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William Yiu

A record 24 students from 15 schools have scored perfect marks in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams, but the proportion of day-school candidates meeting the minimum admission requirements fell slightly to 36.8 per cent, a drop an education consultant attributed to weaker performance in the two core language subjects.
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority released the candidates’ general performance in the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams on Tuesday.
The 58,487 students will learn their full results the following day.
Most DSE subjects are graded on a seven-level scale from Level 1 to Level 5**, with Level 5 subdivided into 5, 5* and 5**.
This year, 14 boys and 10 girls attained Level 5** in six subjects, along with an “attained” result in citizenship and social development.
Among them, six boys and five girls were “super top scorers”, having also achieved 5** in the extended mathematics module.
Level 5** is awarded to the top 10 per cent of candidates who achieve Level 5 or above, followed by Level 5* for the next 30 per cent, and Level 5 for the remainder.
The 24 top scorers broke the previous record of 17 set last year.
The authority’s secretary general, Wei Xiangdong, attributed the increase partly to the gradual replacement of liberal studies with citizenship and social development from 2021.
The core subject is graded as either attained or not attained, and Wei said dropping liberal studies gave students more time to focus on other subjects.
While the number of perfect scorers increased this year, the proportion of day-school candidates who met the minimum entrance requirements for the city’s eight public universities fell slightly.
Of the 43,347 students, 36.8 per cent, or 15,973, met the threshold, compared with 16,447 candidates, or 38.6 per cent, out of 42,589 last year.
“It is a slight decrease from the previous year, yet still above the average of about 36.5 per cent recorded over the past five years,” Wei said.
Admission requires achieving at least Level 3 in Chinese and English, Level 2 in mathematics, an “attained” grade in citizenship and social development, and Level 3 in two elective subjects, although two publicly funded universities require only Level 2 in electives.
Meeting the minimum requirements, however, does not guarantee admission.
If private candidates are included, 17,882 students met the admission threshold.

Past years show that about 12,000 of the roughly 15,000 subsidised university places are taken up by DSE candidates applying through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (Jupas), so about 6,000 students who met the minimum requirements will not secure a funded place this time around.
For the core language subjects, the proportion of day-school students attaining Level 3 dropped to 62.5 per cent for Chinese and 54.6 per cent for English, down from 64.9 per cent and 55.1 per cent last year respectively.
Ng Po-shing, a secondary school vice-principal and student guidance consultant at the youth-focused Hok Yau Club, attributed the overall decline in university-eligible candidates to the weaker performance in the two language subjects.
Ng advised students with borderline scores to be more conservative when selecting their university programmes. According to authority figures, the number of candidates scoring between 21 and 23 points in their best five subjects rose by 7 per cent to 9,735, intensifying competition.
“Students will need to score at least 21 points to secure a guaranteed spot at one of the eight public universities this year,” Ng said. “For those scoring 17 points, there is almost no chance of admission at all.”
Level 5** is counted as seven points, while Level 1 is counted as one point.
Wei also urged students to maintain a constructive outlook when receiving their results.
“I encourage all candidates to stay positive and optimistic as they receive their results, reflect on their performance and plan their next steps in line with their aspirations,” he said.
“Life is a long journey with endless possibilities. With perseverance and resilience, you can shape your own future.”
The authority also discovered seven cases of cheating this year, all involving local candidates. The authority disqualified the students from the exams due to the severity of the offences, although it declined to disclose specific details.
Additionally, one candidate received a score of zero for plagiarising their Visual Arts school-based assessment and was downgraded one level for the entire subject.


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A record 24 students from 15 schools have scored perfect marks in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams. Photo: Handout

Most DSE subjects are graded on a seven-level scale from Level 1 to Level 5**. Photo: Handout

Level 5** is awarded to the top 10 per cent of candidates, followed by 5* for the next 30 per cent and Level 5 for the remainder. Photo: Handout

The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority released the results of the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) on Tuesday. Photo: May Tse

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Students sit the Diploma of Secondary Education exams in April. This year, 58,576 candidates sat the DSE exams, up by nearly 5 per cent from last year. Photo: Handout

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Pupils at Munsang College take the Hong Kong DSE Chinese language exam on April 9. Photo: Handout 

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Hong Kong

Education

Fourteen boys and 10 girls achieve Level 5** in six subjects, but proportion of day-school candidates meeting university threshold falls


Fourteen boys and 10 girls achieve Level 5** in six subjects, but proportion of day-school candidates meeting university threshold falls.


Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority

HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Record 24 students ace DSE, but weaker language scores shrink admission pool

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Fourteen boys and 10 girls achieve Level 5** in six subjects, but proportion of day-school candidates meeting university threshold falls

Fourteen boys and 10 girls achieve Level 5** in six subjects, but proportion of day-school candidates meeting university threshold falls