We have put together a range of oral topics that were used for the Stimulus Based Conversation (SBC) in different primary schools for their recent preliminary PSLE Oral exams.
1. Road safety
Stimulus: Picture on road safety tips such as raising your hand as you cross the road
2. Positive values in school
Stimulus: Posters encouraging kindness, and other values such as honesty
Stimulus: Poster asking for nominations for a student leader award
3. Mental health/stress
Stimulus: Poster showing different ways that you can relieve stress such as reading, taking deep breaths
4. Activity/hobbies/excursions
Stimulus: Poster showing a baking class
Stimulus: Poster showing an art exhibition / visit to the science centre
Stimulus: Poster showing a cooking competition
5. Time management
Stimulus: Picture showing a boy with a basketball, a timetable on his wall and motivational posters around him
6. Healthy living
Stimulus: Poster showing choice of 4 post-PSLE sports activities
Stimulus: Poster with details on a basketball tournament
Stimulus: Poster with details on weekly activities at a community centre
7. Buying groceries
Stimulus: An advertisement with discounts on groceries at a supermarket
8. Helping others
Stimulus: Poster with details of a donation drive at a community center
9. Community events
Stimulus: National Day event at the void deck
Stimulus: Carnival Day event for residents
10. Punctuality
Stimulus: Poster with details of a musical including start time and time of intermission when latecomers can enter
Preparation tips for the PSLE Oral
In order to build flexibility and adaptability of communication skills, try to brainstorm different events and experiences so that you have a vivid picture in the mind. For example, when brainstorming the topic of buying groceries, try and picture the supermarket and/or the wet market you and your family visit frequently. Visualise using all your senses - what can you see, smell, hear, touch and feel. By visualising it this way, you are prepping your mind to answer any questions regarding the topic. Take for example the question below:
Would you and your family like to go to this supermarket? (poster shows that the supermarket has a discount on rice)
Using your visualisation technique, you can picture what you usually buy from the supermarket. Perhaps your family goes to NTUC frequently to purchase meat, vegetables, milk, bread and rice. In that case, you can leverage on your experience and talk about how you would like to go to this supermarket as you frequently purchase rice. Since rice is a staple food item in your family, purchasing it at a discount would be very advantageous.
You can then discuss personal experiences - this can be done using many different aspects. Choose the ones that are most comfortable for yourself. Perhaps you have seen similar discounts before and how it attracts people to buy more of that item (see) or you have gone to different supermarkets before and you remember a time when one supermarket was doing a promotion on sausages, and the aroma wafted through the air (smell). You can also talk about how supermarkets can get crowded, particularly on weekends, with many families there to purchase their weekly grocery requirements and how it can be as noisy as a wet market (hear). Or how you get to learn about so many different varieties of fruits and how you touched a rambutan for the first time (touch). You may also leverage on how you felt, for example "I love the hustle and bustle of the supermarket (feel).
Written by Siew Ling Hwang, Founder, Discovering Potential Pte Ltd
Siew Ling is the founder of Discovering Potential and she specialises in providing Interview Skills Coaching and Communication Skills Coaching to youths and adults. Her experience includes both 1-on-1 coaching and workshop coaching for clients that come from a wide range of industries and age groups. Siew Ling coaches students for their PSLE Oral examinations. In addition, Siew Ling coaches students for their Primary 6 and JC DSA interviews as well as university entrance interviews in many areas including medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, law, business, accounting, renaissance engineering and more for both local Singapore universities and overseas universities. She has also coached students for internship opportunities in several of the large consulting firms and financial institutions, as well as scholarship interviews including PSC scholarships, SAF scholarships, MOH scholarships, MOE scholarships and others.
In 2022, the candidates that Siew Ling coached have received confirmed DSA P6 offers for the following schools:
RI, RGS, HCI, NYGH, MGS, SCGS, NUSH, Dunman High, St Nicholas Girls, SOTA, NJC, Nan Hua, Temasek Sec, Victoria School, Singapore Sports School as well as entrance into international schools including SJII, ACSI and HCI.
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