DSE English Paper 3 Banner

DSE English – Paper 3 Exam Analysis

Listening Exam Sorted by Year, Topic, & Text Type

Year Part Topic (Text type)
Sample Paper A Reality shows
Sample Paper B1 Reality show (form, report, formal letter)
Sample Paper B2 Reality show (profile, formal letter, proposal)
Practice Paper A Weight problems in children
Practice Paper B1 Restaurants on a university campus (incident report, formal email, letter to the editor)
Practice Paper B2 Restaurants on a university campus (formal email, formal email, feature article)
2012 A Updating school website
2012 B1 Interculturalism (leaflet, formal email, short description)
2012 B2 Interculturalism (introduction for survey, webpage, school newsletter article)
2013 A Hong Kong airport
2013 B1 Travelling (fact file in magazine, formal email, magazine feature article)
2013 B2 Travelling (feature article, formal email, magazine editorial)
2014 A Producing YouTube videos & wildlife
2014 B1 Exotic pets (webpage, formal letter, report)
2014 B2 Exotic pets (webpage, speech, letter to the editor)
2015 A Music concert & reality shows
2015 B1 Artist management (schedule, biography, formal letter)
2015 B2 Artist management (formal letter, formal letter, article)
2016 A Museum - toy, science and music
2016 B1 Social history museum (Flyer, report, formal letter)
2016 B2 Social history museum (formal letter, webpage, report)
2017 A Twin city
2017 B1 Property development (brochure, formal email, formal letter)
2017 B2 Property development (meeting summary, webpage, formal letter)
2018 A Gaming
2018 B1 Gaming (application form, formal email, report)
2018 B2 Gaming (report, informal email, informal email)
2019 A IT
2019 B1 Visual Media Festival (checklist, formal email, webpage announcement)
2019 B2 Visual Media Festival (report, text for programme, speech)
2020 A Exploration
2020 B1 Space exploration (instruction video script, formal email, FAQ)
2020 B2 Space exploration (Introductory video script, incident report, formal email)
2021 A World Expos
2021 B1 Women’s tennis tournament (special arrangements form, announcement, letter to the editor)
2021 B2 Women’s tennis tournament (formal email, letter to the editor, formal email)
2022
A Hong Kong tours
2022
B1 Neon lighting products and services (formal email, leaflet, webpage)
2022
B2 Neon lighting products and services (webpage, formal email, speech)

Trends in Text Types

Text type Frequency Year & Part
formal email 17 PP_B1, PP_B2, PP_B2, 12_B1, 13_B1, 13_B2, 14_B1, 15_B1, 17_B1, 18_B1, 19_B1, 20_B1, 20_B2, 21_B2, 21_B2, 22_B1, 22_B2
formal letter 8 SP_B1, SP_B2, 15_B2, 15_B2, 16_B1, 16_B2, 17_B1, 17_B2
report 8 SP_B1, 14_B1, 16_B1, 16_B2, 18_B1, 18_B2, 19_B2, 20_B2
webpage 7
12_B2, 14_B1, 14_B2, 16_B2, 17_B2, 22_B1, 22_B2
letter to the editor 4 PP_B1, 14_B2, 2021_B1, 21_B2
speech 3
14_B2, 19_B2, 22_B2
feature article 2 13_B1, 13_B2
informal email 2 18_B2, 18_B2
video script 2 20_B1, 20_B2
leaflet 2
12_B1, 22_B1
form 1 SP_B1
profile 1 SP_B2
proposal 1 SP_B2
incident report 1 PP_B1
feature article 1 PP_B2
short description 1 12_B1
introduction for survey 1 12_B2
school newsletter article 1 12_B2
fact file in magazine 1 13_B1
magazine editorial 1 13_B2
schedule 1 15_B1
biography 1 15_B1
article 1 15_B2
flyer 1 16_B1
brochure 1 17_B1
meeting summary 1 17_B2
application form 1 18_B1
checklist 1 19_B1
webpage announcement 1 19_B1
text for programme 1 19_B2
FAQ 1 20_B1
special arrangements form 1 21_B1
announcement 1 21_B1

Summary of text types tested in Paper 3

Title SP PP 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Letter / Email T7/9 T6/7/
8/9
T6 T6/9 T6/10 T7/8/
9
T7/8 T6/7/
10
T6/9/
10
T6 T6/10 T7/T8/
T9/T10
T5/T9
Article / Essay
T10 T7/8/
9/10
T7/8 T8 T10 T9 T9
T7/9 T5/8
T6/T8
Report / Summary T6


T7
T6/10 T8 T7/8 T8 T9

Proposal T10











Speech



T9



T10
T6 T10
Editorial


T10








Form / Fact sheet T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T5 T7 T5 T7
Profile / Biography T8



T6