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HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Students are concerned about getting the required pass marks in Chinese and English exams every year, a school principal says. Photo: Handout

Less pressure on Hong Kong students if university language rule axed, group says

Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools has proposed universities adopt points system based on exam results of candidates’ best five subjects.

28 Sep 2024 - 5:14PM

Hong Kong court remands educator in custody after guilty plea for DSE exam leak

25 Sep 2024 - 5:05PM

IB examiners’ plan to tackle ‘time zone cheats’ will fail: Hong Kong expert

23 Aug 2024 - 10:22PM

Letters | How Hong Kong primary schools can nurture happier and healthier pupils

Readers suggest steps to promote children’s holistic development at school, and discuss efforts to cultivate patriotism in the young.

23 Aug 2024 - 11:30AM

Children sample the wares at the Hong Kong Book Fair taken place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on July 20, 2023. Photo: Elson Li

Letters | Hong Kong must not mix up ‘check-in’ and ‘in-depth’ tourism

Readers discuss the limits of social media-driven ‘check-in tourism’, the real reason some Hong Kong businesses don’t take digital payments, and breaking up the DSE exam into two.

15 Aug 2024 - 11:30AM

Fewer Hong Kong students secure university spots, offers from top 3 choices

An education consultant attributes decline to more applicants attaining the minimum entry requirements.

7 Aug 2024 - 11:59PM

Opinion | Hong Kong’s STEAM curriculum must empower students and teachers playing

To enhance students’ interest, skills and awareness in science and technology, the city’s schools must go beyond preparing them for exams.

27 Jul 2024 - 11:00AMvideocam

Students showcase their creations at the 26th Primary STEAM Project Exhibition, themed around climate change, at the Hong Kong Central Library Exhibition Gallery in Causeway Bay on May 8. Photo: May Tse

Opinion | Let’s listen well to Hong Kong students’ mental health woes

A student advisory council in every secondary school would let young people be heard. We don’t need to settle for reductive understandings.

20 Jul 2024 - 4:30PMvideocam

Letters | Hong Kong students without a university offer should look to their passion

Readers discuss the path forward for students to whom the Jupas route to university is closed, and how schools can better cultivate student well-being.

20 Jul 2024 - 11:30AM

Letters | 2 ways Hong Kong can build a healthy education system

Readers discuss curriculum changes that could tackle student stress, the importance of giving all children a chance to take parts in sports, and the screening process for sporting competitions.

18 Jul 2024 - 11:30AM

Students take the DSE Chinese language exam at a school in Tai Po on April 11. Photo: Handout

How a 9-year-old boy aced 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

17 Jul 2024 - 11:37PMvideocam

Nine-year-old Bryan Leung. The biggest obstacle in taking the notoriously tough tests was not the studying but securing his entry as a primary school student. Photo: Eugene Lee

Hong Kong pupils from ethnic minority groups set for university after DSE exams

Angela Cabido Dela Cruz and Scott Norton surmount racism and identity issues to attain strong grades, will pursue biomedicine or nursing degrees.

17 Jul 2024 - 6:44PMvideocam

Hong Kong’s all-important public exam results revealed

17 Jul 2024 - 6:05PM

‘Achieve what you want’: Hong Kong students with special needs revel in DSE results

Students overcome adversity to pass Diploma of Secondary Education exams with flying colours.

17 Jul 2024 - 6:55PM

Pang Ching-ka, who has cerebral palsy, had difficulty sitting still for a long periods without having to stretch his muscles, which affected his ability to study. Photo: Sun Yeung

8 of 10 DSE top scorers want to be doctors, make Hong Kong ‘better place’

High-fliers among 49,000 day-school and private candidates who receive university entrance exam results.

18 Jul 2024 - 4:53PMvideocam

Iu Chun-yi, 17, a top scorer of Hong Kong Chinese Women’s Club College and the first in her school’s history. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong DSE: 8 elite schools produce 10 top students – as it happened

Culmination of hours of hard work for the 49,026 candidates in this year’s Diploma of Secondary Education exams.

20 Jul 2024 - 11:59PM

10 students attain perfect scores in Hong Kong university entrance exams

About 94 per cent of candidates who sit for citizenship and social development core subject pass the test, introduced after 2019 social unrest.

16 Jul 2024 - 11:56PM

Hong Kong NGO predicts results needed to win university spots for DSE students

Students have ‘very high chance’ of getting university spot if they score 20 out of 35 in their five best subjects for entrance exam, NGO says.

14 Jul 2024 - 6:13PM

Students sit their university entrance exams. Official figures show 39,300 have applied to study at publicly funded universities through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System, with 15,000 places up for grabs. Photo: Handout

Letters | Lesson for Hong Kong’s dream chasers in DSE documentary

Readers discuss a film about a student’s struggles, and the importance of inculcating financial literacy at school.

13 Jul 2024 - 11:30AM

Opinion | No relief for Hong Kong students unless our test-mad education system changes

If we know critical thinking skills and the quality of students’ schoolwork are important, we must make the educational system reflect that.

8 Jul 2024 - 9:16AMvideocam

Letters | What’s a university degree really worth in today’s Hong Kong?

Readers discuss the decline in university teaching amid the pursuit of high global rankings, patriotic education, and subdivided flats.

7 Jul 2024 - 11:30AM

People take photos at Polytechnic University during graduation season. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Letters | Listen to undergraduates’ mental health concerns

Readers discuss how to improve university students’ mental health, the Diploma of Secondary Education exam, and traffic penalty notices.

29 Jun 2024 - 11:30AM

Students walk past a mural at City University. Young people’s input into any mental health promotion or advocacy initiative is crucial, and attention must be paid. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Review | Once Upon a Time in HKDSE: documentary covers Hong Kong exam stress

A teenage student cramming for Hong Kong’s university entrance exam joins YouTuber Hui Yin, who is resitting it at 30 to put right his past failures, in documentary Once Upon a Time in HKDSE.

27 Jun 2024 - 11:15AMvideocam

Opinion | ‘Segregated’ schooling is holding back Hong Kong’s potential

Instead of imposing Chinese language education as a barrier, the city must adopt inclusive reforms that allow minority students to thrive

26 Jun 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

Letters | Hong Kong schools must realise English is a foreign language

Readers discuss the current assumptions about language learning, why senior secondary students should still study grammar, and government intervention in the HKU row.

26 Jun 2024 - 5:13PM

A sign reads in Chinese “Please take your temperature” as students wait to take the DSE English exam at a school in North Point in 2023. Photo: Dickson Lee

IB taking ‘appropriate and timely measures’ to remove leaked exam questions

International Baccalaureate says an investigation has found ‘students have engaged’ in ‘time-zone cheating’ activities but it did not disclose the number of pupils involved.

7 May 2024 - 8:35PM

Those engaging in time-zone cheating will face consequences, the IB has warned. Photo: Shutterstock

Letters | Why citizenship subject will fail to cultivate patriotism in Hong Kong students

Readers discuss the pass-fail grading system for the citizenship and social development DSE exam, and teachers’ approach in the classroom amid concerns about student mental health.

6 May 2024 - 11:30AM

Just 1 in 10 Hong Kong ethnic minority pupils get city-funded university places

Entrance rate for Chinese-speaking pupils almost three times higher over same period, government figures show.

6 May 2024 - 12:26PM

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HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination is administered by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Most candidates take four core subjects (Chinese and English languages, mathematics and liberal studies) and two or three elective subjects.

last updated:

9 September, 2024