English & languagesReviewed 9 Oct 2026

GCSE Chinese (Mandarin) specification

GCSE Chinese is about understanding and using Mandarin in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. It is built on the DfE's modern foreign languages subject content (2015), which still applies to every language but French, German and Spanish, so each board sets its own grammar and vocabulary lists. Students read and write Chinese characters; the two boards print the same grammar list, and their vocabulary lists are close in size.

Start practising
How it's assessed
Tiered (Foundation, grades 1 to 5; Higher, grades 4 to 9, with an allowed grade 3), linear. A student sits all four papers at the same tier, in the same series.

Four papers, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, each worth 25% and all sat at the same tier in the same series. Every question and instruction is in English, as the DfE requires for a language written in characters, and listening and reading are answered in English or by choosing. Each listening extract is heard twice. Reading ends with a translation into English and Writing includes a translation into Chinese. Writing lengths are recommended in characters, and answers are written in characters; the papers print no pinyin. Speaking is conducted and recorded by the teacher and marked by the board. The assessment objectives are the four skills: AO1 listening, AO2 speaking, AO3 reading and AO4 writing, 25% each.

High-level topics

The main areas of content and what a student is expected to know and do.

Identity and culture

Family, friends and relationships, technology and social media, free time (music, film and television, food and eating out, sport) and customs and festivals in Chinese-speaking countries and communities. AQA's first theme; Pearson's first theme covers the same ground under who I am, daily life and cultural life.

AQA 8673 specification, version 1.2: themes and topicsPearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5: themes and topics
Local area, travel and the wider world

Home, town and region, holidays, travel and tourist transactions, the environment, and social and global issues. AQA groups these in its second theme, which also covers charity and voluntary work, healthy living, and poverty and homelessness; Pearson splits them across local area, holiday and travel, and the international and global dimension.

AQA 8673 specification, version 1.2: themes and topicsPearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5: themes and topics
School, study and work

School life and studies, education after 16, using languages beyond the classroom, ambitions, and jobs and careers. AQA's third theme; Pearson's school, and future aspirations, study and work themes.

AQA 8673 specification, version 1.2: themes and topicsPearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5: themes and topics
Grammar

Both boards print the same grammar list. At Foundation: measure words, adjectives as the verb with 很 and 太…了, comparisons with 比 and 最, 是 and 有 and their negatives, modal verbs such as 会, 想 and 可以, 了 for completed actions and change, 过 for experience, actions in progress with 在, direction complements, question words and 吗, and linking words such as 因为…所以 and 虽然…但是. Higher adds more measure words, the resultative complement and its potential form, 得 for how an action is done, imminent actions with 快…了, 给, reported speech, and linking with 不但…而且, 一…就 and 越…越.

AQA 8673 specification, version 1.2: grammar listPearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5: grammar list
Characters, vocabulary and pinyin

Each board gives a vocabulary list of a few hundred entries in characters with English (AQA in simplified characters; Pearson in both simplified and traditional), split between Foundation and Higher; neither gives a separate character list or prints pinyin on its papers, and students meet some familiar words that are not listed. Pearson prints its reading and writing papers in both scripts and accepts answers in either; AQA's papers are in simplified characters. This course uses simplified characters, with pinyin in Learn and the vocabulary memory.

AQA 8673 specification, version 1.2: vocabulary listPearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5: vocabulary list

Exam boards

The awarding bodies that offer this qualification, how their papers are structured, and what's distinctive about each - with links to the official specification.

AQA
Spec 8673

AQA GCSE Chinese (Mandarin)

Papers & assessment

First taught September 2017, first examined June 2019. Four papers, 25% each, all at one tier: Paper 1 Listening (Foundation 35 minutes and 40 marks, Higher 45 minutes and 50 marks, each including 5 minutes' reading time; each extract heard twice); Paper 2 Speaking (60 marks; Foundation 7 to 9 minutes, Higher 10 to 12, plus 12 minutes' preparation; a role-play (15), a photo card (15) and a general conversation (30)); Paper 3 Reading (Foundation 45 minutes, Higher 1 hour; 60 marks; comprehension, then a translation into English worth 9); Paper 4 Writing (Foundation 1 hour, 50 marks: a message of four sentences about a photo (8), a short passage of about 30 characters (16), a translation into Chinese (10) and a structured task of about 75 characters (16); Higher 1 hour 15 minutes, 60 marks: the structured task (16), an open-ended task of about 125 characters (32) and a translation into Chinese (12)).

What's distinctive

Three themes, each of four topics. In speaking, the photo card takes one theme and the general conversation the other two, and the student must ask the teacher a question. Raw marks are scaled so each paper counts 60, and grade boundaries are set on the total out of 240. Mandarin only.

Specification

Specification (web)AQA 8673 specification PDF (version 1.2, August 2019)

Past papers & mark schemes

Past papersMark schemesExaminer reports
Pearson Edexcel
Spec 1CN0

Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Chinese

Papers & assessment

First taught September 2017, first examined June 2019. Four papers, 25% each, all at one tier: Paper 1 Listening (Foundation 35 minutes, Higher 45, each including 5 minutes' reading time; 50 marks; each extract heard twice); Paper 2 Speaking (70 marks; Foundation 7 to 9 minutes, Higher 10 to 12, plus 12 minutes' preparation; a role-play (10), a picture-based task (24) and a conversation (36)); Paper 3 Reading (Foundation 50 minutes, Higher 1 hour 5 minutes; 50 marks; comprehension, then a translation into English); Paper 4 Writing (Foundation 1 hour 20 minutes: a photo task of 20 to 30 characters (12), a formal task of 40 to 50 characters (16), an informal task of 80 to 110 characters (20) and a translation into Chinese of five sentences (12); Higher 1 hour 25 minutes: the informal task (20), a formal task of 130 to 180 characters (28) and a translation of a paragraph (12); 60 marks).

What's distinctive

Five themes, the same as Pearson's other GCSEs on the 2015 content. Reading and writing papers are printed in simplified and in traditional characters, and students may write in either. Listening recordings come in Mandarin and Cantonese, and speaking can be taken in either; this course offers Mandarin only. Papers carry different raw marks (50, 70, 50 and 60) but count 25% each, and grade boundaries are set on the total out of 280.

Specification

Specification (web)Pearson Edexcel 1CN0 specification, issue 5 (October 2022)Pearson Edexcel 1CN0 sample assessment materials, issue 3 (December 2022)

Past papers & mark schemes

Past papers & sample assessmentsMark schemesExaminer reports
How the boards differ

AQA (8673) and Pearson Edexcel (1CN0) are the two boards setting GCSE Chinese in England; Eduqas, OCR and WJEC do not. Both follow the DfE's 2015 subject content, so the four equally weighted skills, the tiers, the questions in English and the shared grammar list are common to both. The differences are in the papers: AQA's speaking test is out of 60 (role-play, photo card, general conversation), Pearson's out of 70 (role-play, picture-based task, conversation); AQA's writing asks for a message about a photo, a short passage and structured and open-ended tasks of about 30, 75 and 125 characters, Pearson's for a photo task and formal and informal tasks of 20 to 30, 40 to 50, 80 to 110 and 130 to 180 characters; AQA groups its content in three themes and Pearson in five; and Pearson prints its reading and writing papers in traditional characters as well as simplified. So choosing a board changes the paper format, not what a student learns to do.

Original sources

Straight from the awarding bodies - the specifications these summaries are drawn from.

DfE, Modern foreign languages: GCSE subject contentAQA GCSE Chinese (Mandarin) 8673Pearson Edexcel GCSE Chinese (2017)

Looking at other subjects?

Every GCSE we cover has a guide like this - topics, boards and what to expect.

All subject guides

Looking for A-level subjects?

A-level guides like these live on ALevelwiz - same family, same account, built for A-level students.

Visit alevelwiz.com