G3 Chinese · 口试 Oral examination · K320 / 1160
What has the O-Level Chinese 会话 asked about technology?
The recalled record for 科技与数码生活, how far to trust it, and how to prepare positions rather than speeches.
Updated 10 October 2026 · Exam facts checked against SEAB on 13 September 2026 · 6 min read
In short
The recalled record holds 5 O-Level Chinese 会话 themes in our 科技与数码生活 (technology and digital life) group, 2019–2024, 3 of them corroborated. In our reading, the themes turn on two questions: whether a technology does more good than harm, and who it leaves behind or replaces, from older people going digital to robots taking over work. SEAB lists no oral topics, so treat this as candidates' recall of past papers, which says nothing about the next one.
On this page
Which technology questions have come up in the O-Level Chinese 会话?
Recall sources give 5 technology themes for the O-Level / SEC G3 Chinese oral (1160 / K320), one or more in each of 4 years. Independent sources agree on 3; 2 have a single source behind them. Only 1 keeps its wording, quoted below as the source gave it. Here is the full list by year:
- 2019 · 科技与日常生活 (Technology in daily life) · one source only. Recalled wording: “只有年轻人才能跟上科技的发展，谈谈你的看法。”
- 2020 · 网络霸凌 (Cyberbullying) · one source only. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
- 2023 · 数码产品 (Digital devices / overuse) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
- 2024 · 年长者迈入数码时代 (Elderly people entering the digital age) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
- 2024 · 人工智能/机器人入驻餐饮业 (AI / robots entering the food-service industry) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
In the Higher Chinese record, technology accounts for 3 of the 14 recalled rows. That oral has a report and a discussion instead of a 会话 (see the Higher Chinese oral), so these rows stay out of the count above:
- 2022 · 科技对现代生活的影响 (Impact of technology on modern life / smart nation) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
- 2023 · 机器人能解决人手不足的问题 (Robots can solve the manpower-shortage problem) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
- 2023 · 玩手机游戏弊大于利 (Mobile gaming does more harm than good) · two independent sources agree. Theme only; no wording was recalled.
How reliable is this list?
Good enough to say the theme has been set, not good enough to quote. The corroborated rows date from 2023 and 2024; the single-source ones from 2019 and 2020. All 5 come from 2 recall sources, written after the exam, because SEAB releases no past oral papers, and we found no record at all for 2026. "Technology and digital life" is our label for the group; SEAB has none. Method and other themes: the O-Level Chinese oral topics page.
What do technology questions actually ask?
A judgement, as far as the record shows: the one surviving wording asks the student to test a claim. The other 4 rows give only a theme, so the four angles below are our grouping of themes, not a pattern in the questions:
- Who keeps up, and who is left behind. The 年长者迈入数码时代 row, and the single-source recalled statement that only young people can keep up with technology. Both invite the student to test a generalisation about age.
- Too much of a good thing. The 数码产品 row on devices and overuse.
- Behaviour online. The 网络霸凌 row: what people do to each other when they cannot see each other.
- Machines doing people's work. The 人工智能/机器人入驻餐饮业 row, and robots and labour in the Higher Chinese record. What is gained, and what a customer or a worker loses.
Our topics page sums the group up as "Whether a technology does more good than harm, and who is left behind by it." Both halves have two sides, and in our reading an answer that argues only one side leaves the student little to extend.
How should a student prepare the technology theme?
Our guidance: decide where you stand before deciding what to say. 附录C's top band asks the student to 扩展个人看法，并举例说明 (extend a personal view and illustrate it), which needs a view to start from. A familiar subject can be talked about at length without one, so this is the first thing to check. For each angle, the student should be able to give, in their own Chinese:
- A position on the angle (is a phone rule at home fair, say), with the part they would not sign up to.
- A reason beyond the obvious one about convenience.
- One real example: a grandparent learning an app, a rule about phones at home or at school, a time technology helped or did not, with a who, a when and a detail.
- The case someone on the other side would make, and whether it changes their mind.
Some questions to argue both ways (ours, not model answers): is "older people can't learn it" a fact or an excuse, and what does it take to teach someone? Where is the line between using a device and overusing it, and who should draw it: the student, the family or the school? Is a robot serving food a convenience or a loss, and for whom? What would make people behave online as they would face to face?
The question
只有年轻人才能跟上科技的发展，谈谈你的看法。
Wording from a single 2019 recall source, left as written. Our translation: only young people can keep up with developments in technology. Give your view.
A weaker answer
Plan: "I disagree. Old people can also learn technology if they try. My grandmother uses a phone." A position and an example, but the example has nothing in it, and the word "only" is never addressed.
A stronger answer
Plan: grant that older people often learn more slowly. Then go for the word "only": slower is not the same as unable, with a specific grandparent, the step they found hard and what changed. Then turn it round: keeping up is not automatic for the young either. Close on what actually decides who keeps up.
What changed
- The stronger plan answers the statement's key word (only) rather than the general topic.
- It concedes, then adds an angle the statement did not expect; in our reading, that is what 扩展个人看法 asks for.
- The example has a person, a difficulty and an outcome, so it illustrates rather than decorates (举例说明). Keeping the plan in English leaves the Chinese to the student.
The descriptor: “能根据话题进行讨论，扩展个人看法，并举例说明” — SEAB syllabus K320 (G3 Chinese Language), 附录C, p.10
For 年长者迈入数码时代 itself, two complete Chinese answers (等级 1 and 等级 3), each annotated with the 附录C phrase it earns, are on a 等级 1 会话 answer beside a 等级 3 one. Answers that stall in the middle band, and why, are covered in common mistakes in the 会话, measured against 附录C.
Common questions
Has technology come up in the O-Level Chinese oral?
It has, according to recall: 5 themes across 4 years, 3 of them named by two independent sources. SEAB publishes no list of past oral topics to check this against.
My child uses technology every day. Isn't this theme easy?
Not necessarily. The one recalled technology wording (2019) asks the student to judge a claim about who can keep up, and 附录C's top band asks for a view that is extended and illustrated. Knowing a lot about phones does not by itself give a student a position.
Does the Higher Chinese record cover the same technology themes?
It overlaps. Its 3 technology rows are: impact of technology on modern life / smart nation (2022); robots can solve the manpower-shortage problem (2023); mobile gaming does more harm than good (2023). Higher Chinese is examined through an oral report and a discussion, so a 会话 student can borrow the questions to think about, not the format.
Sources
- SEAB syllabus K320 (G3 Chinese Language) (PDF)
- OralPrep recalled-topic corpus, O-Level Chinese oral (gathered 13 September 2026), read 10 October 2026
- OralPrep worked 会话 answers (年长者迈入数码时代), reviewed 13 September 2026, read 10 October 2026
- Recall source cited by the OralPrep topic corpus (no copy archived; the corpus row records it): olevelchinesehelpmeoralexam.blogspot.com, read 13 September 2026
- Recall source cited by the OralPrep topic corpus (no copy archived; the corpus row records it): sandaochinese.com, read 13 September 2026
Last checked against the SEAB syllabus documents on 13 September 2026. This page was updated on 10 October 2026. OralPrep is not affiliated with SEAB or MOE.