Four Hong Kong students received perfect scores in their university entrance exams as some 48,762 candidates received their results on Wednesday morning.
The number of perfect scorers was at its lowest since the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) was implemented in 2012. Seven and 11 students got perfect scores in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Among the four perfect scorers this year, three said they would major in medicine at university and two are considering pursuing further education in the UK.
Ku Ping Sum from St. Paul’s Co-educational College, who scored 5** – the highest grade, equivalent to the top 10 per cent of those scoring a level 5 – in all seven subjects, told reporters outside the school she would attend university in Hong Kong and aspired to become a doctor in the future. Ku said she understood there was a massive shortage in medics in the city and hoped to serve others by studying medicine.
Terry Lam, another student with perfect scores who studied at St. Paul’s Co-educational College, said he would go to University of Cambridge to study natural sciences.
Good Hope School’s Eden Cheng, who also got seven 5**s, said she would study medicine at university and was still deciding whether to study in the city or in the UK. She said she had received a conditional offer from the University of Glasgow Medical School.
Of all candidates, 42.3 per cent, or 17,391 students, achieved the minimum mark required for publicly funded undergraduate programmes, which is roughly the same as last year’s rate of 42 per cent.
The minimum mark is also known as “3322+2”, which means achieving at least a level 3 in both Chinese and English language subjects, and at least level 2 in maths, liberal studies and an elective.
This year also marked the last batch of students sitting an exam for Liberal Studies – a controversial subject introduced in 2009 that was axed by the government following the 2019 protests and unrest. Officials blamed the subject for misleading the city’s youth and encouraging students to take part in large-scale demonstrations, which erupted over a since-axed extradition bill.
The subject has been revamped into a new one called Citizenship and Social Development, which places an emphasis on China and national education.
When asked if the low number of perfect stores was related to an emigration wave, Wei Xiangdong, general secretary of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), said in press conference on Tuesday that he did not believe all top students had left the city.
Wei said that the record was because “some students lacked a bit of luck” this year, adding that there were many students achieving high scores this year.
Hong Kong schools were subject to intermittent closures and online learning after Covid-19 emerged in the city in early 2020 until full-day classes resumed in February.
There were 27,996 fewer primary and secondary students at the start of the last academic year compared to in 2021, according to HKFP’s calculations based on the Education Bureau’s annual enrolment statistics report.
Decreasing DSE candidates
The number of DSE exam candidates has decreased by over 17 per cent in the past five years. In 2018, 59,000 candidates sat for DSE exams.
Wei said on RTHK on Wednesday that the decline of DSE candidates was “a structural issue” and the HKEAA was suffering from financial pressures. As an independently-run statutory body, HKEAA relies on examination fees as its main income source.
HKEAA announced last year that it would allow qualified mainland Chinese schools to hold DSE exams in 2024 or 2025. Wei said on RTHK that governments from both sides of the border were studying the feasibility of setting up test centres in the mainland.
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