'Perfect' Hong Kong students on top of the world
Hong Kong is the global leader in the 2015 International Baccalaureate, with almost a fifth of all perfect scores worldwide achieved by students from local schools.
[First published on 08 July, 2015] Hong Kong is the global leader in the 2015 International Baccalaureate, with almost a fifth of all perfect scores worldwide achieved by students from local schools.
About 1,990 city students took part in the IB programme this year and 27 achieved a perfect score of 45, which was only accomplished by 158 students across the world.
Last year students gained 22 perfect scores in Hong Kong, about 10 per cent of the 208 achieved worldwide.
Lai Cheuk-yin, a St Paul's Co-educational College pupil who obtained a perfect IB score, said he declined an offer from Cambridge University, and might study at the faculty of medicine in Chinese University instead, because tuition fees were too expensive at Cambridge.
"I want to be a doctor because it is a combination between science and humanity," Lai said, adding that consultants said studying medicine at CUHK is as good as Cambridge.
St Paul's obtained an average score of 41 and three students in its 32-pupil IB class achieved the perfect score.
This is the third year the college has held the IB programme. Last year, 23 pupils at the college took part in the programme and the number is expected to reach 66 by 2017, the school said.