The PSLE oral exam is one of the most important national tests for every Primary 6 student in Singapore. As parents, you have to make sure that your child has everything they need to focus on their revisions during this critical period. To help you out, we’ll share a few exam tips for acing the oral component of the PSLE exams.
The PSLE oral exam is one of the most important national tests for every Primary 6 student in Singapore. The oral exams make up 15% and 25% of the English and Chinese papers, respectively.
The English and Chinese oral components are both divided into two parts. Reading aloud and stimulus-based conversation for English, and reading aloud and video conversation for Chinese.
As parents, you have to make sure that your child has everything they need to focus on their revisions during this critical period. To help you out, we’ll share a few exam tips for acing the oral component of the PSLE exams.
The PSLE oral exam is one of the most important national tests for every Primary 6 student in Singapore. The oral exams make up 15% and 25% of the English and Chinese papers, respectively.
The English and Chinese oral components are both divided into two parts. Reading aloud and stimulus-based conversation for English, and reading aloud and video conversation for Chinese.
As parents, you have to make sure that your child has everything they need to focus on their revisions during this critical period. To help you out, we’ll share a few exam tips for acing the oral component of the PSLE exams.
Exposure is one of the first steps in learning any language.
Apart from books, exposure to different mediums of English and Chinese such as television, film, radio, newspapers, and even podcasts definitely works. Sending them a message in English or Chinese helps too!
Switch on the radio to a Chinese-speaking station to hear Mandarin in a casual, everyday setting or watch an English-language travel show to see native speakers use the language on various occasions.
These are some of the best ways to encourage a language-learning environment in your home if you’re too busy to teach your child.
Soon enough, your child will acclimatise to both languages. A little bit of exposure will raise their general awareness of the English and Chinese languages.
Since reading aloud is part of both English and Chinese oral exams, you need to help your child practice reading words correctly and clearly out loud. Encourage them to practice reading every chance they get, even if it means you have to read them a bedtime story at night.
Coach them on their reading and correct any mispronounced words and teach them to pace themselves through the punctuations. Tell them that a question mark should sound different from a period or a comma.
Reading out loud isn’t exactly a boring activity, but doing so for hours every day can get tiring. You can make this more entertaining and interactive by pointing out words on signposts and restaurant menus and asking them to read them.
There are lots of words with difficult enunciation that Primary 6 students probably don’t know how to pronounce but may appear on the oral exams.
Teach them how to enunciate these big words so they know how to pronounce them correctly. To help them better understand each word, you can even look up their meanings and use them in a sentence for context.
More importantly, remind them not to use internet language during oral examinations as it might not translate well to the examiners.
More often than not, students feel nervous during the oral exams, and understandably so. You can help them work through the nerves and boost their confidence by observing eye contact and facial expressions while practising.
Let them know that looking nervous or bored during the oral exams might not sit well with the examiners, which could affect their overall score. When talking to the examiner, remind them to look them in the eyes and use appropriate facial expressions and body gestures to express themselves.
Adding a little bit of humour during the oral exam can even help them score extra points!
However, make sure to keep practice sessions to 30 minutes tops. The point is to make these sessions fun yet effective so that they get the most out of them without feeling like they’re taking an actual exam.
Some students (and parents) would agree that the oral exams are the hardest part of the PSLE papers. However, with the right preparation, any student can pass them with flying colours.
If you need a little more help with your child’s PSLE exam preparation, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. Aspire Hub has professional and highly experienced tutors who can help your child with their academic journey.
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