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 |