Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination

The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE, 香港中學會考) is a standardized, area-wide benchmarking examination conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), is normally taken by a student at Form 5, the end of his/her five-year secondary education in Hong Kong.

Introduction

In 2005, 119,471 candidates entered for the examination. 86,019 of them were school candidates and 33,451 were private candidates, of which most are re-takers of individual exams.

The HKCEE is conducted from late April to May, for most subjects, by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA). For oral examinations, they are conducted in late June.

The results are released in the second week of August. There are 44 subjects available in the HKCEE. Most day school candidates take 7 to 8 subjects in the HKCEE, with 10 being the upper limit. Apart from Chinese Language and English Language which are taken by almost every school candidate, and language-specific subjects (French, Chinese History (Chinese only), Buddhist Studies (Chinese only), Literature in English (English only), Putonghua (Chinese only) and Word Processing & Business Communication (English only).), all subjects can be taken in either Chinese or English. The same standards are applied in marking and grading regardless of the language of choice, and the language medium is not recorded on the results notices or certificates. It is, however, recorded on the admission forms.

Grading

The results of the HKCEE are expressed in terms of six grades A - F, of which grade A is the highest and F the lowest. Results below grade F are designated as unclassified (UNCL), assigned either when candidates hand in unanswered or unintelligent paper(s). Candidates not taking the exam are designated as ABS for that subject. Before 2002 grades A - F were each divided into two fine grades, making the original number of grades available twelve, from A(01) to F(12).

The results are graded 'on the curve' but at the same time a cutoff score for each grade is also used. Obtaining an A is very tough, especially for the languages, where only 1.5-3% of the students get A's. On average, only the top 5% in each subject can get an A. The cutoff scores vary greatly from subjects to subjects and from year to year. To give a clearer picture, for Chinese language A-grades are sometimes given for candidates having scored 70 or above, while for Mathematics, an A invariably translates to a score in excess of 90. The cutoff scores are not released by the HKEAA publicly; the information being only available to teachers.

For official statistics, please go to http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/doc/fd/2004cee/39-60.pdf

In calculation of points, A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1, F=0, UNCL=0, ABS=0. For Form Six admission, the six best subjects are calculated. Thus, the full-mark is 30 points. The minimum requirement for entering Form Six is pass in 5 subjects with no less than 8 points or pass in 6 subjects. For IVE admission, seven best sudjects are calculated.

A grade E or above is widely accepted in Hong Kong as a basic level of achievement for employment purposes. A grade of C earns a "credit", indicating a pass with merit.

Marking Schemes

While the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) publishes booklets of past examination papers of each subject at an affordable price, the official detailed solutions (or "marking schemes") of past examinations are not readily available to the public. The official argument from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) for not publishing these marking schemes is that it might be "pedagogically unsound" and encourages "rote memorization" behaviors from students. Nevertheless, students are often able to obtain these "restricted documents" through taking classes at several reputed tutorial centers (e.g. Modern, Emperor, A1 etc). Hence, the policy of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) has indirectly denied less privileged students from gaining access to information pertaining to how examination papers are scored, creating a socio-economical bias in the ability of students to obtain good results in the HKCEE Examination. Moreover, the extreme importance in knowing how examinations are graded has made these tutorial centers extremely popular. According to media reports, some "star tutors" (e.g. Kevin Ko of Emperor) have managed to earn upwards of 7M HK Dollars per annum (~0.9M US Dollars), leading some to speculate that the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA)'s policy has indirectly transferred large amounts of wealth to these tutorial centers.

List of schools generating 10A students for HKCEE

Starting from 1987, students were allowed to study up to ten subjects. Wah Yan College, Hong Kong produced the first student with ten A-grades (colloquially called a 10A student). Queen's College is the undisputed record holder for the total number of 10A students graduating over the years while La Salle College is the record holder of the highest number of A's attained in one sitting. It achieved a record high 501 A's in the year 2003 with a secondary 5 graduate class size of 280, with an average of 1.79A per student. In the same year, Queen's College scored 2.275A per student, but the total number of A was only 455 because of a smaller class (200). However, one point to take into account when interpreting this statistic is that some schools mandate their students to take 10 subjects (e.g. Queen's College, Diocesan Girls' School) while others don't (e.g. Diocesan Boys' School, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, St. Paul's Co-educational College). This policy of requiring students to take 10 subjects has often been seen as a strategy to generate more 10A students at the expense of the overall development of students. However, the excellence that Diocesan Girls' School has achieved in many areas of extracurricular activities has somewhat weakened this argument. Diocesan Girls' School is the top record holder for the total number of 10A students among the all-girls schools in Hong Kong. On the other hand, St. Paul's Co-educational College holds the record for highest number of 10A students among all co-educational schools.

	Total	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	1995	1994	1993	1992	1991	1990	1989	1988	1987

Queen's College	44	4	1	5	4	3	2	2	5	4	2	4	4	2		2
Diocesan Girls' School	27	1	3	2	3	2	3	6	1	2	1	1				1	1
La Salle College	13	3	1	1		4	1	2					1
Wah Yan College, Hong Kong	12	1					2			1			2	1	3		1			1
Diocesan Boys' School	11	1	2	4		1	1		1						1
Wah Yan College, Kowloon	9					1			2	1	2	1				1			1
St. Joseph's College	7		1		4		1		1
St. Paul's Co-ed. College	6		1			1	1		1			1				1
Tsuen Wan Government Secondary School	6	3		1	1	1
Shun Tak Fraternal Assn. Leung Kau Kui College	4		1	2			1
Sha Tin Government Secondary School	3					1				1		1
Maryknoll Convent School	3					2									1
St. Paul's College	2					1		1
Pui Ching Middle School	2	1												1
King's College	2		1										1
St. Mary's Canossian College	2	1		1
Salesian School	1													1
Queen Elizabeth School	1								1
Christian Alliance S.C. Chan Memorial College	1								1
Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College	1								1
Po Leung Kuk No.1 W. H. Cheung College	1						1
Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College	1						1
Tuen Mun Government Secondary School	1				1
Cheung Chuk Shan College	1				1
Kwun Tong Maryknoll College	1				1
Good Hope School	1			1
St. Paul's Convent School	1		1


TOTAL:	164	15	12	17	15	17	14	11	14	9	5	8	8	5	5	5	2	0	1	1

HKSAR Government Scholarship

The HKSAR Government Scholarship is a prestigious award associated with the HKCEE Examination. The top 30-40 candidates in the HKCEE Examination receive this scholarship each year. Counterintuitively, many 10A students fail to receive this award. This apparent paradox is mainly due to the methodology in which the HKSAR Government Scholarship is awarded. Rather than calculating the number of As each student has, the HKSAR Government Scholarship is awarded on the basis of the highest total in raw scores attained in the seven best subjects of each student. Consequently, many 9A, 8A, and even 7A students go on to win this award while 10A students go home empty handed. This has been a major source of complaint from eager parents of 10A students who felt cheated from this coveted prize.

HKCEE English Language Examination

There are two syllabuses offered for students taking the HKCEE English Language Examination: Syllabus A and Syllabus B. Syllabus B is more advanced and is O-Level equivalent; a grade C on syllabus A is considered by the HKEAA to be the equivalent of a grade E on the syllabus B exam. Both syllabuses will be discontinued from 2007, in favor of a new exam syllabus. The new exam for the syllabus includes School-based Assessment (SBA), carrying 15% of the total subject mark. Results are distinguished in seven grades, instead of the traditional five.

Purpose of HKCEE

After sitting the HKCEE and having their examination results announced, candidates may apply for a place in Form 6 amongst local schools in Hong Kong. Moreover, in order to qualify for the HKALE (Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination), students must have taken the HKCEE as a prerequisite.

The certificate of HKCEE is well-known and widely recognised in Hong Kong as a formal document for seeking a job or pursuing further studies. The HKEAA has arrangements with examination boards in the United Kingdom and most subjects are equivalent to O-level of the General Certificate of Education (GCE). However, it is widely known that the HKCEE examination is qualitatively much harder than its General Certificate of Education (GCE) equivalent. Moreover, there are also significantly less students obtaining a grade of A on a percentage basis. This steep curve is introduced partly to accommodate for the lack of resources in the local university system.

For comparison, while the syllabi of HKCEE science subjects (eg. Chemistry, Physics) is similar to that of the SAT Subject Tests, it is arguably easier to obtain a full score of 800 on the SAT Subject Tests then to obtain a grade of C in the HKCEE examination.

Early Admissions Scheme

Currently, there is a scheme called the Early Admissions Scheme held by universities in Hong Kong, such as The University of Hong Kong (HKU), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Candidates with 6 or more 'A's (Distinctions) in the HKCEE (With their Language subjects scoring 'C' or above) are eligible for applying the Early Admission Scheme which may grant them the admission to the aforementioned institutions without the need to sit for the HKALE.

Subjects included

Brief Introduction

There are in total 44 subjects, 34 of which offer both Chinese and English versions for candidates to choose from. The same marking scheme and grading standard were used for the English and Chinese versions of subjects with bilingual versions. The language used by the candidates in the examination is not printed on the certificate. Each candidate may enter for a maximum of 10 subjects.

List of the subjects

Subjects offered in the 2006 sitting:

Accommodation and Catering Services
Additional Mathematics
Art (Will be changed to Visual Arts in 2006)
Biology
Buddhist Studies
Ceramics (Will be abolished in 2007)
Chemistry
Chinese History
Chinese Language
Chinese Literature
Commerce
Computer and Information Technology
Design and Technology
Design and Technology (alternative syllabus)
Economic and Public Affairs
Economics
Electronics and Electricity
Engineering Science (Will be abolished in 2007)
English Language (Syllabus A*)
English Language (Syllabus B*)
Fashion and Clothing
French
Geography
Government and Public Affairs
Graphical Communication
History
Home Economics (Dress and Design)
Home Economics (Food, Home and Family)
Human Biology (Will be abolished in 2007)
Integrated Humanities
Literature in English
Mathematics
Music
Physical Education
Physics
Principles of Accounts
Putonghua (Standard Mandarin)
Religious Studies
Science and Technology
Social Studies
Technical Drawing (Will be abolished in 2007)
Technological Studies
Textiles (Will be abolished in 2007)
Travel and Tourism
Visual Art (Starting from 2006)
Word Processing and Business Communication (English)

Note: *English Syllabus A and Syllabus B will be combined into one syllabus in 2007

Future development

Owing to the transition from the 5+2-year curriculum (5 years of secondary and 2 years of sixth form / matriculation) to a 6-year curriculum of secondary education, the HKCEE and the HKALE will be faded out and replaced with a new examination.

In 2007, the curriculum of the subjects Chinese Language and English Language will be revised. The two subjects will no longer be graded 'on the curve' but rather on actual scores. Letter grades will also be abolished and numerical levels used instead, with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. In addition, level 5 will be further sub-divided into 5 and 5*.

The proposed revisions specific to Chinese Language include:

The removal of the 26 selected essays, excerpts from the classics, poems and ancient lyrics in the original curriculum, replacing them with the selection of reading materials by the teachers.
Independent reading comprehension and writing papers.
The addition of a listening comprehension examination.
The addition of a speaking (oral) examination.
The addition of a paper testing integrated skills.
The addition of a school-based assessment (SBA) scheme that accounts for 20% of the exam mark.

The proposed revisions specific to English Language include:

The abolishment of two different syllabuses.
The abolishment of the testing of grammar and language usage which was once part of the old reading comprehension and usage paper. (Grammar will be tested alongside with comprehension in the same section)
A refined writing paper, now requiring two separate pieces writing, one guided, one independent and more open-ended.
A refined reading comprehension paper, with questions requiring written answers instead of the old format in which every question was a multiple choice question.
A refined speaking skills paper, requiring more independent thinking than the previous routinized paper.
The addition of a school-based assessment (SBA) scheme that accounts for 15% of the exam mark.

Recent year controversies

English Language grading error in 2005

In 2005, the oral component of the English language examination was incorrectly added to the total score due to a recent upgrade to the HKEAA computer system and the supervisor in charge failed to double-check the results. Subsequently, many candidates received an incorrect total score which resulted in an incorrect final grade for the subject. In an attempt to mitigate the situation, the HKEAA publicly apologised and re-checked the oral component of the English language subject for all candidates. Candidates who would have resulted in a higher score received an upgrade. However, since some candidates were unable to find a school for their matriculate education because they received an incorrect grade, the EMB was forced to increase the school quota for some schools to accommodate those affected students.

HKCEE English Language (Syllabus B) 2006 Paper 2 Incident

The HKCEE English Language (Syllabus B) 2006, the last year for this syllabus, was administered on the 4th of May. In Paper 2, Reading Comprehension and Usage, some candidates complained that the HKEAA, in providing all of the study sources via weblink, created the potential for candidates to go to the toilet and access the solutions with electronic devices such as PDA's and cell phones. This rumour was first propagated on local forums and Young-M. The incident has generated widespread public furor. One CE candidate started a petition that received over 13,000 signatures in one day, and most mass media has reported extensively on the incident and petition.

Numerous discussions have been initiated on local forums. Candidates sitting for the paper are currently demanding a re-take of the paper and an apology from the HKEAA. Some candidates have collaborated with political parties to hold protests against the HKEAA decision to not re-administer the paper. A protest (Cantonese) is proposed for the 31st of May or the 1st of July.

On a local forum, a candidate has threatened to sue the HKEAA, saying that justice needed to be defended. More than 100 complaints have already been received by the HKEAA regarding the incident.

The actual articles used in the exam

^*, an article on the Para Para scene in Hong Kong, published by USA Today on August 31, 2001.
^* (on cyber-bullying, currently down for maintenance)

External links

School qualifications | Standardized tests | School examinations in Hong Kong

香港中學會考

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