How is the Chinese (Special Programme) oral different from the main O-Level Chinese oral?

What is in the K364 oral?

Two parts, as in the main Chinese oral: 朗读短文 (reading a short passage aloud), then 会话 (conversation) with the examiner. The difference is the stimulus. In K364 the conversation is on a picture (图片); in K320 it is on a video clip (录像短片).

The marks and the weightings are not proportional. The oral is 30 marks of a 110 marks subject but counts for 30%; the listening paper is 30 marks but 20%. Always read the weighting SEAB prints rather than working one out from the marks.

How does K364 differ from the main Chinese oral, K320?

The rest of the format is shared: a silent preparation before the exam, the passage read aloud first, and the conversation second. The scope of the reading passage is narrower on paper. K364 lists 日常生活篇章或新闻等 (everyday-life passages or news and so on); K320 lists 日常生活篇章、评论和新闻等, which adds commentary.

What happens in the preparation time?

You read the passage silently and look at the picture, and you may do both more than once. SEAB's 2026 instructions for the O-Level paper (1166/03) add that in the exam room you read the passage aloud first and then study the picture one more time before the conversation. Those are 2026 O-Level rules; SEAB had not published SEC conduct rules when we checked on 10 October 2026.

The same advice applies as for the main oral, with a picture in place of the clip: understand the passage, then decide what the picture is about and what you think. See how to use the preparation time.

How is 朗读短文 marked in K364?

On two strands, each scored on its own scale in four bands: 语音和清晰度 (sound and clarity) and 语速、语调和流利度 (pace, intonation and fluency). K364's 附录B prints a mark for each strand. That is the opposite of K320, whose 附录C describes 朗读短文 with the same two strands but awards a single mark, so do not carry one syllabus's shape over to the other. 等级 1 is the top band in both.

Each strand's bands run 5, 4, 3 and 1–2 in 附录B. We quote the descriptors and do not explain how any of them should sound; that is for a teacher listening to the student.

How is the K364 会话 marked?

On the same two criteria as K320, 个人意见和内容的组织 (personal opinion and the organisation of content) and 语文表达和流利度 (language use and fluency), each in four bands running 9–10, 6–8, 3–5 and 1–2. The wording is not K320's, and two differences matter for practice.

Two differences, both read straight off the two appendices. K364's top band allows the examiner to lead occasionally (偶尔需要主考员的引导), where K320's top band says 无需主考员的引导, no leading needed. And K364's top band does not include K320's line about extending a view and illustrating it with an example. Our reading, not SEAB's: the K364 top band asks for a full, clear, well-ordered answer, and the K320 top band asks for that and a developed argument on top.

What is in the K364 listening paper?

A separate component (filed under 试卷三 with the oral, with its own time) of about 30 minutes, worth 30 marks and 20%: three dialogues and four comprehension passages, with 15 multiple-choice questions between them. Candidates listen to the recording and then answer.

Who takes K364, and what on this site applies to it?

The syllabus does not say who takes the Special Programme, and this page does not guess; your school will know which Chinese syllabus a student is entered for. The rest of this site is written for the main G3 Chinese oral, K320. What carries over: the 会话 question types and the home practice routine, with a picture in place of the clip. What does not: K320's mark split, its single 朗读短文 scale and its band wording, set out on how the K320 oral is marked.

Timing differs too. In 2026, the O-Level 1166 oral was timetabled on a different day from the 1160 Chinese oral. SEAB has not published 2027 dates; see exam dates.