How much does the oral count in the O-Level and SEC?

What share of each subject is the oral?

Every SEC syllabus prints the oral paper's marks and its weighting, the share of the whole subject it carries. Here they are for the language subjects this site covers:

These are the 2027 SEC syllabuses. The 2026 O-Level syllabuses they replace (1184, 1160, 1116, 1166) print the same oral marks and weightings for English, Chinese, Higher Chinese and Chinese (Special Programme).

Why can't you work out the weighting from the marks?

Because SEAB does not always make them proportional. The G3 English oral is 30 marks out of a subject total of 180 marks, and SEAB prints its weighting as 20%. Divide the marks by the total and you get a smaller share than SEAB prints. In G3 Chinese the oral is 50 marks out of 200 marks and its weighting is 25%, which does match, and that is exactly what makes the English case easy to get wrong.

How much do the parts of the oral count?

It depends on the subject, because the syllabuses publish different things.

Two things stand out. In Chinese, 会话 carries far more than the reading aloud: by marks it is the largest single part of any oral on this page. In G3 English, the two parts carry equal marks, and the Planned Response's marks split further into Response and Delivery. How each criterion is marked, band by band, is on how Response, Delivery and Spoken Interaction are marked and how the Chinese oral's criteria are marked.

Does the listening paper count separately?

Yes. Where a subject has a listening paper it is a separate paper with its own weighting; in 2026 it was timetabled on a different day from the oral. G3 English Paper 3 Listening is 30 marks and 10% of the subject. The G3 Chinese 听力理解 (listening comprehension) is 20 marks and 10% (see the Chinese listening paper). Chinese (Special Programme) has one too, at 20%. G3 Higher Chinese has no listening paper.

What grades does the O-Level use?

SEAB's 2026 rules list the O-Level subject grades as A1, A2, B3, B4, C5, C6, D7, E8 and 9, with A1 the highest. Grade 9 "denotes that the candidate's performance has not met the minimum requirements of the subject" (s.6.3.2). The rules mention no separate oral result for English: the oral is one paper inside the subject grade.

Mother Tongue languages are different in one respect. In its section on examination certificates, the same booklet says that performance in the oral and aural examination in Chinese, Malay and Tamil is indicated as Distinction, Merit, Pass or Ungraded. The booklet does not spell out how that indication relates to the subject grade. Our reading, because each syllabus prints the oral and listening papers with a weighting in the subject, is that they count towards the subject grade as well as being indicated separately.

What happens if the oral is missed?

No grade for the subject, unless SEAB has granted an exemption or special consideration for that paper. SEAB's 2026 oral instructions say a candidate who does not attend the oral is not awarded a grade for the subject, even if present for every other paper, and the general rules give an "Absent" grade for the subject in that case, with that one exception (s.6.1.4). So the oral's weighting understates what is at stake on the day. What to do if your child is ill is on what happens on oral exam day.

What does this mean for preparation?

Our view, for what it is worth: weightings are a reason to take the oral seriously, not a reason to rank it. The oral is the paper most directly built by regular speaking practice, and in Chinese 会话 alone carries 20% of the subject. And PSLE Higher Chinese has no oral paper, so for Higher Chinese students this paper has no PSLE equivalent.