Ace Your Oral Examinations!

With the PSLE Oral examinations just around the corner, here are some tips to take note during the oral examinations.

Reading Aloud

1) Read loud enough with clarity, good expression and fluency.

One should read with appropriate stresses and intonation. Should one read monotonously, it resembles the flatline on the EEG monitor of a patient. Yes, you are literally ‘dead’.

Bring your voice down at the end of a sentence.

Keep your voice up when there is a question mark.

2) Pronounce the words clearly. Be careful of the following common mispronunciations.

Th- sound:

mother not “mader”

things not “ting”

r- sound:

fresh not “flesh”

ai- sound:

time not “tam”

3) Pay particular attention to word endings. Do not drop them.

watched just help box took

had moves splash special

4) Do not add ‘s’ unnecessarily.

“as wells” for as well

5) Do not rush through the passage.

If you trip over a word, just read it again. Stay calm.

For words you cannot pronounce, settle on one pronunciation and stick to it. Read calmly.

Pause for half a second for commas and full stops.

Stimulus-Based Conversation

1) Speak confidently and engage in a conversation with the examiner as though you are talking to a friend. Maintain eye contact.

2) Use a wide range of good vocabulary words and phrases.

e.g. Happy: jubilant, ecstatic

Want: yearn, aspire

3) Explain your response and opinions with good reasons and support.

The first response normally requires explanation from the stimulus. Use details from the stimulus to back up responses. You can provide examples in terms of function & purpose i.e. what, where, who, why, when, how.

Use sentence starters such as “Yes, I would like to/am keen to … because…”

4) Share your personal experiences.

Be truthful and should you not have similar experiences, use what you have read or view in social media, news, magazines and books. Share these experiences and link to how you wish you would like to experience it if given the opportunity.

To expand your sharing on your experiences, remember to describe in terms of Feelings, Actions, Thoughts, Senses.

Use sentence starters such as “There was once…” or “Even though I have never…, I hope I can…”

5) Show initiative by introducing new ideas which are of interest and related to the topic.

6) Throughout the conversation, respond in grammatically correct sentences.

Be careful of the tenses used i.e. past tense to be used when sharing about past experiences.

7) End your conversation with a sound conclusion.

Be clear of the overarching theme and link your ending to the oral theme.

You may give a final reflection, advice or recommendation based on the theme.

Use sentence starters like “In a nutshell…” to signal the ending of your conversation.

Last but not least, it is only natural that one feels anxious for his or her oral examinations. The examiners are also teachers who are empathetic towards such anxiety. Stay calm, relax and enjoy your conversation. The examiners are there to award you marks so give them a good reason why you deserve the marks. You will soon realise that it is not that hard after all. All the best!