The PSLE Chinese oral is about 10 minutes and 50 marks, a quarter (25%) of the Chinese grade. It has two parts: reading a short passage aloud (20 marks), then a conversation with the examiner about a short video (30 marks). Beforehand your child gets 10 minutes to read the passage silently and watch the video, as many times as they like.
Both parts rest on the same thing: knowing the words. A passage your child can read without stopping on a character, and the words to say what they notice and think about the video. By the end of P6, MOE's lists add up to 1,655 characters to read in Standard Chinese. The format and that vocabulary, level by level, are below.
Oral is the part of the PSLE you can't cram. Your child can't take a passage home and memorise it, and the conversation goes wherever the examiner takes it. If they stop on a character while reading aloud, or reach for a word that isn't there, it shows.
And it's a big share of the grade: 50 marks, a quarter of PSLE Chinese. Under the AL scoring system, the difference between AL1 (90+ marks) and AL2 (85-89 marks) is just 5 marks.
I'm Joshua. We speak English at home, and when my daughter started P1 I couldn't even read her word list. Below is what the exam asks, from SEAB's own format, and the vocabulary underneath it, from MOE's lists.
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What's in the sample
- Lessons 1 to 3 of your child's level, Standard Chinese, as an Anki deck: 2024 syllabus for P1 to P3, old syllabus for P4 to P6.
- Each full level has Standard and Higher Chinese. P1 to P3 come in both the old and the 2024 syllabus.
- Open it in Anki on your phone, tablet or computer. Anki is free on Android, Mac and Windows.
The PSLE Chinese oral, part by part
- Preparation, 10 minutes. Your child reads the passage silently and watches the video, as often as they like in the time.
- Part 1, reading aloud (朗读篇章), 20 marks. One short passage, read aloud.
- Part 2, conversation (会话), 30 marks. The examiner talks with your child about the video. SEAB says the video gives context for your child to make observations and express viewpoints: they don't have to narrate what happens, or name or describe the objects in it.
- The rest of PSLE Chinese: the composition (40 marks, 20%), language use and comprehension (90 marks, 45%) and listening comprehension (20 marks, 10%).
Reading aloud is the part vocabulary decides most directly: a character your child doesn't know is a stop in the middle of a sentence. The conversation needs the same words the other way round, ready to come out.
In the conversation, the hard moment is reaching for a word that isn't there in time. SEAB's own note is a relief: your child won't lose marks for not naming a thing in the video. What they need is enough words to say what they think.
The vocabulary, P1 to P6
Children sitting the PSLE now learnt from the old 欢乐伙伴 books all the way through (the 2024 syllabus reaches P6 in 2029). MOE's lists for Standard Chinese, added up per level:
| Level | Lessons | To read | To write |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 19 | 306 | 152 |
| P2 | 19 | 324 | 216 |
| P3 | 17 | 282 | 207 |
| P4 | 16 | 307 | 161 |
| P5 | 15 | 267 | 202 |
| P6 | 10 | 169 | 138 |
| P1 to P6 | 96 | 1,655 | 1,076 |
Higher Chinese adds more: Higher Chinese, level by level. Each level's lessons and characters are on its own page: P1 · P2 · P3 · P4 · P5 · P6.
1,655 characters is six years of 听写 lists, each tested once on a Friday. Without review, words learnt for Friday fade fast, and the P2 list is a long way back by P6.
Spaced repetition fixes the timing: each word comes back right before your child would forget it. In 1885 the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus found that 38 repetitions spread over three days worked as well as 68 crammed into one day.
More oral classes don't fix a missing word. A child who genuinely knows every word, not just crammed them, reads passages faster and speaks with less hesitation. That's what spaced repetition is for: each word comes back right before your child would forget it.
Ebbinghaus measured it in 1885: 38 repetitions spread over three days worked as well as 68 crammed into one day. Within 4 months, my daughter could read and recognise every P1 word, at 10-15 minutes a day.
Where the deck fits
- Every word in the MOE syllabus, P1 to P6, Standard and Higher Chinese, lesson by lesson: 13,453 cards.
- Natural Mandarin audio on every card, 13 voices, including a Singaporean one, so your child hears each word said right before reading it aloud themselves.
- Characters your child only needs to read (识读字) get a Recognition card and a Sentence card; characters they need to write (识写字) also get a Writing card, with stroke order. Example sentences come with audio, a translation and a picture of the scene.
- Pinyin and English on every card, so you can follow along even if you don't read Chinese. 10-15 minutes a day.
- The free sample is lessons 1 to 3 of your child's level, Standard Chinese. The P6 deck is SGD 199; all six levels are SGD 599, with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Sources
- The oral's parts, marks and preparation time, and the other papers: SEAB, PSLE Chinese Language (0005), format examined in 2026 (PDF, from SEAB's PSLE formats page).
- What the video is for: SEAB, media replies, 21 August 2026.
- The 2024 syllabus reaching P6 in 2029: MOE, 小学华文课程标准2024 (Primary Chinese Language syllabus 2024, PDF), chapter 5, 课程实施时间.
- The characters per level: MOE's 生字表, old syllabus (PDF).
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