Three of those – two boys and a girl – earned 5** for an extended mathematics module elective.

Seventeen students attained 5** across six subjects, while 35 achieved the highest mark for five subjects.

Seven students in 2020 and 2021 hit the 5** mark across all subjects, while last year there were 11. The number of top scorers this year was the lowest since the introduction of the DSE in 2012.

In 2016, the number of top scorers rose from four to five after a student had her grades reviewed successfully.

A total of 17,391 secondary school pupils, or 42.3 per cent, achieved the minimum mark, also known as the “3322+2” requirement, for publicly funded undergraduate programmes, scoring at least level 3 in both Chinese and English language subjects, and level 2 in maths, liberal studies and an elective.

Viral photos of final liberal studies exam prompts official warning in Hong Kong

Pupils will be competing for about 12,000 subsidised first-year places via the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Jupas), a unified mechanism for applying for full-time undergraduate courses, or a ratio of 1.45 eligible students to one slot.

Another 3,000 subsidised places will be given to students applying by a non-Jupas route.

Last year, 12,178 students sitting the DSE exams were granted subsidised degree offers via Jupas, according to the Education Bureau.

For six out of Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities, “3322+33” is the minimum admission requirement, meaning two elective subjects at level 3 or above in addition to four core subjects. A total of 14,502 candidates, or 35.3 per cent, scored these results, slightly higher than the 14,324, or 34.8 per cent, last year.

Wei Xiang-dong, secretary general of the exams body, said the drop in the number of top scorers was related to “luck”.

“Though there are fewer top scorers, the number of students scoring high marks is not that low compared with last year,” he said, noting that 107 pupils obtained 40 to 42 points compared with 102 in 2022.

“Some students may lack a little luck and could not become top scorers.”

He also noted the total number of candidates obtaining 5* and 5** this year had increased by 0.1 percentage points compared with last year.

Asked if an emigration wave in the city had resulted in a loss of star pupils, Wei said: “From that point of view, we do not believe the top students have left Hong Kong.”

Authority chiefs also touched on the case of an internet user claiming to be a DSE marker who revealed the marking scheme for the Chinese-language exam in a post on Xiaohongshu, a popular social media platform in mainland China.

Ricardo Mak King-sang, the authority’s director of public examinations, said the incident was a serious breach of the service agreement between markers and the exams body, which had reported the case to police.

“It is an individual case. The HKEAA has a long history and the incident is extremely rare. Our exam personnel generally adhere to our instructions when performing their duties,” he said.

Wei said the authority could not confirm if the post was uploaded by exam personnel but he believed police would take action, adding that all markers signed a confidentiality agreement and were provided with training videos and sessions.

“Over 99 per cent of markers followed our rules,” he said.

This year marked the last batch of students sitting the liberal studies exam, a core subject since 2012. A total of 43,160 students sat the test this year, with 89.6 per cent attaining level 2 or above, the minimum requirement for admission at public universities, compared with 89 per cent in 2022.

Choy Siu-kwan, head of assessment development, said the authority did not particularly avoid questions relating to politics when designing this year’s paper, adding that schools agreed the liberal studies test could fit the purpose of the curriculum over the years.

The core subject has gradually been replaced by citizenship and social development since 2021, ­following accusations the curriculum was radicalising youngsters. The new syllabus focuses on national security, identity, ­lawfulness and patriotism.

All Form Four and Five pupils are studying the new subject, which has two grades – “attained” or “not attained”. Public universities earlier announced they required all DSE candidates to achieve “attained”.

Meanwhile, eligible students attending mainland schools that offer Hong Kong’s curriculum will be allowed to sit the DSE exams across the border from next year, with the papers to be marked in Hong Kong.

Wei said he could only provide more information after local and mainland education authorities had confirmed the details, but noted that students across the border could currently sit the exams in the city.