Secondary 1 Maths Syllabus (2026): Every G1, G2 and G3 Topic

By Mr Ian Ang, Math Academy · Updated 29 October 2026

The Secondary 1 maths syllabus depends on the level your child takes. Under Full Subject-Based Banding, which started with the 2024 Secondary 1 cohort, students take Mathematics at G1, G2 or G3. All three levels follow MOE’s current secondary Mathematics syllabuses, first implemented with the 2020 Secondary 1 cohort, and all three are organised into the same three strands: Number and Algebra, Geometry and Measurement, and Statistics and Probability. This guide sets out every Sec 1 topic at each level, straight from the MOE documents, with notes on where students tend to slip and a link to practice questions for each topic.

Sec 1 maths syllabus under Full SBB: G1, G2 and G3

From the 2024 Secondary 1 cohort, Full Subject-Based Banding replaced the Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) courses. Your child’s PSLE score decides a posting group, and the posting group sets the usual starting level for most subjects: G3, G2 or G1. Eligible students can take Mathematics at a more demanding level than their posting group suggests, based on their PSLE Mathematics Achievement Level. Our guide to G1, G2 and G3 maths under Full SBB explains the posting groups and the rules for moving up.

MOE describes five secondary mathematics syllabuses: G3, G2 and G1 Mathematics, and G3 and G2 Additional Mathematics. Only the first three apply in Secondary 1. Additional Mathematics is an upper secondary elective. The topics are listed by year in the MOE documents, so the lists below are exactly what is set for Secondary 1. MOE does not fix the order of topics within the year. Each school sets its own scheme of work, so ask the school or check your child’s timetable for the term-by-term order.

If your child needs steadier support through the year, our Sec 1 Maths tuition classes have at most 7 students and meet for 1.5 hours a week at our Bukit Gombak centre.

Sec 1 G3 Maths syllabus: topic by topic

G3 has the longest Sec 1 list. Each topic below gives the MOE content, the slips we see most often in Sec 1 work, and a link to practice questions with worked solutions.

Numbers and their operations

What MOE sets: primes and prime factorisation; HCF and LCM, squares, cubes, square roots and cube roots by prime factorisation; negative numbers, integers, rational and real numbers and their four operations; calculations with a calculator; the number line; the symbols $\lt$, $\gt$, $\leqslant$, $\geqslant$; and approximation and estimation, including decimal places and significant figures.

Where students slip: signs with negative numbers, such as $-3 – (-5) = 2$ and $(-2)^2 = 4$ but $-2^2 = -4$; and significant figures with zeros, such as $0.04050$ to 3 significant figures being $0.0405$.

Practice: primes, factors and multiples, integers and rational numbers, approximation and estimation.

Ratio and proportion

What MOE sets: ratios involving rational numbers, writing a ratio in its simplest form, and problems involving ratio.

Where students slip: ratios with fractions or decimals, such as simplifying $\tfrac{2}{3} : 1.5$ to $4 : 9$, and problems where one part of the ratio changes while another stays the same.

Practice: ratio, rate and proportion.

Percentage

What MOE sets: one quantity as a percentage of another, comparing quantities by percentage, percentages greater than 100%, increasing or decreasing by a percentage (including the idea of a percentage point), reverse percentages, and problems involving percentages.

Where students slip: reverse percentages. If a price after a 20% discount is $80, the original price is $80 ÷ 0.8 = $100, not $80 × 1.2 = $96.

Practice: percentage.

Rate and speed

What MOE sets: average rate, speed, constant speed and average speed; conversion of units such as km/h to m/s; and problems involving rate and speed.

Where students slip: average speed is total distance divided by total time, not the average of the two speeds. Unit conversion is the other trap: $72$ km/h is $72 \times \tfrac{1000}{3600} = 20$ m/s.

Practice: rate, speed and time.

Algebraic expressions and formulae

What MOE sets: using letters for numbers; reading notation such as $ab$, $\tfrac{a}{b}$, $a^2b$ and $3(x+y)$; evaluating expressions and formulae; writing expressions for real-world situations; finding an expression for the $n$th term of a pattern; adding and subtracting linear expressions; simplifying expressions such as $-2(3x-5)+4x$ and $\tfrac{2x}{3} – \tfrac{3(x-5)}{2}$; and using brackets and extracting common factors.

Where students slip: the minus sign in front of a bracket, for example $-2(3x-5) = -6x + 10$, not $-6x – 10$; and fractions with a bracket on top, where the whole bracket must be multiplied out.

Practice: basic algebra, number patterns and the $n$th term. Our article on Secondary 1 algebra basics works through the ideas step by step.

Functions and graphs

What MOE sets: Cartesian coordinates; the graph of a set of ordered pairs; linear functions $y = ax + b$ and their graphs; and the gradient of a line as vertical change over horizontal change, positive and negative.

Where students slip: mixing up the order of coordinates, and getting the sign of the gradient wrong for lines that slope downwards. Careful scales on the axes matter more than students expect.

Practice: functions and linear graphs.

Equations

What MOE sets: the concept of an equation; solving linear equations in one variable; solving simple fractional equations that reduce to linear equations, such as $\tfrac{x}{3} + \tfrac{x-2}{4} = 3$ and $\tfrac{3}{x-2} = 6$; and forming a linear equation to solve a word problem.

Where students slip: clearing fractions by multiplying only some of the terms, and forming the equation from a word problem. Some students solve the problem by the PSLE model method and then cannot write the equation that the question asks for.

Practice: linear equations. Inequalities are on that page too, but MOE places them in Sec 2.

Angles, triangles and polygons

What MOE sets: right, acute, obtuse and reflex angles; vertically opposite angles, angles on a straight line and angles at a point; corresponding, alternate and interior angles with parallel lines; properties of triangles, special quadrilaterals and regular polygons, including symmetry; classifying quadrilaterals; the angle sums of interior and exterior angles of a convex polygon; and constructions with compasses, ruler, set squares and protractor.

Where students slip: writing down an angle without the property that gives it. Build the habit of naming the property beside each step, such as “alternate angles, $AB \parallel CD$“. The other common error is the interior angle of a regular polygon: $\dfrac{(n-2) \times 180^\circ}{n}$, which is $135^\circ$ for an octagon.

Practice: angles and parallel lines, triangles, quadrilaterals and polygons.

Mensuration

What MOE sets: area of a parallelogram and a trapezium; perimeter and area of composite plane figures; volume and surface area of prisms and cylinders; converting between cm² and m² and between cm³ and m³; and volume and surface area of composite solids.

Where students slip: unit conversion. $1\text{ m}^2 = 10\,000\text{ cm}^2$ and $1\text{ m}^3 = 1\,000\,000\text{ cm}^3$, not 100. Total surface area of a cylinder also catches students who forget one of the two circular ends.

Practice: perimeter, area and volume.

Data handling and analysis

What MOE sets: collecting, classifying and tabulating data; reading and interpreting tables, bar graphs, pictograms, line graphs and pie charts; the uses, advantages and disadvantages of each; and explaining why a given diagram can mislead.

Where students slip: the “why is this misleading” question, which needs a specific reason such as a vertical axis that does not start at zero, not a general comment.

Practice: data handling and statistics.

Sec 1 G2 Maths syllabus: what is different from G3

G2 Mathematics covers the same strands, with more time on the basics and some G3 topics moved to Sec 2. Compared with Sec 1 G3, the Sec 1 G2 syllabus:

• Builds more groundwork in ratio, percentage and speed. It adds comparing quantities by ratio, the link between ratio and fraction, dividing a quantity in a given ratio, equivalent ratios, writing a percentage as a fraction or decimal, finding a percentage increase or decrease, and calculating speed, distance or time from the other two.
• Keeps algebra to integer coefficients. Students simplify expressions such as $4x – 2(3x – 5)$ and solve linear equations with integer coefficients. Fractional coefficients, extracting common factors and simple fractional equations come in Sec 2.
• Leaves out coordinates and linear graphs. Cartesian coordinates, $y = ax + b$ and gradient are Sec 2 topics in G2.
• Covers triangles only in geometry. Angle facts and parallel lines are the same as G3. Special quadrilaterals, regular polygons, polygon angle sums and constructions move to Sec 2.
• Matches G3 in mensuration and data handling. Parallelograms, trapeziums, composite figures, prisms, cylinders, unit conversion and statistical diagrams are the same.

Our article on the difference between G2 and G3 Mathematics at Secondary 1 looks at what this means for a student deciding whether to move up a level.

Sec 1 G1 Maths syllabus

G1 Mathematics moves at a gentler pace and keeps Sec 1 to number work, early algebra, angles and measurement. The Sec 1 G1 syllabus covers:

• Numbers: negative numbers and primes (without prime factorisation), integers and their four operations, the four operations on fractions and decimals including negative ones, calculator work including squares, cubes, square roots and cube roots, the number line, the symbols $\lt$, $\gt$, $\leqslant$, $\geqslant$, and approximation and estimation.
• Ratio: comparing quantities, dividing a quantity in a given ratio, ratios with fractions and decimals, equivalent ratios and simplest form.
• Percentage: percentages as fractions and decimals, finding the whole from a part, one quantity as a percentage of another, comparing by percentage, percentages over 100%, and percentage increase and decrease.
• Algebra: letters for numbers, algebraic notation, evaluating expressions and formulae, simple number sequences with $n$th terms such as $n + 3$ and $2n + 1$, and writing expressions for real-world situations.
• Geometry: types of angle, angles at a point and on a straight line, vertically opposite angles, angles with parallel lines, and line and rotational symmetry.
• Mensuration: area of a triangle, area and circumference of a circle, area of a parallelogram and a trapezium, composite figures, volume and surface area of cubes and cuboids, unit conversion, and composite solids.
• Data handling: collecting and tabulating data, and reading tables, bar graphs, pictograms, line graphs and pie charts.

In G1, rate and speed, simplifying linear expressions, solving equations, coordinates and linear graphs, and properties of triangles and quadrilaterals all come in Sec 2.

Sec 1 maths topics by level: G1, G2 and G3 compared

“Sec 2” means MOE places the topic in the Secondary 2 list for that level.

What is new in Sec 1 maths after PSLE

The biggest change is the move from drawing models to writing equations. In Sec 1, students are expected to let a letter stand for the unknown, write an equation from the words, and solve it. Negative numbers become routine, prime factorisation becomes the standard way to find HCF and LCM, and geometry starts to ask for the angle property behind each step. None of these ideas is hard on its own, but they arrive together and each one is used again in Sec 2. Our guide to Secondary 1 maths vs primary maths covers the change in more detail.

How to help your child with the Sec 1 maths syllabus

• Know the level. Check whether your child takes Mathematics at G1, G2 or G3, and use the matching list above. Practice set at the wrong level either bores or discourages.
• Put algebra first. Algebraic expressions and equations are used in almost every later topic, so a gap here grows quickly.
• Watch the signs. Negative numbers and brackets cause small, repeated slips across the whole paper. A few minutes of sign practice each week pays off.
• Ask for the working. Encourage full working with units and reasons, not just answers, so mistakes can be found and fixed.
• Act on early tests. A weak topic test in Term 1 is the time to act, not the end-of-year paper.

Our free Sec 1 maths practice questions are grouped by the topics above, each with worked solutions.

Sec 1 maths syllabus FAQs

What topics are in the Sec 1 maths syllabus?

For G3, the Sec 1 topics are numbers and their operations, ratio, percentage, rate and speed, algebraic expressions, coordinates and linear graphs, linear and simple fractional equations, angles, triangles and polygons, mensuration, and data handling. G2 and G1 cover a shorter list, with some of these topics moved to Sec 2.

What is the difference between the G2 and G3 Sec 1 maths syllabus?

Both share the same strands and many of the same topics. In Sec 1, G2 spends more time on ratio, percentage and speed basics, keeps algebra to integer coefficients, and moves coordinates and linear graphs, fractional equations, polygons and constructions to Sec 2.

Are inequalities in the Sec 1 maths syllabus?

No. Students learn to use the symbols for less than and greater than in Sec 1, but solving inequalities is in the Sec 2 list for both G3 and G2.

Is the Sec 1 maths syllabus the same in every school?

The content for each level is set by MOE and is the same in every school. The order in which topics are taught during the year is decided by each school, so the term-by-term sequence can differ.

Can my child take G3 Maths if posted to Posting Group 2?

Possibly. Under Full SBB, eligible students can take Mathematics at a more demanding level from Sec 1, based on their PSLE Mathematics Achievement Level, and subject levels can be adjusted at suitable points later. Check the eligibility rules with your child’s school.

Which Sec 1 maths topic matters most?

Algebra. Writing and simplifying expressions and solving equations are used in almost every later topic, from graphs in Sec 2 to Additional Mathematics in upper secondary.

Getting the Secondary 1 maths syllabus right

The Secondary 1 maths syllabus is short on new ideas but long on new habits: letters for unknowns, careful signs, full working and reasons. Find your child’s level, use the matching topic list above, and practise each topic as it is taught rather than at the end of the year. If you would like a teacher to keep that rhythm going, our Sec 1 Maths tuition classes are capped at 7 students, 1.5 hours a week at our Bukit Gombak centre.