How a 9-year-old boy scored top marks in Hong Kong’s DSE exams and what’s next
- Bryan Leung only decided to take the tests as a challenge after watching a YouTube tutorial and says he’s in no hurry to skip more grades.
Nine-year-old Bryan Leung Chi-yan never intended to ace part of this year’s university entrance exams in Hong Kong and only ended up taking the tests after watching a YouTube video that challenged him more than his classes did.
Neither is Bryan in any rush to skip any more grades after learning on Wednesday he achieved 5* in the compulsory part of mathematics and 5** in the extended module of algebra and calculus in the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams. Jumping up the grade ladder, he said, made it difficult to find best friends.
Carrying a big smile and energy to match, the boy said he did not know exactly what the exams entailed when he stumbled across a tutorial video for the maths paper on YouTube. But he decided to give the tests a shot anyway.
“It’s for secondary school students, and I’m in primary school, so I wanted to take [the exams] as a challenge,” Leung said.
The biggest obstacle in taking the notoriously tough tests was not the studying but securing his entry as a primary school student.
His father, Manfred Leung Man-kin, said he and his wife had to research how to enrol Bryan with the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. They decided to ask him whether he was first willing to take the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), a British qualification for students aged 14 to 16.
The couple’s move was to convince Hong Kong exam authorities of their son’s academic abilities with his stellar results in the IGCSE exam, and it paid off.
“During the pandemic, there were periods when he didn’t have to go to school, so he learned most of the content via many channels, from reading to YouTube videos,” Leung said.
Bryan said preparing for both the IGCSE and DSE exams was easy, even though completing 12 years of past papers was “boring”.
“During the multiple-choice exam, I had to go to the bathroom. Afterwards, since I took the exam in my mother’s alma mater, I looked around to check if her name was on any bulletin boards for outstanding achievement,” he said.
The boy said he finished the DSE paper, for which students are allowed to take one hour and 15 minutes, in about half an hour.
The couple also said they would also let their son decide whether he wanted to skip grades further after jumping one level to Primary Four last year.
“He doesn’t have many common topics with [classmates his age], as he yearns for a companion to discuss mathematics with, but his Primary Four classmates couldn’t do this yet,” Leung said. “That’s why he feels that he doesn’t have a close friend yet.”
Bryan said he “doesn’t have any best friends”, adding he had no wish to skip further grades.
He currently studies at the Hong Kong Baptist University Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School. Secondary school principal Claudia Liu Wing-ki said it had about 20 pupils receiving special academic treatment and had arranged tailor-made maths lessons for Bryan.
These were one-on-one sessions covering topics such as linear algebra and advanced calculus that moved according to his own pace of learning, she said. Gifted children were also offered the chance to take part in informal social gatherings, she added.
Bryan’s father said he had decided to let his son carry on with this specialised mode of learning to preserve his passion, as he was worried that mainstream primary school classes would stifle his development and motivation to work hard.
When asked what his next goal was, Bryan said he hoped to attain a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad as a part of the Hong Kong team.
He also wished to become a mathematician in the future to contribute to society by solving complex problems.
