This paper describes and discusses the school leaving examination in oral English in South Africa, which is designed for those whose first language is English and involves the presentation of a prepared talk, reading aloud, and a conversation with a teacher. Each element of the test is discussed and evaluated separately. Problems of reticence in adolescent boys, lack of continuous oral language assessment, lack of training in speech instruction by the teachers and the time-consuming aspects of the test are also discussed. (MKM)