This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the course.
2.1 Subject content
Students study all of the following themes on which the assessments are based.
2.2 Assessments
GCSE Chinese (Spoken Mandarin) has a Foundation Tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher Tier (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question papers must be taken in the same series.
Paper 1: Listening |
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What's assessed Understanding and responding to different types of spoken language |
How it's assessed - Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation Tier), 45 minutes (Higher Tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation Tier), 50 marks (Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
(Each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time of the question paper before the listening stimulus is played.) |
Questions Foundation Tier and Higher Tier - Questions in English, to be answered in English or non-verbally
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Paper 2: Speaking |
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What's assessed Communicating and interacting effectively in speech for a variety of purposes |
How it's assessed - Non-exam assessment
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation Tier) + preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher Tier) + preparation time
- 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions Foundation Tier and Higher Tier The format is the same at Foundation Tier and Higher Tier, but with different stimulus questions for the Photo card and different stimulus materials for the Role-play. The timings are different too:- Role-play – 15 marks (2 minutes at Foundation Tier; 2 minutes at Higher Tier)
- Photo card – 15 marks (2 minutes at Foundation Tier; 3 minutes at Higher Tier)
- General conversation – 30 marks (3–5 minutes at Foundation Tier; 5–7 minutes at Higher Tier)
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Paper 3: Reading |
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What's assessed Understanding and responding to different types of written language |
How it's assessed - Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation Tier), 1 hour (Higher Tier)
- 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions Foundation Tier and Higher Tier - Section A – questions in English, to be answered in English or non-verbally
- Section B – translation from Chinese (Mandarin) into English (a minimum of 35 characters for Foundation Tier and 50 characters for Higher Tier)
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Paper 4: Writing |
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What's assessed Communicating effectively in writing for a variety of purposes |
How it's assessed - Written exam: 1 hour (Foundation Tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher Tier)
- 50 marks at Foundation Tier and 60 marks at Higher Tier
- 25% of GCSE
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Questions Foundation Tier - Question 1 – message (student produces four sentences in response to a photo) – 8 marks
- Question 2 – short passage (student writes a piece of continuous text in response to four brief bullet points, approximately 30 characters in total) – 16 marks
- Question 3 – translation from English into Chinese (Mandarin) (minimum 25 words) – 10 marks
- Question 4 – structured writing task (student responds to four compulsory detailed bullet points, producing approximately 75 characters in total) – there is a choice from two questions – 16 marks
Higher Tier - Question 1 – structured writing task (student responds to four compulsory detailed bullet points, producing approximately 75 characters in total) – there is a choice from two questions – 16 marks
- Question 2 – open-ended writing task (student responds to two compulsory detailed bullet points, producing approximately 125 characters in total) – there is a choice from two questions – 32 marks
- Question 3 – translation from English into Chinese (Mandarin) (minimum 40 words) – 12 marks
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