There is no getting away from the anxiety of tearing open the envelope containing your exam results. This is the moment when the dreams of teenagers seem to be realised or dashed.
Some 71,000 Secondary Six students will learn today if they have made the grade in the second sitting of the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) exam - if success is measured by qualifying for one of 15,000 publicly-funded degree places on offer in the city.
The old academic structure used examinations at the end of Secondary Five to ruthlessly sift the high performers from the rest, allowing only about one third to take the final Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination.
Now we have a system that aims to cater for all students to the end of senior secondary schooling, and an assessment that banishes the old pass-fail barrier. The HKDSE records knowledge and competencies across five levels of performance in a so-called standards referenced reporting system.
But today, all that will matter for these students will be the mix of magic numbers, from Level 5 (peppered with one or two stars to denote the very highest performance) to Level 1, and the hope that most of their subjects will be at least Level 4. Those are likely to be the grades needed to finish this particular stage of the education race within the top 15,000.
A large hurdle will be making sure they have achieved the minimum Level 3 in Chinese and English language, and Level 2 in Mathematics and Liberal Studies, to qualify for undergraduate study - those languages being a stumbling block for many.
Last year, some 26,515 met that threshold. The results matter, of course, but they are not everything. Universities should be considering other factors in their selection, including the Student Learning Profile. This is the students' qualitative record of achievement and reflection on their learning journey.
