The invention provides a function test system for a system on chip (SOC). The function test system for the SOC comprises a test machine, a manipulator which is controlled by the test machine and used for testing a chip to be tested, a test sub board, and a test main board provided with a liquid crystal display. The test main board controls the test machine and the manipulator to work; the test sub board transmits state information of the current test item and test result information to the test main board through a serial port protocol; the test state information and the test result information comprise printed information and test item information; in the serial port protocol, the test item information is started with a pound sign-shaped character and ended with a star-shaped character, and the debugging printed information is not started with the pound sign-shaped character; the test main board transmits the final test result information of the chip to the manipulator through a testinterface of the manipulator; and the manipulator counts the situation of finishing the chip test. The function test system can support manual tests and tests controlled by the manipulator; moreover,the test efficiency is high and the test cost is low.