- Despite drop in perfect scores this year, city remains ‘factory’ for internationally recognised university entrance qualification
- Explaining success, educators cite economic factors and some institutions hand-picking pupils for programme offered mainly at international and private schools
High-scoring students from St Paul’s Co-educational College show off their IB results. Photo: Jonathan WongHong Kong’s two major university entrance exams, the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE), made headlines this year for a decline in the number of students with perfect scores.
Only 23 out of 2,275 IB candidates achieved top marks this year, compared with 93 in 2022. The DSE, with 48,762 candidates, also saw a record low of only four students with perfect scores across all seven subjects.
But the city’s IB results were in line with the global trend, with 179 candidates worldwide achieving the perfect score of 45, down from 640 last year.
Hong Kong, overall, remains a place where students excel in the IB and their scores consistently surpass the global average.
The SCMP looks at the reasons behind the city’s success and why some consider it an “IB factory”.
1. What is the IB?
The Swiss-based IB diploma programme, which lasts two years, is an internationally recognised university entrance qualification.
In Hong Kong, where most pupils sit the DSE, the IB is offered at only 71 international and private schools which charge high fees.
IB pupils’ scores are based on a mix of final exam results and assignments done during their two years, unlike DSE candidates who are graded almost entirely on their final tests.
Youngsters in the IB programme have to complete three core elements – a 4,000-word extended essay, a theory of knowledge course, and a creativity, activity and service component.
Is IB better than DSE? Two students debate
They choose subjects from six groups: studies in language and literature; language acquisition; individuals and societies; sciences; mathematics; and the arts.
Exam results account for about 80 per cent of their final grade, with the rest based on their performance in assignments marked by their teachers.
International school fees for IB pupils range from HK$120,000 to HK$192,000 per year, while city private institutions charge between HK$26,240 and HK$100,000 annually.
2. How well do local IB students perform?
They do very well. The global IB pass rate fell from 85.6 per cent last year to 79 per cent this year, but Hong Kong’s pass rate rose from 95 per cent to 97.7 per cent.
Hong Kong candidates have consistently surpassed the global average by about six points over the last five years.
Even with fewer perfect scores this year, the city’s average IB score of 36.4 stayed in the excellent range, higher than the global average of 30.24. There were 706 pupils who scored more than 40 points.
Make HKDSE, IB, or any exam less scary: 12 simple study tips to level up your grades
The average scores are even higher in some elite schools. Diocesan Boys’ School in Mong Kok had an average score of 42 points and the German Swiss International School on The Peak obtained an average score of 40 points.
“Hong Kong students are very good at taking exams and studying. They are taught how to take exams from a very young age,” Ruth Benny, the founder of education consultancy Top Schools, said.
3. Do IB results reflect how students are picked?
Education experts have said it is not surprising that the relatively small number of pupils who sit the IB do so well.
Benny said there was a “selective process” at play, because some schools allowed only their top pupils into the programme.
A city teacher, who has taught in the DSE and IB programmes for 10 years, who asked not to be named, said it was unfair to compare the two.
Study tips from IB top scorers
She said: “First, they are rich schools that have resources to choose the IB programme, and, secondly, they can select the best students for the programme.”
She explained that institutions that did not hand-pick their IB students, such as English Schools Foundation (ESF) schools, which allowed all pupils to do the IB, would not be able to achieve an average of 41 points.
The average score for ESF schools this year was 36.1 points.
4. Do wealthy students perform better?
Associate professor Tan Cheng-yong, of the University of Hong Kong’s education faculty, said the IB schools’ success reflected the high socioeconomic status of their pupils.
“Because the fees are so exorbitant overall, we can expect that a certain group and profile of students will be attracted to IB schools,” he said.
“Parents, teachers and school leaders are aspirational because they know these kids have the resources and the ability to actually do well after graduation. They can go to top universities, they are less restrained by economics.”
DSE 2023: 2 of 4 top DSE scorers to study medicine in Hong Kong
He said international schools also had a high number of foreign teachers who were usually motivated, highly qualified and aware of latest teaching strategies, all of which benefited their pupils.
Tan said that, in Hong Kong, parents, society and the government did their best to help children succeed, but those in IB schools had an edge.
“In IB schools, because of the extra factors that students have from schools and home, they benefit double from the very positive climate that they are learning in.”
5. Is the IB better than DSE?
Charles Wu, IB coordinator at the elite Diocesan Boys’ School, which offers both programmes, said it was unfair to compare the two.
He said both offered a pathway to university in Hong Kong and internationally and the number of top scorers did not reflect the value of the two programmes.
“Depending on the year, it might be more difficult to get a top score,” he said.
Benny said the IB programme offered “excellent preparation” for pupils interested in studying overseas and was designed to develop an inquiring mind, encourage critical thinking, creativity and independent learning.
Hong Kong singer-songwriter Sabrina Cheung offers support for DSE candidates
The DSE, however, focused on Chinese, English and mathematics as core subjects, along with other electives, and was often considered more content-based and required more memorisation and rote learning.
A tutor from All Round Education Academy, a tutorial centre mainly for international school students, said some parents valued the creativity and independent learning of the IB programme.
“A lot of parents think the DSE does not really teach their children to think for themselves, they just have to cram a lot of material, whereas the IB is more about really being a critical thinker,” the tutor, who also asked not to named, said.
6. If you’re bad at Chinese, should you choose IB?
Some pupils prefer being in the IB programme to avoid sitting the DSE’s Chinese exam, dubbed the “paper of death” for those who do not do well in the language.
Chloe Kwok, 15, will transfer to Li Po Chun United World College for the IB diploma programme this year.
“I’m not good at Chinese … and IB Chinese is less demanding,” she said and added that she hoped to go to university in Britain.
Why you feel depressed and anxious after a big exam
Clarisse Poon, 13, from St Paul’s Co-educational College, said she also hoped to do the IB curriculum.
“A major advantage of the IB is that scores are accumulated from coursework in addition to the examination,” she said. “In this way, the assessment is more comprehensive and predictable than DSE, and less stressful.”