KPSEA 2026 English Sample Questions with Answers: Comprehension, Grammar and Composition Guidance

Parents searching for KPSEA English questions and answers usually want two things: questions that look like the real paper, and answers that explain themselves. A bare answer key does not help a child who chose "reached at the market" to understand why it is wrong. This page gives an original timed set in the KPSEA format, then works through every answer, including why each wrong option is wrong, so the mark becomes a lesson.

These are original practice questions written by CBC Edu Kenya, not a KNEC paper and not a leaked paper. They draw on the four Grade 4 to 6 English strands: Listening and Speaking, Reading, Grammar in Use and Writing.

How the real paper is built, and how this set matches it

Set a timer for 30 minutes, give your child a pencil, and let them shade A, B, C or D on a small grid numbered 1 to 15. That is two minutes a question, the same pace as the real paper.

KPSEA 2026 English sample questions

Stop here until the 30 minutes are up. The answers start below.

Answers with explanations

Each question carries 1 mark, for the correct letter only. Read the explanation for every question your child got wrong: each wrong option is a mistake Grade 6 learners really make.

Cloze passage (Grammar in Use and Reading)

1. A, because (1 mark). The second half of the sentence gives the reason she woke up early, and because introduces a reason. Although and but show contrast, and unless shows a condition, so none of them fits.

2. B, washed (1 mark). The story is in the past ("Last Saturday", "woke", "dressed"), so the verb must be in the simple past. Reading the whole sentence before choosing is what catches this.

3. A, arrived (1 mark). We say arrived at a place. We say reached the market with no "at", so "reached at" is wrong. "Got at" and "came at" are not correct English either. This preposition trap appears in almost every cloze passage.

4. B, potatoes (1 mark). Nouns ending in -o such as potato and tomato add -es in the plural. The passage itself shows the pattern with "tomatoes". C uses an apostrophe, which shows possession, not a plural.

5. A, all (1 mark). "All the vegetables" is correct. We cannot say "every the vegetables" or "each the vegetables", and much is used with nouns we cannot count, such as water or sugar.

Grammar and vocabulary

6. B, aren't they (1 mark). A positive statement takes a negative tag, and the tag repeats the helping verb (are) and uses a pronoun for the subject (the children becomes they). A and C use the wrong verb or pronoun; D is positive.

7. C, tallest (1 mark). With three or more people we use the superlative. Taller compares only two. D is a double superlative: never use most together with -est.

8. B, sheep (1 mark). Sheep is the same in the singular and the plural, like fish and deer. D is singular, but "twenty" needs a plural.

9. C, on (1 mark). Use on for days and dates, in for months and years, and at for clock times.

10. B, Musa said that he was tired (1 mark). In reported speech, I becomes he and the present tense am moves back to the past was. A and D keep "I", which now sounds as if the speaker is tired. C uses were, which does not agree with he.

Reading passage

11. B, the tap ran dry (1 mark). The first paragraph says: "When the tap ran dry... they had to wait for the water lorry." This is a literal question: the answer is written in the passage. Teach your child to find the line and put a finger on it before shading.

12. A, observant and full of ideas (1 mark). This is an inference question. Chebet noticed the wasted rainwater and suggested using it, which shows she is observant and thoughtful. Nothing in the passage supports B, C or D.

13. C, gave (1 mark). Put each option into the sentence: "they gave money for a large plastic tank." Only gave makes sense, and the tank was then bought, so the money was given, not borrowed.

14. D, he checks that no tap is left running (1 mark). Stated in the last paragraph. A is what the learners did once, not every afternoon.

15. C, Learners Who Harvested the Rain (1 mark). A good title covers the main idea of the whole passage: the learners' idea of collecting rainwater. B and D name only small details, and A is the opposite of what the learners were like.

Answer table

Scored 12 or more? Your child is on track: move on to full 30-question papers in one hour, including the poem. Lost most marks in questions 1 to 10? Revise tenses, prepositions and plurals, which carry marks in every cloze passage. Lost most marks in 11 to 15? The fix is reading method, not more vocabulary: our guide to KPSEA English comprehension marks shows the question types and how to answer each.

Composition guidance for KPSEA English

Parents often ask whether their child will write a composition in KPSEA. The KPSEA English paper is multiple choice from start to finish, answered by shading, so there is no composition to write in the exam room. Writing still earns marks, though, because the paper tests writing skills through multiple-choice items: punctuation, the order of sentences in a paragraph, and the parts of letters and notices. A child who writes regularly at home finds these items easy, because they are the same decisions made on paper.

Two writing items to try (1 mark each):

W1. Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
A. "where are you going asked mother."    B. "Where are you going?" asked Mother.
C. Where are you going, asked Mother?    D. "Where are you going." asked mother.

W2. Choose the best order for these sentences to make a paragraph: (i) Finally, she served them hot. (ii) First, Neema washed the green grams. (iii) Then she boiled them until they were soft.
A. (i), (ii), (iii)    B. (ii), (iii), (i)    C. (iii), (i), (ii)    D. (ii), (i), (iii)

Answers. W1 is B: the spoken words and the question mark go inside the speech marks, the first word of the speech has a capital letter, and Mother takes a capital because it is used as a name. W2 is B: the linking words First, Then and Finally give the order away, which is exactly how these items are meant to be solved.

A home composition task. Once a week until the exam, ask your child to write about 150 words on a title such as The Day It Rained at Our School. Mark it with the guide below. This is our home marking guide, not a KNEC scheme; its purpose is to build the habits the multiple-choice writing items reward.

For the full picture of how each strand is revised, see our KPSEA English revision guide, and for managing one hour across 30 questions, timing the English and Kiswahili comprehension.

Want full KPSEA English papers with answers?

This set is half a paper. The KPSEA Complete Course has three full 30-question English papers in the KNEC time of one hour, each with a cloze passage, grammar, a reading passage and a poem, and a separate answer booklet that explains every answer the way this page does. It also covers Mathematics, Integrated Science, Kiswahili, and Creative Arts and Social Studies, with full Grade 4 to 6 notes for each.

It is KSH 300 for all five KPSEA papers and downloads instantly after M-Pesa payment. These are original practice papers, not KNEC papers and not leaked papers, and we never promise a grade.

Get the KPSEA Complete Course: notes, predictive papers and answer booklets for all five papers, KSH 300.

Frequently asked questions

When is the KPSEA 2026 English paper?

Monday 26 October 2026, 10.50 a.m. to 11.50 a.m., after Mathematics in the morning. Every paper and session is in our KPSEA 2026 timetable.

Is there a composition in KPSEA English?

No. The paper is multiple choice, shaded in pencil. Writing is tested through items on punctuation, sentence order and the parts of letters and notices, as in W1 and W2 above.

How long is the KPSEA English paper?

One hour. Our predictive papers set 30 questions in that time, which is two minutes per question, the same pace as this sample.

What is the best way to use these questions?

Sit them once under time, mark them with the table, then go through the explanation for each wrong answer together. Retry the wrong ones two days later without looking.