Last year, the city recorded 11 top DSE scorers, each from a different school.

4 Hong Kong students bag perfect score in DSE exams, marking record low

The same declining trend in perfect grades was observed in the International Baccalaureate (IB) exams this year with 23 students posting top scores, compared with 93 in 2022, a drop of more than 70 per cent.

The DSE exams this year were held between April 21 and May 18 for 48,762 candidates. Two male and two female pupils scored a perfect 5** on a seven-level grading scale across all seven subjects, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority revealed on Tuesday.

The four top scorers are: Icy Ku Ping-sum and Terry Lam Chung-wang from St Paul’s Co-educational College; Eden Cheng Yi-ching from Good Hope School; and Charlie Law Chak-ka from Queen’s College.

Three of those – two boys and a girl – earned 5** for an extended mathematics module elective. They are considered “super” top scorers.

The number of top scorers this year marked a 64 per cent drop compared with 2022.

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Ricardo Mak King-sang, the authority’s director of public examinations, on Wednesday said there were several possible reasons for the decline in the number of top scorers, including emigration and students choosing an international curriculum such as the IB.

Mak added that a year of difference in results was not enough to draw conclusions. “Emigration is a trend and has continued for some time. Is it related to the student performance? I think we need to observe for a longer time.”

The director also noted that the proportion of students with 5**, the highest mark in the grading system, had increased this year and the number of elite students obtaining 40 to 42 points rose from 102 last year to 107.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said students sitting the latest DSE had endured a three-year pandemic and put in extra effort for the exams.

“In fact, the number of students getting good results rose according to the examination authorities’ report,” she said.

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.

They will be competing for 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 through a non-Jupas route.

Two of the three “super” top scorers this year hailed from St Paul’s Co-educational College. One of them, Terry Lam, a physics enthusiast, has already received a full scholarship to study natural sciences at Cambridge University in Britain.

“It would be a good idea to explore what other countries might have to offer in terms of scientific learning and … meet people from different countries [for] meaningful academic exchanges,” said the 18-year-old, who has yet to decide if he will return to the city after graduating.

Lam said the brain drain from Hong Kong’s emigration wave would not affect his decision to come back for work. “What’s more important is that we are actually making the world a better place for everyone, especially in such a globalised world where everyone has a strong sense of global citizenship.”

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A passion to serve others also drove Icy Ku, 17, a biomedical science enthusiast, to study medicine in Hong Kong. She remains undecided on whether to apply to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) or Chinese University (CUHK).

“We all know that the medical system [in Hong Kong] is actually very well developed and I also want to contribute,” she said.

Being among the final cohort to take the liberal studies exam, the star student said the subject was “very worthwhile” as it allowed pupils to “think independently” and equipped them with essential workplace skills.

“For fellow students taking citizenship and social development, there are more limitations. So critical thinking and divergent thinking are something that we need to train even more,” she said.

Another perfect scorer has also set his sights on pursuing medicine. Charlie Law from Queen’s College said he planned to apply for CUHK’s medicine programme, as it had always been his dream to become a doctor.

“I have always been interested in medicine. When I was little, I loved reading ancient Chinese chivalry novels and found doctors in stories could save lives. I thought they were marvellous,” Law said.

“As I grew up, I witnessed some close family members passing away, and realised the significance of life, as well as the important mission to save lives.”

Law said he decided to attend a local university to become a doctor because he had a strong sense of belonging in Hong Kong.

He praised the policy to welcome doctors trained overseas and from mainland China to practise in the city, saying it would expand the medical system’s capacity.

“I hope there will be some courses about Hong Kong’s medical administration and local diseases provided to overseas and mainland-trained doctors, so there would be fewer conflicts between locally and non-locally trained doctors,” he said.

Top scorer Eden Cheng, 17, from Good Hope School meanwhile said she was interested in studying medicine in Hong Kong but still unsure if she would stay, as she had also received an offer from the University of Glasgow in the UK.

“Take surgeons as an example. You have to meet different types of patients and different types of technologies advance gradually, so I think I can learn a lot of new things,” she said.

“Being a doctor is very much focused on practicality, which is something that I prefer.”