Why Students & Parents Are Upset at the Latest O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam

O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam 2023 Caused Laughter & Distress

For many, the O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam is a fond memory to reminisce.

After all, it has all the hallmarks of a great classic movie: thought-provoking moments, anxiety-inducing tension and an iconic, definitive soundtrack.

The sheer nostalgia. For the record, the soundtrack has even spawned its own fan renditions:

Yet, it seems that on 4 July 2023, the O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam took a turn from the norm.

A very dark turn, one that has caused absolute uproar amongst the masses.

The Latest O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam

Before we explore the thinly-veiled distress of the relevant students and parents alike, we have to first decipher the question that has stumped everyone.

So lest you’re unaware, a strangely morbid passage was read during the recent O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam.

Apparently, every Friday morning without fail, a dead body would be found in the same bed in a certain hospital.

Nobody knew why, so a doctor concealed himself to find out more.

It was soon revealed that a cleaner, yes a cleaner, murdered all of them in cold blood. Not with a knife or anything lethal though.

The cleaner would enter the ward every Friday morning, and take out the life support plug just so that he/she could connect the vacuum cleaner.

Ah, dark humour at its finest.

Suffice to say; many cracked up when the passage was read, with some struggling not to giggle.

Apparently, even teachers were laughing.

However, while some were entertained, others were not.

In fact, some got really upset at the passage.

Why Students & Parents Are Upset at the Latest O-level Chinese Listening Comprehension Exam

In an interview with The Straits Times, a 16-year-old student known only as Bonnie said that she could understand why some were distressed.

If her own family was hospitalised, she commented, she wouldn’t know how she would’ve felt.

Another student’s mother expressed concern for her daughter. She could not comprehend why a national exam would contain such a passage.

It made her daughter feel uneasy, she said. It was a tale of death that has been spun into a joke.

And though social media users have largely found the humour of it, some were less than impressed.

The Singapore Examination and Assessment Board has said that the passage, as well as the affiliated questions, were selected based on a number of criteria including age-appropriateness and alignment with the syllabus.

Meme

The question has since become a meme on viral social media platforms such as TikTok.

TikTok user @youveryslay, who posted a video with the affiliated questions a few days ago, has seen her post garner over 8.8K likes.

@youveryslay

i cant belive this was in LC and its actually a real thing that happened 😭😭#olvl #chineselc #LC #sg #sgtoktok

♬ Comedy Scenes – Comical, stupid, silly, loose, comical, farce(1295330) – Ponetto

Comments have also been forthcoming.

Not the First Attention-Garnering Listening Comprehension Passage

You may recall another particularly “popz” Listening Comprehension Exam that occurred back in 2017.

Instead of a morbid-happy theme, however, the issue back then was that the question was too hard.

After all, the question was the rejoinder kind: a type of query that tests students on their understanding of dialogue structures.

In order to complete a dialogue, they would have to pick the most appropriate response.

Here’s the dialogue and question:

Student A is wearing a set of new clothes.

Student B asks A: “Did you buy new clothes?”

Student A said: “These clothes were not bought but were tailored by my mother. Do you think they’re pretty?”

Student B said: “They’re really pretty! I didn’t know your mother could tailor clothes!”

What do you think Student A will say next?

Now, if you think it’s going to be easy, read the options:

1. Whenever my mother is free, she will tailor clothes for me.
2. My mother doesn’t like to spend money on clothes.
3. My mother just started learning how to tailor clothes

Poor Gen-Zers.

Meanwhile, those who’ve graduated eons ago may be intrigued to know that there’s a new Listening Compre soundtrack.

My new workout jam.