1. Greet the examiner
2. Always keep an eye contact with the examiner
3. Put a smile on your face; it's not like the examiner's gonna kill you :)
4. Make a conscious effort to refrain from bad habits like shaking your legs. Doing so will give a bad impression of yourself to the examiner.
5. Read it aloud and with clarity, try not to 'press' your voice or you will sound like you're mumbling. You can prevent doing so by placing your paper more to the front and not so close to yourself
6. Be polite to the examiner; if he/she were to ask you a question and you don't catch the meaning, gently ask the examiner to repeat the question (e.g 'Qing Nin Chong Fu") For information's sake, "Nin" is a more respectful word to address the examiner
7. Refrain from using English words like "then", but instead, speak fully in Mandarin like "Hai You", "Hou Lai", "Er Qie", or "Jie Zhe Xia Lai". "Excuse me" can be said as "Bu Hao Yi Si". Speaking in English may also result in the deduction of marks
8. Skip the word if you don't know how to read it. For words that you're unsure of, find its closest pronunciation and say it quickly because the teacher might not be able to catch what you just said and will assume that you have read it correctly anyway
9. In a conversation, the first sentence makes the best impression. Try not to spend too much time thinking about what you should say on the first sentence. You don't have to think of really bombastic words or sentences to express yourself, just use simple words which you can say in confidence. Think on your feet, and you will be able to score.
10. Take note of a passage's mood (With a happy theme, read it as if you really are a happy person) and emphasize on important words. "Feel" what you say and don't read it with a single-toned voice.
11. Pause at regular intervals if a sentence is too long. Don't read the entire sentence or you may run out of breath. You can prevent doing so by reading the passage a few times (before you sit for it) and take note of its structure
12. Treat your examiner as a friend, and both of you will be able to converse and interact well with each other. The examiner isn't here to test your knowledge in a conversation, but instead, wants to see how well you can talk to him/her. This will in turn lighten up the tense atmosphere, so you can actually enjoy talking to the examiner.
