O Level Chinese: the oral, every paper and how they're marked, now the SEC

The SEC keeps the papers but not the timetable

From 2027, the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate, or SEC, replaces the O Level. Chinese becomes G3 Chinese Language under a new syllabus code, and Higher Chinese gets a new code too, SEAB's syllabus list for the SEC shows.

We put SEAB's syllabuses for the two years side by side and compared them line by line. The papers, timings, marks and marking guides are word for word the same. Apart from the names and codes, one character changed, in the line describing the reading passage.

The timetable is what changes. Here's the year you'd have had in 2026, against the first SEC year:

Sources: SEAB's 2026 timetable, registration rules, rules and regulations and SEC page, read 5 November 2026.

MOE told Parliament that in the past five years, more than 95% of students had met junior colleges' Mother Tongue requirement at the first sitting, in mid-year. The second sitting changed where fewer than 2% of candidates went next.

So the safety net mattered to few students, but it's gone. We'd plan to peak once, in September.

Check which Chinese syllabus you're on

Chinese is the usual Mother Tongue paper, and only its code changes for the SEC. Your school sets your level with you, so we'd check your registration before picking practice papers:

Sources: SEAB's 2026 O Level and 2027 SEC syllabus lists; SEAB's registration rules group Chinese (Special Programme) with the third languages.

This guide covers the main Chinese paper in depth, with sections on Higher Chinese and Chinese B further down. The G2 and G1 papers have their own syllabuses on SEAB's site.

What's in the O Level Chinese exam?

O Level Chinese has three papers. You write in the first, answer language and reading questions in the second, and speak and listen in the third.

The writing paper gives you two hours for an email and a composition. The second paper is an hour and a half of language use and reading comprehension. The third is a short oral with the examiners and a half-hour listening test.

We added up SEAB's blueprint task by task. Here's how it splits the marks:

Source: the blueprint in SEAB's Chinese syllabus 1160; the 2027 K320 syllabus is the same. The exam has 200 marks.

Two tasks, the composition and the conversation, make up two fifths of your grade. If you can practise only one speaking task, make it the conversation: it's worth four times the reading aloud.

What happens in the O Level Chinese oral?

The oral takes about fifteen minutes in the room and carries a quarter of your grade. Minute for minute, that makes it the most valuable part of the exam:

Source: our arithmetic from SEAB's 1160 syllabus: 50 marks in about 15 minutes, 70 in 90, 20 in about 30 and 60 in 120. Counting the oral's ten minutes of preparation, it's 2 marks a minute.

So each minute in the oral room counts for far more of your grade than a minute in the writing paper. That's why we think the oral repays daily practice in a way the writing paper doesn't.

SEAB's instructions to candidates set out the day step by step. You'll:

1. Sign in with the assistant oral examiner and key in an exam centre key.
2. Prepare in silence for ten minutes on screen, with headphones. You study the passage and watch the video as often as you like, and the system logs you out when time is up.
3. Go in to the oral examiners when they call you.
4. Read the passage aloud.
5. Watch the video once more, then talk with the examiners about it.

Bring your NRIC or passport. The oral is compulsory: if you miss it, you get no grade for Chinese at all, even with every written paper done.

One detail differs from Higher Chinese and English. SEAB's instructions give those candidates a sheet for notes, but the Chinese instructions don't mention one. I'd practise without notes, and treat paper as a bonus if your centre gives you some.

Plan the ten minutes so you read the passage twice and watch the video at least twice. Here's how we'd split them:

Source: our suggestion, not SEAB's. SEAB sets the ten minutes and lets you replay both, but doesn't publish how long the video or the passage is.

The conversation is worth four times the reading, so in our plan it earns most of your preparation time.

Reading aloud is ten marks for sound and flow

Reading aloud is worth 10 marks. SEAB marks two things together: how accurately and clearly you pronounce, and how well you pace and phrase the passage. The passage is a daily-life text, a commentary or a news item, the syllabus says, and SEAB doesn't publish its length.

The top band, 9 or 10 marks, wants accurate, clear sounds, a moderate pace with rhythm, natural intonation that varies and pauses in the right places. Lower bands add errors, sounds that are hard to make out, a flat tone and too many stops.

If you speak Chinese well, the marks to watch are in the small things the marking guide names: accurate sounds, 语音准确(yǔyīn zhǔnquè), and pauses in the right places, 停顿适当(tíngdùn shìdàng). This one sentence holds five of the usual traps:

这个小贩中心的东西又便宜又好吃，难怪一到中午就挤满了人。 Zhège xiǎofàn zhōngxīn de dōngxi yòu piányi yòu hǎochī, nánguài yí dào zhōngwǔ jiù jǐmǎn le rén. This hawker centre's food is cheap and tasty, so no wonder it's packed as soon as it's noon.

• A light syllable. 东西 means "things" when its second syllable is light, dōngxi, and "east and west" when it isn't, dōngxī.
• A character with two readings. 便 is pián in cheap, 便宜(piányi), but biàn in convenient, 方便(fāngbiàn).
• 一 changing tone. Before a fourth tone it rises, so 一到 is said yí dào.
• Two third tones in a row. 挤满 is written jǐmǎn but said with the first syllable rising.
• Pauses between meaning groups. 这个小贩中心的东西 / 又便宜又好吃 / 难怪一到中午 / 就挤满了人。 Zhège xiǎofàn zhōngxīn de dōngxi / yòu piányi yòu hǎochī / nánguài yí dào zhōngwǔ / jiù jǐmǎn le rén.

Two habits of everyday Singapore Mandarin are worth checking in a recording. One is saying curled-tongue sounds such as zh, ch and sh flat, as z, c and s; the other is giving light syllables a full tone. Our guide to Chinese accents shows the research behind both.

We suggest reading one news paragraph aloud each day, recording it and listening for these traps. A minute a day does more than an hour the week before.

The conversation rewards views you can extend

The conversation is worth 40 marks, a fifth of your grade. The examiners ask about the video's theme and your own views, on daily-life topics, and SEAB doesn't publish a topic list.

The marking guide gives 20 marks to your views and how you organise them, and 20 to your language and fluency. Here's what each band asks for, in plain English:

Source: Appendix C of SEAB's 1160 syllabus, our translation. K320 uses the same guide.

The clearest line between band 1 and band 2 is one phrase in the marking guide: 无需主考员的引导 wúxū zhǔkǎoyuán de yǐndǎo, without the examiner's guidance. Band 2 needs guiding now and then, so top answers keep going on their own.

We'd build every answer the same way, in four moves: a view, 观点(guāndiǎn); a reason, 理由(lǐyóu); an example from your own life, 例子(lìzi); and a close, 总结(zǒngjié). The example is the easiest move to forget, and it's the one the top band names.

SEAB doesn't publish the questions or how many there are. We practise three kinds: what you think about the video, something from your own life, and a wider question about society. Between them, they make you give a view, back it with an example and take it further.

Here's a practice set we wrote, with model answers in a student's voice. The video, in words: it's lunchtime at a crowded hawker centre, and diners leave their trays on the tables. A cleaner rushes to clear them, and a secondary student returns his tray and helps clear the next table.

Question 1: 你觉得视频里那位中学生的做法怎么样？ Nǐ juéde shìpín lǐ nà wèi zhōngxuéshēng de zuòfǎ zěnmeyàng? What do you think of what the student in the video did?

• 我觉得那位中学生做得很好。 Wǒ juéde nà wèi zhōngxuéshēng zuò de hěn hǎo. I think the student did well.
• 归还餐盘虽然是小事，却可以减轻清洁工的负担。 Guīhuán cānpán suīrán shì xiǎoshì, què kěyǐ jiǎnqīng qīngjiégōng de fùdān. Returning a tray is a small thing, but it lightens the cleaners' load.
• 我们学校的食堂也要求大家自己收拾，所以我早就习惯了。 Wǒmen xuéxiào de shítáng yě yāoqiú dàjiā zìjǐ shōushi, suǒyǐ wǒ zǎo jiù xíguàn le. Our school canteen asks everyone to clear up too, so I'm used to it.
• 我希望更多人能像他一样，把方便留给别人。 Wǒ xīwàng gèng duō rén néng xiàng tā yíyàng, bǎ fāngbiàn liú gěi biérén. I hope more people follow his lead and make things easier for others.

Question 2: 请你说说一次在公共场所看到不文明行为的经历。 Qǐng nǐ shuōshuo yí cì zài gōnggòng chǎngsuǒ kàndào bù wénmíng xíngwéi de jīnglì. Tell us about a time you saw inconsiderate behaviour in a public place.

• 上个月在地铁上，我看到一个年轻人把背包放在旁边的座位上，而一位老奶奶就站在他前面。 Shàng ge yuè zài dìtiě shang, wǒ kàndào yí ge niánqīngrén bǎ bēibāo fàng zài pángbiān de zuòwèi shang, ér yí wèi lǎo nǎinai jiù zhàn zài tā qiánmiàn. Last month on the MRT, I saw a young man with his backpack on the seat beside him, while an elderly woman stood right in front of him.
• 我犹豫了一下，还是客气地请他把背包拿开。 Wǒ yóuyù le yíxià, háishi kèqi de qǐng tā bǎ bēibāo ná kāi. I hesitated, then politely asked him to move his bag.
• 他有点不好意思，马上让奶奶坐了下来。 Tā yǒudiǎn bù hǎoyìsi, mǎshàng ràng nǎinai zuò le xiàlai. He looked a little embarrassed and let her sit down at once.
• 这件事让我明白，提醒别人有时需要一点勇气。 Zhè jiàn shì ràng wǒ míngbai, tíxǐng biérén yǒushí xūyào yìdiǎn yǒngqì. It taught me that reminding someone sometimes takes a little courage.

Question 3: 你认为罚款能让大家养成归还餐盘的习惯吗？ Nǐ rènwéi fákuǎn néng ràng dàjiā yǎngchéng guīhuán cānpán de xíguàn ma? Do you think fines can get people into the habit of returning their trays?

• 我认为罚款有用，但是不能只靠罚款。 Wǒ rènwéi fákuǎn yǒuyòng, dànshì bù néng zhǐ kào fákuǎn. I think fines help, but we can't rely on them alone.
• 罚款能让人马上改变做法，因为谁都不想付钱。 Fákuǎn néng ràng rén mǎshàng gǎibiàn zuòfǎ, yīnwèi shéi dōu bù xiǎng fù qián. Fines change behaviour quickly, because nobody wants to pay.
• 可是如果只是怕被罚，没人看的时候，有些人还是会把餐盘留下。 Kěshì rúguǒ zhǐshì pà bèi fá, méi rén kàn de shíhou, yǒuxiē rén háishi huì bǎ cānpán liú xià. But if people only fear the fine, some will still leave their trays when nobody's watching.
• 所以学校和家长也要从小教孩子尊重清洁工。 Suǒyǐ xuéxiào hé jiāzhǎng yě yào cóngxiǎo jiāo háizi zūnzhòng qīngjiégōng. So schools and parents also need to teach children to respect cleaners from young.
• 习惯养成了，就算没有罚款，大家也会自觉归还。 Xíguàn yǎngchéng le, jiùsuàn méiyǒu fákuǎn, dàjiā yě huì zìjué guīhuán. Once the habit forms, people return their trays even without fines.

Each answer runs four or five short sentences: about half a minute at a steady pace. The story question swaps the view for what happened, then closes on what you learned. If the examiner waits, add a second reason or a second example.

These are the habits that keep answers in the lower bands:

• Stopping after a summary or one line. The marking guide rewards how far you take your view, so a recap of the video can't reach the top band.
• Reciting a prepared speech. A memorised opening is fine, but an answer to a different question isn't an answer.
• English words mid-sentence. The language half rewards apt Chinese words. If one escapes you, describe it in Chinese.
• Guessing at a question you missed. Ask: 对不起，我没听清楚，您可以再说一遍吗？ Duìbuqǐ, wǒ méi tīng qīngchu, nín kěyǐ zài shuō yí biàn ma? Sorry, I didn't catch that; could you say it again?

Practise the oral against the clock

We built the timer below to run the oral in order, with SEAB's ten minutes of preparation. Pick your paper, press Start and speak out loud, as if the examiners were listening:

Each run draws one of four practice sets we wrote on daily-life themes, with pinyin and English you can show or hide. In the real oral you watch a video; here you read what it shows, so the clip itself is the one thing the timer can't give you.

One caveat: the timer can't hear you. I'd record each run on your phone, then listen back for long pauses and answers that stop after one sentence.

Listening rewards reading the options first

The listening test is ten multiple-choice questions, worth 10% of your grade, in about half an hour. You hear three short dialogues or passages and three comprehension passages, drawn from conversations, adverts, instructions, stories and news.

We'd build four habits for it:

• Read the options before each recording. You'll know whether to listen for a time, a place or an opinion.
• Listen for changes. Announcements often move something: moved to, 改在(gǎi zài); cancelled, 取消(qǔxiāo); postponed, 延期(yánqī).
• Distrust an option that echoes the recording. Hearing its words doesn't make it the answer.
• Write numbers down as you hear them. Fourteen, 十四(shísì), and forty, 四十(sìshí), are easy to mix up at speed.

Under the SEC, you'll sit listening before the written papers, like the oral. We suggest a practice paper a week from the start of term to keep your ear tuned.

The email is 20 marks for content and language

Paper 1 opens with a practical writing task, 实用文(shíyòngwén): an email of at least 150 characters. You choose one of two tasks, either a reply to an email printed on the paper or an email written from material you're given.

It's worth 20 marks, split evenly between content and "language and structure". The top band wants rich, well-layered content that fits the task, fluent sentences with very few slips, and well-linked paragraphs.

The content half rewards fitting the task, 切合题意(qièhé tíyì). Cover every point the task asks for, in the right voice for the reader. These openings and closings suit each kind of email:

• Formal greeting: 尊敬的陈校长：您好！ Zūnjìng de Chén xiàozhǎng: nín hǎo! Dear Principal Chen, …
• Your purpose: 我写这封电邮，是想向您提出一个建议。 Wǒ xiě zhè fēng diànyóu, shì xiǎng xiàng nín tíchū yí ge jiànyì. I'm writing to make a suggestion.
• Formal close: 谢谢您抽空阅读这封电邮。 Xièxie nín chōukòng yuèdú zhè fēng diànyóu. Thank you for taking the time to read this email.
• Informal greeting: 亲爱的小华：好久不见，最近好吗？ Qīn'ài de Xiǎohuá: hǎojiǔ bú jiàn, zuìjìn hǎo ma? Dear Xiaohua, it's been ages. How are you?
• Informal close: 有空再聊！祝你学习进步！ Yǒu kòng zài liáo! Zhù nǐ xuéxí jìnbù! Let's talk soon. Good luck with your studies!

I'd use 您(nín), the polite "you", all the way through a formal email, because switching to 你(nǐ) halfway reads as a slip.

Plan for five minutes: list the task's points, then give each one its own short paragraph. We'd spend about 35 minutes on the email and keep the rest of the two hours for the composition.

The composition rewards range and structure

The composition is worth 40 marks, a fifth of your grade. You choose one of three questions and write at least 300 characters. The syllabus names three kinds: a narrative, 记叙文(jìxùwén); an expository essay, 说明文(shuōmíngwén); or an argument, 议论文(yìlùnwén).

Content and "language and structure" get 20 marks each, in five bands. The top band asks for a rich and apt choice of words, 用词丰富适当(yòngcí fēngfù shìdàng), and correct, varied sentence patterns, 句式正确且多样化 jùshì zhèngquè qiě duōyànghuà.

So range matters, but only when it's correct. A well-placed idiom, 成语(chéngyǔ), shows range; one used loosely is just another error. Our guide to chengyu lists the common ones with their meanings.

Whatever the kind, we'd plan before writing a word. A narrative works in four parts: an opening, 开头(kāitóu); the events, 经过(jīngguò); a turning point, 高潮(gāocháo); and an ending that says what changed, 结尾(jiéwěi).

An argument states your view, 论点(lùndiǎn), in the first paragraph and backs each body paragraph with evidence, 论据(lùnjù). It answers the other side once, then restates the view. An expository essay explains one aspect of the topic per paragraph, each with a concrete example.

Here's a model opening we wrote for a made-up question, on whether technology brings people closer or pushes them apart:

有人说，手机让我们和家人、朋友更亲近；也有人说，手机让人越来越疏远。我认为，科技本身没有对错，关键在于我们怎样使用它。只要用得恰当，它就能拉近人与人之间的距离。 Yǒu rén shuō, shǒujī ràng wǒmen hé jiārén, péngyou gèng qīnjìn; yě yǒu rén shuō, shǒujī ràng rén yuèláiyuè shūyuǎn. Wǒ rènwéi, kējì běnshēn méiyǒu duìcuò, guānjiàn zàiyú wǒmen zěnyàng shǐyòng tā. Zhǐyào yòng de qiàdàng, tā jiù néng lājìn rén yǔ rén zhījiān de jùlí.

In English: some say phones bring us closer to family and friends, and others say they push people apart. In my view, technology isn't right or wrong in itself; what matters is how we use it. Used well, it can bring people closer together.

It gives both sides in a sentence, states a clear view and sets up the body paragraphs. I'd keep an opening to about this length and spend your characters on evidence.

You may bring a SEAB-approved dictionary, printed or electronic, to the writing paper. SEAB's 2026 list approves printed dictionaries such as 新编学生实用词典 Xīnbiān Xuésheng Shíyòng Cídiǎn and several handheld e-dictionaries, so check a model against the list before you buy.

I'd use a dictionary to check a character you're unsure of, not to hunt for impressive words mid-sentence. For timed practice at home, our grid paper makes 300 characters easy to count.

Most of Paper 2's marks need your own words

The second paper gives you an hour and a half for 30 questions, worth 35% of your grade. Almost two thirds of its marks are for answers you write yourself, in word replacement and the second comprehension.

Language use comes first: a cloze passage with multiple-choice gaps, then word replacement, 词语替换(cíyǔ tìhuàn), where you correct words used wrongly in a passage. The fix is often a word close in meaning that suits the context, so we'd learn near-synonyms in pairs:

• Improve: 改善(gǎishàn) for conditions, as in 改善环境(gǎishàn huánjìng), but 改进(gǎijìn) for methods, as in 改进方法(gǎijìn fāngfǎ).
• Bring out: 发挥(fāhuī) for a role or strength, as in 发挥作用(fāhuī zuòyòng), but 发扬(fāyáng) for a tradition, as in 发扬传统(fāyáng chuántǒng).
• Exchange: 交流(jiāoliú) for experience and culture, as in 交流经验(jiāoliú jīngyàn), but 交换(jiāohuàn) for things you swap, as in 交换礼物(jiāohuàn lǐwù).

The first comprehension is multiple choice on practical texts such as adverts, flyers and news reports. Read the question first, then find the line that proves the answer.

The second comprehension is ten open questions on two passages, and it carries half the paper's marks. Answer in full sentences, take your evidence from the passage and give as many points as the marks suggest. We'd give it at least 45 minutes.

What does an A1 in O Level Chinese take?

SEAB doesn't publish the marks needed for any grade. MOE told Parliament in 2023 that national exams aren't graded on a bell curve. Grades reflect fixed standards, so in a year when more students write top-quality scripts, more get top grades.

So the tables online that put an A1 at 75% are tuition-site rules of thumb, not SEAB's.

What SEAB does publish is its marking guides, so we used them instead. Here's the lowest score inside the top band of each task the guides cover:

Source: Appendices A to C of SEAB's 1160 syllabus; our arithmetic from the lowest band 1 mark on each half. SEAB's syllabus gives no marking bands for Paper 2 or listening.

So nobody can tell you the mark an A1 needs. In our view, aiming for top-band work on every task is the one plan that doesn't depend on a cut-off.

Your certificate also has a separate line for the oral and listening together: Distinction, Merit, Pass or Ungraded, SEAB's rules say. We found no published cut-offs for those either.

For junior college or Millennia Institute, MOE's admission rules ask for at least a D7 in Chinese, or an E8 in Higher Chinese.

From admission in 2028, after the first SEC exams, Higher Chinese can also stand in for English as your first language in the aggregate score, if that gives the better result.

Higher Chinese is a different exam

Higher Chinese asks for more writing than Chinese and has no listening test. The oral changes too: instead of reading aloud, you give a talk of up to two minutes based on a video, then discuss it with the examiners.

Here's how the weight shifts between the two syllabuses:

Sources: SEAB's 1160 and 1116 syllabuses; K355 keeps the same papers in 2027.

If writing is your strength, Higher Chinese gives it more room. Each paper is harder, though. In the writing paper, you write an email or an online forum post of at least 220 characters, then a composition of at least 500, which may be a speech.

The reading paper adds correcting faulty sentences, 病句改正(bìngjù gǎizhèng), and summarising a paragraph in about 80 characters. In the oral, you get ten minutes to watch a video and plan, with paper for notes, then give your talk and discuss it.

Each half of the oral is marked mostly for content and partly for language. The talk's content marks go to relevant, organised and well-supported points, and the discussion's to how fully you take part and justify your views. In our view, a strong talk takes a clear position on the topic and backs it with the video's points and your own examples.

Linking phrases hold a short talk together: for example, 举个例子(jǔ ge lìzi); on the other hand, 另一方面(lìng yì fāngmiàn); and all in all, 总而言之(zǒng ér yán zhī).

Higher Chinese can also pay off at junior college. A C6 or better in both English and Higher Chinese earns 2 of the bonus points that MOE takes off your aggregate, its admission rules say.

From 2026, more students start it in Secondary 1. Either of the top two PSLE Chinese grades, or a Distinction or Merit in PSLE Higher Chinese, now qualifies, whatever the overall PSLE score, MOE announced.

Under O Level rules, Higher Chinese students sat Chinese a year early, at the end of Secondary 3. If you did that in 2026, MOE says that grade counts with your SEC results. SEAB hasn't said how the SEC handles the early sitting after that, so ask your school.

Chinese B is shorter and partly on screen

Chinese B, syllabus 1153, is a lighter syllabus than Chinese. It isn't an O Level subject, and SEAB's rules say it can't be used in the aggregate scores for post-secondary admission.

The writing paper lasts 50 minutes. You type one email reply or one short text about a picture, of at least 150 characters, using pinyin input on a computer. SEAB's marking guide checks that you input the right characters, 汉字的输入(hànzì de shūrù), so we'd practise typing every week and check each character the keyboard offers.

The reading paper is an hour of multiple-choice questions, answered on screen. Speaking and listening count for half the grade: reading aloud and a video conversation, as in Chinese, plus ten listening questions.

Its marking is gentler too. Chinese B's top band for the conversation lets the examiner guide you now and then, 偶尔需要引导 ǒu'ěr xūyào yǐndǎo, which in Chinese only reaches band 2.

Its second try also worked differently. In 2026, Chinese B had a mid-year sitting and a full re-sit at year-end, oral and listening included. Students who scored E8 or below at the mid-year Chinese sitting could switch to Chinese B at year-end.

Chinese B doesn't appear on SEAB's syllabus lists for the SEC, so check with your school how it runs from 2027.

A plan that fits what you speak at home

In 2025, 57% of Chinese residents of Singapore aged five and over mostly spoke English at home, SingStat's household survey found, up from under half five years earlier. What you speak at home changes where your time should go:

If you speak Chinese at home, your oral is probably your strongest paper. I'd put most of your time into writing, meaning plans, correct characters and the email formats, and keep one oral answer a week to stay structured.

If you mostly speak English at home, put daily time into speaking and listening first: ten minutes of reading aloud and one recorded answer a day. Write one timed task a week from the start. Our guide for heritage speakers has more on turning understanding into speech.

Here's a 12-week plan that ends with your oral and listening. The SEC puts the written papers after them, in September, so keep a timed paper a week going until then:

Source: our plan, not SEAB's. SEAB hadn't published the SEC timetable when we checked on 5 November 2026.

Starting about six months before the oral leaves room for habits instead of cramming. For the first six weeks, we'd read Chinese news daily, keep a notebook of good words and sentences, 好词好句(hǎo cí hǎo jù), and record one oral answer a week.

In the next six weeks, write one timed composition a week, rotating the three kinds, and do one oral set a week. Then switch to the 12-week plan, with mock orals and full timed papers.

In our plan, the daily recorded answer matters most. It's the one habit that builds the band 1 skill: talking on without being prompted.

Free practice, from us and from SEAB

SEAB doesn't post past papers. They're copyrighted, SEAB's rules bar posting them without its permission, and it posts no specimen papers for these syllabuses. Your school's papers and printed collections from bookshops are the usual sources. For everything else, we'd start here.

Our workbooks, each free with a SayMei account:

• O Level Chinese oral practice. Six reading-aloud passages and 18 conversation questions with model answers, audio and a two-week plan. Its listening page plays every track free.
• Composition and email practice. Formal and informal emails, a narrative, an argument and a picture-prompt piece, with plans, model answers and an eight-week plan.
• Chinese B practice. Typed writing, multiple-choice sets, oral topics and listening, with a six-week plan.

SayMei wrote every passage and question, so they're practice in the exam's format, not past papers.

From SEAB and MOE, all free:

• The syllabuses. SEAB's PDFs for Chinese, Higher Chinese and Chinese B, and the SEC versions of Chinese and Higher Chinese, each with its marking guides at the back.
• The e-Oral walk-through. SEAB's interactive guide to the e-Oral format. Chinese B students, who type their written papers, can also watch SEAB's video guide to its e-exam system.
• The dictionary list. SEAB's approved dictionaries for Paper 1, printed and electronic.
• A reading list. MOE's Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning posts a recommended reading list for secondary school.

Two more are worth your time. A daily Chinese news story gives you something to say on most oral topics. And your teacher's mock oral is the surest way to be marked against SEAB's guide, so ask for one early.

Exam day and the rules that catch students out

We read SEAB's rules in full. Most are simple, and a few cost students dearly when they're missed:

• Bring photo ID to the oral. Your NRIC or passport; missing the oral means no grade for Chinese.
• Check your dictionary. It must be on SEAB's approved list, without notes or tabs; an e-dictionary runs on batteries, on silent, with no earpieces or memory card.
• Pack spare batteries. A dictionary that fails mid-paper isn't grounds for special consideration.
• Appeal fast if at all. You have five working days from results day, a fee per subject, and SEAB doesn't return marked scripts.
• Private candidates register with SEAB. They use SEAB's Candidates Portal, and SEAB says it will post the SEC procedures in 2027.

In 2026, school candidates got results through their school and private candidates on the Candidates Portal. SEC results come out in January of the year after you sit.

Where SayMei fits, and where it doesn't

SayMei is an app for learning Mandarin by speaking with Mei Lin, an AI tutor. For O Level Chinese, it helps with one thing: getting comfortable answering out loud at length, with feedback on your tones.

It doesn't know SEAB's videos, can't mark your answers against the marking guide and has no past papers. Its lessons are levelled from HSK 1 to 6 and built for learners, so near-native speakers will use it for speaking practice, not to learn new Chinese.

We think our workbooks, free with a SayMei account, are the better fit for most O Level students, because they follow the exam's tasks. For marked feedback, your teacher and your school's mock orals beat any app.

SayMei Premium costs US$5.99 a month for 200 minutes with Mei Lin.

Depending on your country, you start with a free first lesson or a free week that needs a card. We checked our pricing page in November.

SayMei isn't affiliated with or endorsed by SEAB or the Ministry of Education.

What to do next

• Read SEAB's marking guides once. They're a few pages at the back of the syllabus, and they tell you what each band sounds like.
• Record one oral answer today. Give a view, a reason, an example and a close, then listen back.
• Learn both email formats. Write each opening and closing from memory.
• Plan for one sitting. From 2027 there's no November re-sit, so aim to peak in September.
• Check your syllabus code. Make sure your practice matches Chinese, Higher Chinese or Chinese B.

Start with our O Level Chinese oral practice workbook: six sets, each with a model answer and audio.