A New Chapter for PSLE Oral Examinations (2025 Update)
The PSLE Oral component has always played a vital role in the English paper — and from 2025, it has taken on even greater significance.
With the updated syllabus, the oral exam now contributes 40 marks, accounting for 20% of the overall English grade. It’s designed to assess not only how well students read, but how effectively they can communicate with confidence, expression, and understanding.
Let’s unpack what’s changed — and how your child can prepare to perform their best.
📘 Understanding the New PSLE Oral Format
The revised Oral Exam is made up of two clearly defined parts:
- Reading Aloud (15 marks)
- Stimulus-Based Conversation (25 marks)
Unlike the previous version, these two components are now separate and unrelated in theme to each other, giving students the opportunity to demonstrate a wider range of language skills and personal expression.
🎤 Reading Aloud – Confidence, Clarity, and Control
The new Reading Aloud includes a short Preamble, which requires students to be aware of their PARCT:
Purpose – why they are reading this (to inform, to invite, to persuade..)
Audience – whom they are addressing
Role – who they are
Context – what is the scenario within which they are making this speech or the situation of their reading — for example, whether they are delivering a motivational speech, narrating a story, or reporting information.
All of this informs their
Tone – how they get the message across. Students understand the need to students need to adjust their tone, rhythm, and energy to match the nature of the passage and its intended audience.
💡 Reading Aloud Success Tips
✅ Speak with projection and poise — Your voice should carry confidently to the examiner.
✅ Enunciate every word clearly — Avoid mumbling or speeding through sentences.
✅ Match your tone to the text — Express warmth, enthusiasm, or seriousness as needed.
✅ Use punctuation to guide delivery — Pause naturally to enhance flow and meaning.
At Simply English, our oral specialists guide students to read with intention, not just accuracy. We train them to interpret the passage’s purpose, connect with the listener, and deliver each line with expression that captures attention.
💬 Stimulus-Based Conversation – Connect, Reflect, Respond
The Stimulus-Based Conversation (SBC) has also been refined to better reflect real-world communication.
Students now discuss authentic photographs of real-life situations and scenes, rather than posters, using three open-ended guiding questions (6W1H).
There is also no longer any thematic link to the Reading Aloud task, so students must be prepared to share ideas on a wide range of topics with confidence and spontaneity.
💡 Tips to Excel in SBC
✅ Think before answering — Don’t rush to answer the question the moment the examiner has asked it. Pause and take a bit of time to gather your thoughts before you start.
✅ Draw from personal experiences — You don’t need any current affairs information for most of the answers. Relate your answers to your own lived, real-life examples. Anything else is a bonus
✅ Speak naturally and sincerely — Avoid memorising set answers – this can only take you so far. No two questions are alike, so it is much better to know how to answer questions in structure and detail rather than memorising a few and listing by rote. Let your personality show.
✅ Listen carefully to follow-up questions — Build on them with relevant, thoughtful answers. Use a strong answering framework like PEEEL, OREO or TREES to help you.
At Simply English, our SBC lessons mirror real exam conditions. Students practise thinking on their feet, expressing opinions clearly, and maintaining a relaxed, conversational tone — skills that make a lasting impression on examiners.
At Simply English, Confidence in speaking and speaking up is encouraged from the start. Our Lower Primary students discuss and share opinions ion topics, and also get involved in storytelling. Our Upper Primary students do the same, but then have the added exam-preparedness component too.
Our objective for focusing on the Oral component consistently is two-fold:
Short -term – to build confidence in a student and equip them with the skills to ace the Oral examinations
Long-term – to build confidence in a student and equip them with the skills for life