Intensive A-level study puts Hongkongers on track for a top university
Hong Kong students who consider the International Baccalaureate and Diploma of Secondary Education unsuitable pursue a third course in their free time or at private study centres
Results were released last week for students who completed the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma in May. As always, a number were jubilant with above average or even perfect scores.
But despite its popularity, the IB does not necessarily suit everybody. Neither does the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) curriculum modelled after it.
Some students are taking the third option - doing A-level courses in their free time or taking them in private centres with hopes of augmenting their chances of entering a top university. A-levels are academic qualifications offered by British educational bodies to students completing secondary education worldwide. Candidates freely pick three or four subjects and focus on their strengths.
In contrast, candidates for the IB Diploma and DSE - which emphasise all-roundedness - must take subjects across the academic spectrum.
Last year, Arch Education launched Hong Kong's first accelerated One-Year A-level Course, as opposed to the typical A-levels which normally take two years to finish, in partnership with MPW in Britain, a group of schools specialising in the One-Year A-level Course.
The one year full-time, exam-based course is already widely available in Britain. In Hong Kong, five pupils were enrolled in it. Emma Humphries, academic director of the One-Year A-level at Arch, says the offer is not meant to be a shortcut to university. "We would prefer students to have studied at least one year of senior secondary school, as the A-level is an intensive course," she says.
