12 stand out from university 'in' crowd with seven 5** grades

A record 12 high-flying students have stood out from this year's Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) examination, as the percentage of students meeting the basic requirements for local university admission increased.

The 12 pupils - seven boys and five girls - got seven level 5**, or high distinction, marks. That puts them in the top 1 per cent for their subjects, according to figures released yesterday by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

There were nine top-scoring students last year and only five in 2012, when the DSE exam was held for the first time. Seven students with different levels of special education needs also scored three or more than three level 5** marks in this year's DSE exam.

Results are graded from levels 1 to 5. The top-scoring students at level 5 receive a 5**. Each level represents a fixed standard of performance.

The top-scoring students were among the 27,943 pupils this year who achieved a score of 3-3-2-2 in the core subjects of English, Chinese, mathematics, and liberal studies. That is the minimum for university entry.

They made up 35.6 per cent of an overall 79,572 secondary school graduates who took the DSE this year. This is 0.6 per cent more than last year, when an overall 82,283 students took the exam and 28,418 of them achieved the minimum university entrance requirements.

Pupils who met the minimum scores will compete for about 15,000 government-subsidised first-year university degree places through the joint admission system.