- Of the four star pupils, two are from St Paul’s Co-educational College in Central; last year, 11 top scorers each came from different schools
- Tally marks record low since 2012 when DSE introduced in city
Students receive their DSE results at St Paul’s Co- educational College. Photo: Sam TsangTwo of the four students who scored perfect grades in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams on Wednesday said they would stay in the city to study medicine, while one remains undecided and a fourth will attend Cambridge University in the UK.
The tally of perfect scorers in the latest Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) examination marked a record low since 2012 when the test was introduced in the city, with the four star pupils this year coming from three traditional elite schools.
Two of the high-fliers came from St Paul’s Co-educational College in Central, with one from Good Hope School in Choi Hung and another from Queen’s College in Causeway Bay.
Last year, the city recorded 11 top DSE scorers, each from a different school.
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 more than 70 per cent decline.
The DSE exam this year was 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: Eden Cheng Yi-ching from Good Hope School; Charlie Law Chak-ka from Queen’s College; and Icy Ku Ping-sum as well as Terry Lam Chung-wang from St Paul’s Co-educational 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.
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 international curriculum such as 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.”
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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 exam.
“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.
Students will be competing for some 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 in Mid-Levels, the only school in this round boasting more than one star pupil.
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Between 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).
Ku is also a two-time winner of the Student of the Year (SOTY) Award. She was crowned in the Linguist (Putonghua) category last year and won again in the Linguist (Cantonese) this year. The competition is organised by the South China Morning Post and sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“We all know that the medical system [in Hong Kong] is actually very well developed and I also want to contribute,” she said, adding she was determined to become a doctor in the city and had not applied to any university programmes overseas.
Being among the final cohort taking 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 added.
Another perfect scorer has also set his sights on pursuing medicine.
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Charlie Law from Queen’s College in Causeway Bay said he planned to apply for the medicine programme offered by CUHK, 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,” he 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,” he added.
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 city’s policy to welcome doctors trained overseas and from mainland China to practise in the city, saying it would expand the capacity of the medical system.
“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.”