Before you practise writing, confirm which script you must use and how each response must be given, using the official syllabus and the paper’s printed instructions for your code.
This is the third step in Chinese qualification identification, after checking year and route.
What counts as an instruction?
Script (Simplified or Traditional characters), the language of the response, word limits, and how answers are laid out. Pinyin may help you learn, but whether it can appear in an answer is a rule to read, not to guess.
These rules differ by qualification and can change by year, so this site does not state them for you. You check them at source.
A short verification routine
- Open the syllabus for your code and year.
- Find the script and response statements and note the page.
- Open a specimen or past paper for the same code and read the printed instructions.
- Write a three-line checklist in your own words.
- Ask your centre or teacher about anything unclear.
Worked example
An invented learner, Farah (fictional), writes her checklist after reading her paper’s instructions.
我的检查表（虚构示例）：
- 用什么字体？：照大纲说明
- 字数要求：看试卷第一页
- 答案写在哪里：按题目指示
She has not guessed. Each line points to a place in the document, so she can answer “where did you read that?” for every item.
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken approach: “I always write in the script I learned at school, so that is fine.”
Habit is not the rule. The syllabus and paper for your code say what is accepted. The correction is to read the official wording and quote its location on your checklist.
Check yourself
1. Name two places to find response instructions.
Show answer
The official syllabus for your code and year, and the instructions printed on the question paper.
2. Your friend sits a different code and says “pinyin is fine”. Can you rely on that?
Show answer
No. Another route does not set your rules. Check your own syllabus and paper.
3. Why write the page number on the checklist?
Show answer
It lets you return to the source quickly if a rule is in doubt.
Where this leads next
Next, avoid inferring the route from ethnicity or home language. You can store your checklist in the mistake log and retest queue.
A teacher in online one-to-one Chinese tuition can help you turn rules into habits, while the rules themselves remain Cambridge’s to set.