This year marks the first Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) examination for the revamped Liberal Studies subject, now called Citizenship and Social Development (CSD). To prepare you for the paper, here are some pointers from secondary school teacher Liu Tin-yan.
Topics to study
The new curriculum focuses more on questions with a standard answer than open-ended ones, meaning students must memorise information to pass the exam. The curriculum for the subject revolves around three main themes: Hong Kong under “One Country, Two Systems”; Our Country since Reform and Opening-up; and Interconnectedness and Interdependence of the Contemporary World; students should prioritise studying the first two themes.
Candidates should familiarise themselves with topics such as the political structure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and China, as well as the Basic Law, the National Security Law, and China’s constitution.
Pupils should also study China’s development and achievements, Hong Kong’s integration into the Greater Bay Area, and the focuses and policies of China’s Five-Year Plans.
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Liu added that the exam may include topics like national symbols and Hong Kong’s participation in national affairs.
Candidates should also pay attention to the development of technology, Liu said, as well as information literacy and sustainable development. Students may be asked to identify the specific roles Hong Kong and China play in the topics, and there will be at least one data analysis question, Liu added.
Tips for getting a passing grade
Instead of the DSE’s seven-level grading system, CSD has only two grades: “attained” or “not attained”.
Liu said it was important to correctly answer the short questions, which constitute about 50 per cent of the paper, to attain a passing grade.
“For marginal students, it could be troublesome if they fail to get the short questions correct,” she cautioned. “From my experience, those who failed [did so] because they wrote very little or have poor time management.”
She cautioned that candidates should allocate enough time for each section to ensure they finish all the questions.
The two-hour exam will include two six-point questions and one eight-point question, which require pupils to give clear answers stating evidence-based viewpoints.
“From my experience, most students underperformed on the eight-point question [on mock papers], as they are receiving less training than before,” she said, referring to the fact that the number of long essay questions has been significantly reduced in the CSD curriculum compared to Liberal Studies.
She explained that students should not merely quote the source text or repeat certain points to lengthen their answers for these essay-type questions, as only two points would be given for quoting the text.
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Elaboration is necessary for a higher mark. “We want to remind students that they should not just reference the text; we also look forward to seeing students use their own knowledge to answer these questions,” Liu said.
The teacher expected this year’s inaugural exam to be “easy-going”, meaning there is a high chance there will be a lower benchmark for a passing grade.
Liu predicted that the percentage for a passing grade would be around 40 per cent.
“Students don’t have to be too worried about the exam. As long as they don’t copy everything from the text and can elaborate their answers, they should be fine.”
