The Singapore Mathematics Calendar

Not Your Average Math Calendar!

Even if you’re not a tiger mum or dad, there is no better way to usher in the New Year, by blessing your child or a loved one with the quirky and colorful Singapore’s Maths Calendar 2025.

Literacy & Numeracy

Singapore’s locally published and printed “first of its kind” math calendar aims to kill two birds with a mathematical stone, by helping your little one become both literate and numerate in the shortest time.

With a new math question every day—the answer is the date on which the question is posed—offers a creative way for grades 1–2 (or primary 1–2) children to learn math, while having fun along the way.

Plus, the questions have been painstakingly set in such a way that they follow closely and timely the topics or concepts that are presented in the students’ MOE-approved textbooks and workbooks. Yes, even during the school holidays, calendar users’ daily mathematical diet is being taken care of.

Enrichment Math via Comics

With a monthly comic story that promotes biodiversity so that the younger generation would still have a planet to inhabit when they’ve their own children and grandchildren, Singapore Maths Calendar 2025 also aims to educate young readers about Singapore’s wildlife, while learning some fun facts about birds, mammals, reptiles, and sea creatures native to the island state.

Available at all major bookstores and local school bookshops

Publishing a Math Calendar

For aspiring mathepreneurs or seasoned math writers, who desire to produce a similar calendar for other grades or editions in 2026 and beyond, you might think twice or thrice before embarking on such a “deceptively easy” math project.

As I hinted earlier, as a writer, if you want to write a salable math title that would pay the bills (or one that might even help you retire prematurely), writing an assessment or supplementary math title has a higher chance of fulfilling your short- or medium-term goals than working on a [Singapore/Singaporean] math calendar.

At best, writing and publishing a math calendar might temporarily boost your ego, but based on my experience working on these tricky pet math projects, I’d recommend that you spend the man- or woman-hours producing a few no-frills assessment or problem-solving or recreational math titles instead—if you long for some decent royalty or pie-in-the-sky lump sum payment.

For the publisher, producing a math calendar, especially in ever-dwindling birth rate Singapore, the risks (and costs) are pretty high. For the writer, the much-longer time and oft-unappreciated effort needed to write a math calendar could be better spent teaching, tutoring, editing, or writing more salable or profitable assessment titles.

From a business standpoint, 98% of publishers would rather focus their energy and deploy their manpower on producing profitable titles than meeting the mathematical needs and wants (or satisfying the ego) of their calendar math writer. Moreover, from the editorial and production angles, churning out a math calendar could be frustratingly painful and technically challenging, compared to producing a typical assessment or supplementary title (or even an oft-ill-edited primary school textbook).

Count on Singapore! 

The Singapore Maths Calendar 2025 is not only a Christmaths gift for 6–8 year olds, especially those who’ve an ambivalent attitude towards the subject, but also an aha! souvenir for any traveler to the “fine” city of Singapore. An apt [nonboring] Singapore math gift to bless a loved one at home!

Be a part of the Singapore math diaspora, while having a good idea of the mathematical standard expected of most local students. The calendar’s must-do or must-practice math questions allows you to gauge your child’s level of mathematical proficiency vis-à-vis their counterparts in Singapore, where even their weaker students have so far fared better than the global average. 

For the price of two McDonald’s meals or less, with a yearlong supply of 365 routine and nonroutine math questions, plus 12 months of comics stories, there is probably no present Singapore math assessment title, enrichment or not, that offers the average or above-average student a wallet-friendly rich mathematical experience quite like the Singapore Maths Calendar 2025.

Trust not my words! See for yourself whether or not this math calendar-cum-assessment-book is worth a good educational investment for your child or homeschooler in 2025.

Bonus: A math problem a day could keep the tutor away!

Calendrically & mathematically yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, January 6, 2025.

Singapore Maths Calendar 2025 at Kinokuniya and Popular bookstores

A Singapore Grade 4 Geometry Question

On Facebook, someone recently posted the above primary 4 (or grade 4) geometry question, asking for help from fellow parents. How would you do it (without calling on ChatGPT)?

If you’re a parent, homeschooler, or tutor, how would you explain it to an eight- or nine-year-old child, who’s struggling with non-drill-and-kill questions on area and perimeter?

Give It a Try First!

Try figuring out the answer on your own first before peeping at two parents’ quick-and-dirty solutions below. Better still, could you present an idiot-proof or peasant-friendly solution that even a smart dog or cat could understand?

 

Solution:

6 width and 6 long = 3units  of the rectangle.

1 rectangle -> 16cm.

3 rectangle 

16x3 = 48cm.

Stretch Your Mind!

Many moons ago, I was commissioned to write Mind Stretchers 2*, a grade 5 problem-solving math book, which was popular in a number of local schools and tuition centers—disturbingly, they’re guiltlessly or blatantly photostating entire chapter questions as part of their worksheets.

And I still recall that on the topic of Perimeter, I’d posed a number of routine and nonroutine questions. What surprised or tickled me then was when the Managing Editor asked me whether or not some of these questions are solvable, because at first glance, they look like there are missing information to solving them.

These geometry questions can give students (and probably their oft-math-anxious parents and teachers) some goose pimples out of fear or panic if they can’t figure out the answers offhand. 

Understandably, without a cool mind and some patience (or perseverance), even perimeter and area questions at the elementary (or olympiad) level can prove to be a challenge to math educators if they’re not trained to tackling them using the right approach.

Frustration and fear usually set in, especially for nonroutine questions that don’t normally appear in drill-and-kill school textbooks and workbooks.

Premature Testing

The danger of setting these types of brain-unfriendly questions too early, or having them prematurely in a class test, especially when most students have yet to fully grasp the concepts of area and perimeter, could be detrimental to the mental health of most average math students.

Parents who freeze at the sight of these questions would often exhibit a knee-jerk reaction, by getting a tutor for their child, if they’d afford it.

Tuition or No Tuition?

Most stressed parents often reason that if they couldn’t even solve these grade 4 questions, things would only get worse in later years, as the higher-grade topics get more complicated and the questions become more challenging. They just don’t want to see their child struggle in math, especially when they themselves had had a negative experience of the world’s most disliked school subject.

Even for math teachers and tutors, there’s nothing to be ashamed of if at first or second reading, they’re clueless how to tackle these nonroutines. Yes, they do appear in mid- or final-year exams arguably as a social filter to separate the nerd from the herd, but once math educators and homeschoolers know how to approach these questions from the right angle, before long, these math problems would become routine to them.

The 4F’s of Mathematical Problem Solving

Few math teachers and writers would admit that (school or olympiad) math involves lots of fears, false starts, frustrations, and failures. The sooner parents and homeschoolers (and their children and grandchildren) are aware of this oft-unspoken problem-solving process or ritual, the pressure or expectation level for all parties ought to go down significantly in reducing any unnecessary mental or mathematical stress.

Pain is (always) part of the joy of creative mathematical problem solving—the no-pain-no-gain mantra is axiomatic in math at all levels.

Geometrically & perseveringly yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, October 16, 2023.

* When the wallet-friendly title was out of print, a senior editorial staff emailed me that he’d pay me a cosmetic S$150 to buy the copyrights. I never bothered to reply to his laughably ridiculous suggestion. I wouldn’t be surprised that they’d since plagiarized the content to be used and reused for other purposes.

Racism in Singapore Math Publishing

https://fb.watch/lTvXKc6VyK/?mibextid=v7YzmG 

Does the comedic rant on “Racism in Maths Problem Sums” serve as a “proof” that inequality or racism is rampant in math and math education?

Often times, math educators pose and solve these artificial or contrived word problems without giving much thought to them, especially when they’re oblivious that they might trigger mixed or negative feelings among highly sensitive schoolchildren and parents that belong to certain racial or minority or economically disadvantaged groups.

Math in Multicultural Singapore

It’s no harm nor too late for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to occasionally review their approved textbooks presently used in local schools, which might perceivably promote some form of racial inequality in multiethnic or multicultural Singapore.

Not too long ago, to promote multiculturalism in math education, there was this unofficial or unwritten directive from the MOE for local math teachers and textbook writers to mindfully or multiculturally use people’s or children’s names from different racial groups in their word problems or problem sums. An educational move that would likely be banned and dubbed “woke math” in some political circles or polarized parts of the globe today.

Because Singapore has four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil), math educators are encouraged to permute or vary their choice of names in order not to appear racially prejudiced, especially when the majority of textbook authors have traditionally been Chinese.

In the name of racial or religious harmony, commendable or encouraging as the curricular or political move was then, its implementation wasn’t a walk in the park, because in practice, it’s not a mere change of substituting a Chinese name with a minority or non-Chinese one.

The present trend appears to revert to generic names in math textbooks and assessment titles for reasons unknown to me. Is it part of a grand marketing scheme to internationalizing (or colonizing?) the Singapore math brand to as many countries as possible?

XX, XY, or Others?

Some Chinese first names are used by both males and females; in other instances, it can be tricky to guess the gender by just looking at some Asian or Chinese names—the task doesn’t get any easier if you’re a non-Chinese. In fact, just recently, I needed to Google a Chinese name (in Hanyu Pinyin) to make sure that I don’t mistake one gender for another. Indeed, it’s pretty embarrassing or unacceptable to address a he or she (or he-she) by a Miss or Mr. When in doubt, don’t assume—ask!

For a long time, I thought the name of one of the original math co-writers of the then MOE’s Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS) writing team belongs to a certain gender, when I later found out of my mistaken assumption, because in the olden days, certain names were used by both sexes.

Foreign Editions: Pluses & Pitfalls

A similar situation arises when Singapore math textbooks are adopted or adapted for overseas markets. Changing names of living and nonliving things that have both British and American equivalents, or replacing local names or terms like local food or fruit with foreign substitutes that readers elsewhere are familiar with, is a common practice.

Of course, local publishers would also caution math writers to avoid using any Chinese or Asian names if their titles are being tailor-made for a Western audience, or if they don’t want to alienate potential “anti-woke” homeschoolers-customers.

Lesser known or discussed is that math publishers in Singapore have mixed feelings about local authors using their full Asian names, because in their marketing eyes, readers in the US and in the EU would prefer a Western name of the form X Y (with the first name X before the surname Y) rather than an Asian (or traditional Chinese) name of the form Z Y X (where the surname Z precedes the first name Y X) on the cover of a math textbook or supplementary math title.

Western Names Preferred

Many moons ago, I vividly recall a respected experienced publishing manager advising me to use a Western or European name, because my targeted (American) audience might not be receptive to seeing an Asian or Chinese name on the covers of my recreational and problem-solving math titles. 

Just as every (additional) equation in a general or pop math book targeted at the lay public might potentially halve its sales, the odds of an Asian math author, who insists on using their real rather than a [Western] pen name, achieving a decent sale in front of their non-white audience are significantly (or unprovenly) reduced. There is this apparently unspoken bias towards nonwhite authors appearing on covers of math titles.

Personally, I’m not sure of the extent of this alleged or perceived discrimination vis-à-vis Asian math authors, but I’ve faith to believe that those who’ve taken a risk to order my wallet-friendly, brain-unfriendly books online, or to buy them in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, have got their money worth, except for a few one-star haters or sour grapes who revel in posting vitriolic book comments on Amazon.

At the other extreme, it’s also not uncommon for math publishers in Singapore or Asia to conveniently or unethically omit the names of the authors, consultants, or foreign advisors (if they can get away with it), especially if foreign editions exist, or sale of copyrights occur at book fairs, with zero knowledge from the authors (until or unless morally convicted or vindictive editors leaked out the news).

Recently, upon requesting my author’s overdue complimentary copies to one of my foreign editions titles, I discovered that both the author’s name and his American Curriculum Advisor of Challenging Word Problems (Grade 6) were missing from the title page and imprint page, respectively, which raises serious IP and ethical concerns on the part of the publisher and potential customers and readers.

Without a name on the cover or title page, when previous editions had carried them, it just makes one wonder about the rationale of these unconsulted omissions, when the parties involved in the writing or reviewing of the content were kept in the dark. This only opens up the floodgate to unauthorized use, or helps promote plagiarism or piracy, where the party that often benefits is the lawyer.

The Chinese Advantage (in Singapore)

Years ago, a non-Chinese co-author on Singapore’s bar modeling approached me, and wanted me to be his co-author or consultant for one of his upcoming math projects. He’d pay me for being his faux partner, because understandably having a Chinese name associated to a new book or website would add credibility to the project.

Businesswise, I couldn’t disagree with him, and I was praying that he’d find someone else more qualified than me, who wouldn’t mind being his lifelong business buddy.

Indeed, the Singapore math publishing industry is an ethical minefield that few have traversed without compromising their character or reputation. This is one of the oft-unspoken reasons why unlike other developing (and developed) countries that pay lip service to copyrights, Singapore is a first-class economy with a third-class educational publishing industry.

Ethically and multiculturally yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, August 7, 2023.

Another Math Ban from Singapore

Sorry, U.S. accounts ONLY!

A less-known disturbing fact in local educational publishing is that Singaporeans, Malaysians, and other nationalities can't purchase any Amazon Kindle and iBooks math e-books from their own local bookstore. For example, Singaporeans can't access to any free or paid e-books from Amazon or iTunes, unless they switch from the Singapore store to the U.S. store. This means they have to officially open a U.S. account with the bookseller, which is anything but a simple procedure. Why erect this wall to make it harder for Singaporeans and Malaysians to buy e-books in the U.S.?

Suitable for mathletes

Last year, I released a Kindle book with Amazon, and I asked them why there is such a restriction on locals to download free, or to purchase paid, Amazon Kindle e-books. The answers were vague and unsatisfactory, to say the least. For instance, you can't even test or preview how your e-book will look like on certain platforms with certain apps, as they're not available in the Singapore store, unless you've a U.S. account, which makes it eligible for you to download them.

What's the Motive behind the Ban?

Several reasons have been conjectured online as to why locals can't access e-books from the world's biggest bookstore. It looks like some decision-makers in Singapore and Malaysia are behind this ban to protect their vested business interests. If this is truly the case, then this augurs badly for the writing community or local publishing industry, especially for Singaporeans and Malaysians who plan to publish e-books under Amazon or iBooks. Interestingly, such a restriction doesn't apply for apps, though.

No Singapore!

It'd be understandable if such a purchase ban were to apply to, say, North Koreans and Iranians, because Amazon and Apple might not want to deal with countries ruled by dictators who sponsor or promote terrorism and violence. But to deprive ordinary citizens from countries whose human rights records are no worse than those in the Middle East and Asia, where women are often treated as second-class citizens, sounds like a business mockery! 

Few Value-for-Money Apps

With all these restrictions in place, one wonders whether this is the main reason why there have been few decent Singapore math apps (and far fewer math e-books) on both Amazon and iTunes so far. Presently, most math apps by locals on App Store are of little value—most just give away a sample chapter, or the Contents page, of their printed textbooks, unlike the paid Singapore math apps produced mainly by non-locals.

Singapore Math iBooks

Last week, I released two Singapore math books on iTunes; again, students, teachers, and parents in Singapore are unable to purchase them, because the titles are not available in the Singapore store. They need to have a US account to buy them. 

App Store: https://itun.es/us/JCU84.l
Google play: http://tinyurl.com/pqfeh9s

A few local math educators are willing to review the books to better assess their suitability to audiences that might benefit from these problem-solving books, but they gave up when they couldn't do so from their tablets, which is, by default, connected to the Singapore store. It's already a pain to update apps like Kindle (which isn't available in the local store) much less purchase or review e-books that can only be downloaded with a U.S. account.

It's an irony that our own local math students and teachers can't purchase Singapore math e-books, when others outside the country can freely and conveniently do so. The last thing we want is another ban that forbids us to assess mathematical knowhow, which has zero correlation with politics, democracy, or terrorism.

Google Play as a Last Resort

However, all isn't lost for those who still wish to access their free or paid Singapore math e-books online. They could download or buy them from Google play, if they are available there.

App Store: https://itun.es/us/fP384.l
Google play: http://tinyurl.com/my8q3dt

The Future for Singapore Math E-Books

At a time when the days of printed boring math books are numbered, and more students and teachers are switching to smartphones and tablets as a new platform for learning and teaching, restricting them to buying or downloading math e-books online is simply a dozen steps backwards to encouraging local writers—often stifled by politically correct local publishers and faux math editors—in reaching out to a wider local readership and global audience. 

Math and math education must be free and be freely available, not to be dictated by some folks with a profit agenda.

© Yan Kow Cheong, January 20, 2015.

The Lighter Side of Singapore Math (Part 4)

A Citizenship Proficiency Test

Below is a sample of math-related questions that could be posed in a "Singapore Citizenship Proficiency Test" paper meant for future naturalized citizens.

1. Singapore is

A. the fourth largest city in China, after Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.

B. the capital of Malaysia.

C. an island situated near the equator.

D. an island off the East coast of Taiwan.

E. none of the above.

2. The Singapore model method, or bar method, is a naturalized math product. Where did it originate from?

I. China  

II. Israel

III. Japan

IV. Russia
V. United States

A. I only

B. I and III only

C. I, III, and IV

D. II and IV

E. I, III, IV, and V

3. Singapore math textbooks are currently used in

A. the United States and in fewer than 10 Asian countries.

B. more than 50 countries around the world.

C. fewer than 20 Commonwealth countries.

D. over 120 American schools.

E. none of the above.

4. The "Math in Focus" series of books, published in Singapore and printed in China, is an adaptation of a local popular math series. What is the name of this math series?

A. Shaping Maths

B. Discover Maths

C. My Pals Are Here

D. Everyday Maths

E. Maths in Action

  

5. Which country came top in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for three consecutive times?
A. China

B. Japan

C. Finland 

D. Singapore 

E. Germany

The Art of Model Drawing: The Right Model

Based on a grade two word problem, the diagrams below show the solutions of four students. Which one best represents a suitable model drawing?

The right [or write?] model is ____.

An [Unofficial] PISA's Ranking for World's Cities

Following the recent PISA ranking, with Shanghai coming up first in math, science, and reading, one mainland Chinese commented online:

"If China were to submit test results for all 30 of its provinces then they will rank from #1 to #30 with Korea and Japan squeezed in between." Z

The comment is anything but far-fetched, as it's an open secret that it's much harder for a high-school graduate to be admitted to the top universities in China than to secure a place in the top two universities in Singapore.

Here's a possible PISA or TIMSS ranking, should they decide to compare city-state Singapore with the world's best cities in mathematics or science.

Toyko
Tel Avi
...

Beijing
Shanghai

…
Seoul

Taipei
...

Hong Kong

Guangdong

Moscow

…

Mumbai

Tehran

…

Singapore

Bangalore

…

Pyongyang

Chennai

…

New York

London

Washington

…

Will Singapore be around in the next century?
 

In the sixties, to control the population growth, the slogan then to [primarily non-college-] graduates couples was: "Stop at two kids!"

Today, to address the declining birthrate, the dangerously unwritten slogan in some postmodern or liberal circles is: "Seek two… wives!" Or, maybe it's: "Stick to one wife, but sleep with a few concubines!"

Expensive-cheat Titles 

Two more expensive-cheat Singapore math books—titles which over-promise and under-deliver, or whose contents are worth a fraction of their published prices—according to dozens of local teachers, tutors, lecturers, and parents. Order them from Amazon.com if you've extra cash to spare!

 

References

Yan, K. C. (2011). The Lighter Side of Singapore Math (Part 3). May 1, 2011. http://www.singaporemathplus.com/2011/05/lighter-side-of-singapore-math-part-3.html

Yan, K. C. (2010). The Lighter Side of Singapore Math (Part 2). Sep. 25, 2010. http://www.singaporemathplus.com/2010/09/lighter-side-of-singapore-math-part-2.html

Yan, K. C. (2010). The Lighter Side of Singapore Math (Part 1). April 1, 2010. 

http://www.singaporemathplus.com/2010/03/lighter-side-of-singapore-math-part-1.html

© Yan Kow Cheong, December 15, 2013.

Expensive-Cheat Singapore Math Books

In recent years, a certain genre of mathematics titles had flooded the Singapore assessment (supplementary) market to meet the needs and wants of kiasu parents, who want to ensure that their children have a competitive edge over their peers.

One conspicuous series of such assessment titles in our local bookstores is published by Amazing Books. The Primary 1 - 3 titles (selling from $8.00 to $9.90) are written by a certain Newton Wong, while Primary 4 - 6 titles (selling from $11.00 to $12.50) are written by an Ernest Wong—it’s hard to confirm whether the writers are ghosts or not. These supplementary titles generally cost as much as a Ministry of Education (MOE)-approved primary textbook—however, they're value-for-money titles, if you're agnostic as to whether copyrights have been safeguarded or not.

Wallet-friendly titles that may meet the
mathematical needs and wants of kiasu parents

Indeed, there is much to be gained from writing these assessment titles, as compared to, say, authoring an MOE-approved textbook which goes through the tedious reviewing exercise by the Ministry of Education, the approving body of Singapore textbooks. 

Critics (mainly authors of traditional assessment books) arguably claim that these “cheat-expensive books” or "expensive-cheat books," as they’re called in local educational publishing, are nothing but a rehash of faintly modified past exam questions from the top or popular schools in Singapore.

High Price, Low Content

Another category of expensive-cheat titles involves those whose contents don't justify their selling prices—titles that over-promise and under-deliver. Come with quality paper, some look pretty good in form but shy of substance. 

Note however that the use of the word “cheat” doesn’t in any way suggest that the writers had plagiarized the contents, although it’s not uncommon for teachers and tutors to suspect that in some cases plagiarism could have inadvertently taken place. 

At best, these expensive-cheat titles provide information for readers new to the subject matter at a high price; at worst, these titles are copycats of pirated test papers or canned contents that have been put in a form that are readers-friendly.


Piracy Goes Online

Here is a typical ad spammed probably to tens of thousands of homes every few months:

Top Schools' Test Papers (Yr 20XX) on CD 

Hi Parents Give your child a head-start at school by Practice Doing Top Schools' Test Papers This will help your kids to Score !!! *Primary 1  -  Primary 6 ( SA1 & SA2 papers ) *Data is in scan-in PDF format *English, Maths, and Science *Answers also provided *Only $5 per subject !( Min order 3 subjects @$15 only ) **3-Year Series : P5 SA2 / P6 Prelim ( Yr 20XX - 20XX )     3 yrs x 3 subjects @$15 only ( total about 50 sets testpapers ) **Also available : Sec.1 - 4 SA2/Prelim  Maths :( Yr 20XX ) @ $10/subject Call Now !! XXXX XXXX * NB *  To unlist pls click < HERE > thank you. A kiosk outside a shopping mall, selling past exam papers from allegedly top schools. Plagiarism Begets More Plagiarism Grade 4 questions that mimic those set by teachers in "top schools"—these "model answers" are quasi-edited "solutions." It’s an irony that while many fly-by-night writers had modified questions from the top schools’ exam papers with cosmetic changes; yet, often times, some teachers from these same schools are equally guilty in lifting up large chunks of content from assessment titles, by photocopying and distributing entire chapters to their students and fellow colleagues. Plagiarism begets new levels of intellectual theft. Unscrupulous vendors know too well that the MOE would find it hard to crack down on these perpetrators of piracy. After all, few parents could detect the authenticity of these questions—whether or not they’re really set by teachers from allegedly top schools. Most questions look challenging to the clueless parents, who would buy anything which would help their children do well in the subject.  Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right If half-baked or poorly edited solutions isn't much of an issue, these tips-and-tricks titles may appeal to some students who can't afford private tuition. Lest their children lose out vis-à-vis their peers, most kiasu parents wouldn’t give a second thought to buying these pirated sets of exam papers. The rationalization is that since the MOE refuses to sell them, they’ve little or no choice but to procure them from illegal vendors. The means to laying their hands on these sought-after papers justifies the end—that these non-routine questions would prepare the child confidently for his or her school test or exam. With home delivery service of these syndicated or pirated papers at no extra costs, parents can now feel less guilty, as they could avoid being seen buying these illegal papers in public. And for IT-savvy consumers, they’d now order these papers online, at a cheaper price, if they want an electronic version of them. A Copycat of Top Schools’ Exam Papers A grades 7-8 supplementary title that may be suitable for drill-and-kill specialists—it's priced at S$24.95 in retails outlets. Unknown to many of these authors, the international mathematical community of mathematics educators often poke fun at the poor quality of our local assessment or supplementary mathematics titles. Many writers have probably not read what math educators out of Singapore are saying about their dear titles, especially when they're marketed overseas.  Leaving poor design and linguistic blunders aside, these expensive-cheat local titles are often an embarrassment to the image of Singapore mathematics publishing, as the nation strives to become an educational and publishing hub in Asia. In recent years, it's an open secret that questions from so-called top schools are actually the works of syndicates, which recruit Indian and mainland Chinese nationals, and cash-strapped undergraduates, to write math questions that mimic those posed by teachers from top schools. The Works of Syndicates No one is surprised that these expensive-cheat titles are a few folds pricier than the traditional assessment titles. These often ill-written supplementary titles, which make unverifiable claims to parents and teachers, will continue to thrive if the authorities don't get down to verifying the authenticity of the questions, and as long as the consumers continue to purchase them, pretending that they’re unaware that they're MOE-copyrighted materials. While the MOE authorities should take a share of the blame pie for not making schools' test papers available for sale, very often, it’s those teachers with an entrepreneurial spirit who are probably the source of these copyrights infringements. Who can have access to these exam papers if students and outsiders are not allowed to take them out of the school compound? The non-routine questions are suitable for grades 5-6 students, but the solution methods sometimes lack rigor, and a number of them are poorly presented and edited.  Although there is no formal investigation on these assessment titles claiming to contain contents that match the questions commonly set by Singapore's top schools, it doesn’t take a DNA scientist to figure out that most of these assessment papers were probably lifted up from test questions, which have undergone some cosmetic rewriting to avoid being caught (or sued) for blatant infringement of copyrights. The sale of most past exam papers from government schools is officially illegal; yet, every local knows how and where to buy them. The public knows that schools and the MOE don’t have the resources to sue the guilty parties. It wouldn't be surprising that some education officers are themselves part of the piracy syndicate. How would syndicates have had access to those past exam papers in the first place had they not been leaked out by teachers or school personnel themselves? Indecent Photocopying Over the years, I’ve personally heard from a number of assessment authors who had complained to the MOE that some top schools’ HODs had blatantly plagiarized their contents to be used in workshops and seminars, or that some teachers had made an indecent number of copies for an army of students. Of course, the standard answer from the MOE was that they’d look into the matter, and before you know it, the whole saga has faded away.  As long as we pay lip service to the intellectual rights of math writers and authors, and the infringement of  copyrights is condoned among teachers and students, the future of math publishing in Singapore doesn't look too bright. In fact, the quality of future Singapore math titles is likely to suffer further, as more and more non-math graduates are recruited as math editors in local publishing houses.  © Yan Kow Cheong, May 29,  2013.