. Exam sponsor website
Fees, eligibility, and exam policies can change. Confirm them with the exam sponsor before applying or paying.
Official sources
- NESA National Examinations Timetable 2025-2026 · Source checked 2026-10-12
- NESA 2025/2026 National Examinations Registration Guidelines · Source checked 2026-10-12
- NESA FAQ on 2025-2026 results and S1/S4 placement (Kinyarwanda) · Source checked 2026-10-12
- Ministerial Instructions amending the instructions governing national examinations (2024) · Source checked 2026-10-12
- MINEDUC: 2024/2025 PLE and O-Level results announcement · Source checked 2026-10-12
Our practice resources: topics covered
We aim to reflect publicly available exam outlines and topic information in our study resources. Coverage, format, and difficulty may differ from the actual exam, and we cannot guarantee that every detail is accurate or current. Confirm exam requirements, fees, and policies with the official exam sponsor.
Mathematics
Number operations, fractions, decimals, ratio and percentages, measurement and unit conversion, simple interest, speed, equations, geometry, area and volume, and basic statistics.
Science and Elementary Technology (SET)
Human body and health, plants and animals, matter and energy, simple machines and tools, soil and waste management, water, and ICT skills such as spreadsheets.
Social Studies and Religious Education
Rwandan geography and history, civic education and home-grown solutions (Umuganda, Abunzi, Gacaca), the Constitution, the EAC, and moral values.
English
Reading comprehension, vocabulary, tenses, conditionals, passive voice, reported speech, agreement and punctuation.
Ikinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda grammar (parts of speech, verb morphology, tenses, demonstratives, spelling), proverbs, riddles, oral literature and Rwandan culture.
Preparing for the Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination Exam
What You Need to Know
- Passing score: Since 2025 NESA publishes each subject mark as a percentage. A P6 candidate passes with an average of at least 50% across the five subjects. The 2024 amendment to the Ministerial Instructions also sets letter bands for core subjects: A 80–100%, B 75–79%, C 70–74%, D 65–69%, E 60–64%, S 50–59% (minimum pass) and F 0–49%.
- Assessment: For 2025-2026, NESA scheduled five 2-hour written papers from 7 to 9 July 2026: Mathematics and Ikinyarwanda (7 July), English and Social Studies and Religious Education (8 July), and Science and Elementary Technology (9 July). Papers are set in English except the Ikinyarwanda paper, which is in Kinyarwanda.
- Time limit: 2 hours per paper (five papers)
- Exam / certification fees: No candidate fee is published for school-based candidates. P6 pupils are registered by their head teacher in the School Data Management System (SDMS); for 2026 registration ran from 25 February to 27 March 2026. NESA's 15,000 RWF private-candidate fee applies only to senior-six-level examinations, not to the PLE. Official sources
Using Our Practice Resources
- Work through all 100 available questions
- Review every answer and explanation
- Track weak areas and revisit them
- Use our AI tutor for tough concepts
Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination: Suggested Study Strategy
Frequently Asked Questions
What subjects are tested in the Rwanda Primary Leaving Examination (PLE)?
Candidates sit five written papers: Mathematics, Science and Elementary Technology (SET), Social Studies and Religious Education, English, and Ikinyarwanda. In 2026 each paper lasted 2 hours and the PLE ran from 7 to 9 July.
What mark do I need to pass the PLE?
NESA publishes each subject mark as a percentage, and a P6 candidate passes with an average of at least 50% across the five subjects. Under the 2024 Ministerial Instructions, core-subject letter bands run from A (80–100%) to S (50–59%, minimum pass) and F (0–49%).
How does PLE performance affect secondary school placement?
NESA places successful candidates in Senior 1 using their marks, the four boarding and two day schools they chose at registration, and the places available. For the 2025/2026 school year NESA reported S1 boarding-school cut-off averages of 88.8% for boys and 86.6% for girls.
Is there a fee to sit the PLE?
NESA does not publish a candidate fee for school-based P6 candidates, who are registered by their head teacher in SDMS. The 15,000 RWF private-candidate fee paid through Irembo applies only to senior-six-level examinations.
Are these practice questions the same format as the real PLE?
No. This is independent practice by OpenExamPrep: English-language multiple-choice questions with explanations, with Ikinyarwanda items kept in Kinyarwanda. The official PLE is a set of written papers, so use these questions to check knowledge and also practise written answers and composition.