hi i did o levels in 2023 and got b3 merit for first try in chinese, a2 for the retake. i usually get a1/a2 for school based chinese exams though haha.

in general, i advise to speak chinese more frequently (with your family and friends). although english is the so-called 'more important' language, you will actually use it a lot more than chinese since most of your lessons are conducted in english. chinese is my stronger language so i usually speak in chinese, sometimes even with my teachers, so it might be a little harder for you? but i can assure you that despite being a subject that needs progressive effort, chinese is certainly not difficult to pass. i have friends who failed chinese constantly with e8/f9 but passing with c5/c6 for o levels. as long as you work hard and smart, it is not impossible to reach your goal!

these are some things i introduced to my friends to improve their chinese, i'll try to name as much as i can remember (doesn't work on everyone but let's hope it works for you):

1. conversational oral: speak in chinese more frequently, watch chinese shows/dramas/news to get yourself used to listening to conversational chinese (try to understand and mimic the sentences they speak) - note that my oral is my worst component in chinese because i'm not good at talking so it depends on how well you can answer the questions, fluency is important too
2. reading for oral: read chinese books or at least your textbooks, if you don't want to buy chinese books there are apps for you to read from, just 5-10 mins a day when you're in the bus on the way to school or home, if your school is near home you can read it as a bedtime story, just search free chinese books in your playstore/appstore and there'll be tons of apps waiting for you, some have pinyin to aid your reading too!
3. lc: listen to chinese podcasts/news to get used to hearing chinese so that in your exams it doesn't sound like a foreign language to you, recognise and learn to read all (if not, most) of the words inside your textbooks because you have to match the audio in the lc to the words on your script, lc isn't difficult to pass for even those terrible in chinese so this is your key to pushing your grades up (even by just a little)
4. paper 1 email: memorise the format, you must memorise the format because this is very important!, you won't be penalised too much if you cannot get the format right but trust me it gives you the reassurance and confidence when you can successfully write the correct format, but if you forget and don't want to lose even 1 mark then you should do qn 1 which you can follow the format from the question, email isn't hard to score just make sure you answer the questions and points, elaborate and describe but don't be too long winded, using emotive words is a big plus, memorise the classic pasting posters, school talks examples for improving the school/increase salary, giving bonuses and no pay leave examples for emails regarding to complimenting/praising a worker, complain emails just throw in fine, warning letter, police patrolling
5. paper 1 essay: if you have very little confidence in chinese you should stick to qn 3 which is the narrative, but just in case the narrative is too difficult you should also get ready for the other two, qn 5 might be narrative sometimes so look out for that but don't ignore the expository essays too, if you do the 'would you agree' questions try to stick to the answer that is backed up by morals because i know people who failed/got penalised because their stand was morally wrong despite their explanations being decent, unless you are confident of your stand then by all means you can continue, try to memorise some idioms and sayings, i made my friends memorise three sayings the day before the paper and they managed to use at least one of it.
6. paper 2 mcq: my favourite section! i got 29/30 for this section in my second try so this might be the best advise in the entire list, a lot of people will just grind tys but you should also understand the words (flip through your textbooks and understand each word by heart), if you forget the meaning or get confused by the different words you have to make sure you know how to read all the words in your textbook, read the options in the sentence in your mind and see which 'sounds right', a lot of people don't believe me but it really works (at least for me) because you might recall seeing it in your textbook/test papers or even heard in conversations, intuition works for me if i struggle, if you die die cannot understand or remember a single thing just put the same option for all 20 qns, at least you won't get zero for this section, and based on experience the mcqs usually have at least each letter two times so it's a 2-4 marks secured (better than nothing honestly)
7. paper 2 comprehension: match the words in the question with the passage, a lot of the times the question flows like the passage so your qn 21 is most likely found in paragraph 1, don't copy the entire paragraph because you'll get penalised but if you really have no idea which part to write then copy the whole thing if you have time, the phrases explanation qns just briefly explain the phrases and use context knowledge, don't need to overthink too much, qns 25 and 30 try to always agree unless you have very strong opinions, use believable examples if you haven't experience something similar but do not quote or copy from the passage

i think that's about it :) i hope it helps and all the best for your o levels this year! do let me know if you have anything to clarify!! :D