A Parent's Guide to PEP
What your child sits in Grades 4, 5 and 6, how it counts, and how to help at home.
Facts checked against Ministry and Jamaica Information Service sources on 26 October 2026.
The Primary Exit Profile, or PEP, decides which secondary school a child moves on to after primary school. It replaced GSAT, and the first Grade 6 students sat it in 2019. Unlike GSAT, PEP is not one exam at the end of Grade 6. It is a set of assessments spread across Grades 4, 5 and 6, run by the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.
This guide explains how the scores add up, what each grade usually sits, what changed in 2026, and what you can do at home that actually helps.
How PEP counts towards placement
Three grades, 400 points
A child's PEP scores add up to 400 points. Grade 4 is worth 40 points (10 percent), Grade 5 is worth 80 points (20 percent) and Grade 6 is worth 280 points (70 percent). Placement in a secondary school uses that total together with the school choices made for the child.
Grade 6 carries the most weight, but the earlier grades still count, and the skills tested in Grade 6 are built in Grades 4 and 5. That is the strongest reason to start steady practice early rather than late.
What each grade sits
The usual design, and what actually ran in 2026
| Grade | Weight | Usual design | In 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | 10% (40 points) | A Literacy test and a Numeracy test, plus Performance Tasks in Mathematics and Language Arts. | The Literacy and Numeracy tests only, 40 minutes each, multiple choice. |
| Grade 5 | 20% (80 points) | Performance Tasks in Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. There is no Curriculum-Based Test in Grade 5. | Performance Tasks in Mathematics and Language Arts only, each with 4 to 6 open-ended questions built around a scenario. |
| Grade 6 | 70% (280 points) | Performance Tasks in Mathematics and Language Arts, an Ability Test, and Curriculum-Based Tests in Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. | The Ability Test plus Curriculum-Based Tests in Mathematics and Language Arts only, sat on 29 and 30 April. |
The Ability Test checks verbal and quantitative reasoning: spotting patterns, relationships and sequences, rather than recalling what was taught. In 2026 it had 40 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The Curriculum-Based Tests check what was taught in each subject. In 2026 each one had 60 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour and 50 minutes, and literacy and numeracy questions were included in them for the first time.
Performance Tasks give a real-life scenario and ask open-ended questions about it, so a child has to show their thinking, not just pick an answer.
What changed in 2026, and what we know about 2027
Check the Ministry before you plan
After Hurricane Melissa, the Ministry cut the 2026 sitting down to fewer papers in each grade, as the table shows. It also moved the Grade 6 papers together into one window at the end of April, where in earlier years they were spread from February to May. Grade 6 results came out on 22 June 2026.
As of 26 October 2026, the Ministry had not announced the dates or the arrangements for PEP 2027. No official source says whether the 2026 changes will stay or be reversed, so it is safest to keep practising all four subjects. The Ministry's PEP website is the place to check for this year's details.
How to help at home
Small habits that add up
1. Practise a little, often
Fifteen minutes on most days does more than a long session once a week. Short, regular practice is also easier to keep up through a busy school term.
2. Read together and talk about it
Ask what happened, why a character did something, and what might happen next. Those are the same comprehension skills the Language Arts papers test.
3. Find the maths in everyday life
Let your child work out change at the shop, compare prices, measure ingredients or read a bus timetable. Performance Tasks are built on exactly this kind of real-life problem.
4. Ask them to explain their thinking
When your child gets an answer, ask how they know. Saying the steps out loud builds the reasoning the Ability Test and Performance Tasks look for.
5. Keep it calm
Sleep, breakfast and a relaxed attitude at home matter on the day. Talk to your child's teacher early if something is worrying you or them.
Practice that fits into fifteen minutes
QuizWoo has more than 340 short games and hands-on science labs built from the Grade 4, 5 and 6 curriculum, free to join. Each game takes a few minutes, and your child can see which skills they have mastered.
See PEP practice on QuizWooSources
- Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information: PEP FAQs
- Jamaica Information Service: Get the Facts, Primary Exit Profile (PEP)
- Jamaica Information Service: Changes to administration of PEP to accommodate students impacted by Hurricane Melissa
- Jamaica Information Service: 2026 PEP to include literacy and numeracy exams
QuizWoo and LearnSuite are independent and are not part of the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.