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HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education
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Hong Kong students sit for the visual arts portion of the Diploma of Secondary Education exam in April. Photo: May Tse

7 Hong Kong students achieve perfect scores for DSE university entrance exams after year marked by coronavirus setbacks

  • The number achieving a grade of 5** across all seven of the Diploma of Secondary Education exams’ subjects matched last year’s total
  • Test takers will be sent their results via SMS on Wednesday morning, while certificates will also be handed out in person the same day
Seven young Hongkongers have achieved perfect scores for the local university entrance exams, the city’s testing authority revealed on Tuesday, in a year in which 12 candidates had to miss at least some written portions because of mandatory coronavirus screenings.

The elite pupils were among 49,976 who sat for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams between April 23 and May 20, according to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

This year will be the first in which students will be sent their DSE exam results via SMS, with the messages going out on Wednesday morning, meaning at least some will know how they have performed before receiving their official grading certificates at school.

Three male students and four female ones scored a perfect 5** across the exam’s seven subjects. Of those, three also earned a 5** for an extended mathematics module elective.

Some Hong Kong students took their DSE exams from government quarantine facilities this year. Photo: Handout

The number of top scorers matched last year’s seven, who came from four schools. In 2019, 12 high-fliers from nine schools hit the 5** mark on the exam’s seven-level grading scale.

More than 17,000 secondary school students achieved the minimum requirement for local undergraduate programmes – slightly fewer than last year’s roughly 18,000 – and will now be competing for about 13,000 subsidised first-year university places.

Nearly 50,000 people – about 43,000 from local schools and another 6,600 private candidates – took the exams this year, a record low since the introduction of the DSE in 2012. The smaller turnout reflected the steadily shrinking number of high school graduates over the past decade, which has been largely attributed to lower birth rates.

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Seven students achieve perfect scores in Hong Kong's university entrance exams

Seven students achieve perfect scores in Hong Kong's university entrance exams

Exam authority chief Wei Xiangdong said in a press conference that pupils were likely to find it easier to get into one of the eight local publicly-funded universities given fewer candidates met the minimum requirements this year.

“But because of the [different] admission policies made by universities, sometimes they can also choose to enrol more overseas students or students taking other exams, [therefore] this is something we cannot really predict,” Wei said.

One of the city’s biggest student counselling groups, Hok Yau Club, has said that a smaller overall student population coupled with more pupils choosing to study overseas – including some emigrating with their families – could result in a lower threshold for local university admissions.

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority officials, including Ricardo Mak (centre left) and Wei Xiangdong (centre right) speak to the press on Tuesday. Photo: Nora Tam

The exam authority’s director of public examinations, Ricardo Mak King-sang, said emigration could be a factor contributing to the declining student population, but that would need to be observed “for a longer time”.

Ng Po-shing, a student guidance consultant with Hok Yau Club, said pupils might be “more ambitious” this year when applying to local universities given the potentially higher likelihood of getting into their preferred undergraduate programme.

“Even if their results do not meet the programme’s previous admission requirements, they may still try to apply first as there are more uncertainties this year,” he said.

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This year’s tests were postponed for a month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 130 candidates who were absent from the exams because of illness or other issues applied for assessed results. They included 12 pupils who were forced to miss out because they were ordered to take mandatory Covid-19 tests.

Seven students ordered into mandatory quarantine, meanwhile, were able to take their written tests at the government isolation facilities at Penny’s Bay under new arrangements.

The exam authority also said three candidates were penalised after being caught cheating during the exams, including one who attempted to use a mobile phone to search for answers. All of those subjects’ results were subsequently disqualified.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: 7 students achieve perfect DSE scores
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