Students taking the English paper in Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam on Friday were pleasantly surprised by relatable topics such as bubble tea and YouTube channels.
But many candidates sitting the city’s university entrance exam were caught off guard by the use of two poems in the reading section for the first time.
Still, teachers said this year’s content was manageable. The exam steered clear of niche topics, unlike in past exams that featured pop culture icons and autobiographies.
About 53,000 students sat the reading and writing papers. More than 58,000 candidates are taking this year’s exams, up from 55,000 last year. The exams will end on May 5, with results due on July 15.
Student responses: ‘straightforward’
Eleni Mak, a 17-year-old candidate from Good Hope School, felt that this year’s reading exam was easier than last year’s.
“They are straightforward, and the topics are related to daily life,” she said.
All candidates were required to attempt Part A, which covered familiar topics such as bubble tea. In Part B, they could choose between B1, on the growing trend of YouTube channels, or B2, on holidays – the latter being more difficult.
While Eleni was surprised by the inclusion of two poems – Vacation by Rita Dove and Gio Evan’s Travel – she found them manageable.
“I thought literary devices would be tested, but luckily they weren’t, so the questions were quite doable,” she said.
But Roniya Law, a student at CCC Kei Yuen College, was taken aback by the poems, as she had little practice with them.
“I think the reading exam is harder than my expectations because of the poems. But overall, I still had time to proofread my answers,” the 18-year-old said.
She also noted that the HKEAA seemed to have a penchant for food this year. While the reading exam featured bubble tea and coffee, the speaking exam held last month included topics on two-dish rice and local Hong Kong snacks.
Thursday’s Chinese exam focused on desserts and tuck shop food.
Expert perspectives
According to Alan Chan, a tutor at King’s Glory Education Centre, this year’s exam was much easier than those from the past two years and included themes that were accessible for teenagers.
He believed the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) might have adjusted the exam’s difficulty in response to the higher number of candidates. But he cautioned that the cut-off score might rise, making it harder for weaker students to pass.
An English teacher at a secondary school, surnamed Ho*, said the approachable topics meant the candidates did not have to spend too much time trying to grasp unfamiliar concepts or decipher difficult jargon.
“Even the poems are easy to comprehend, as no literary techniques are required. To be honest, there’s no need to panic when you read it,” she said, adding that candidates simply had to focus on the writer’s feelings and intentions.
Ho pointed out that by focusing the exam themes on everyday topics, the HKEAA had levelled the playing field this year, allowing more students to perform well.
“While the topics are manageable, the margin for error is still slim. Candidates are still required to express themselves clearly and to pay close attention to structural grammar details,” she said.
She expected some students to lose marks in the summary proofreading task, which tests comprehension and grammatical accuracy. This is because students often overlook errors in subject-verb agreement within complex sentences, as well as inconsistencies in tenses and articles.
Another common pitfall is the subtle misuse of connectives, which can alter a sentence’s meaning.
Additionally, weaker students may struggle with sections of the reading passages that require identifying an analogy connecting two different concepts, such as the example of how gummy bears bridge the cultural gap between Western tastes and Asian bubble tea.
Writing exam
Similar to the reading paper, in the writing exam, most candidates found the topics generally straightforward.
DSE candidate Eleni described the questions as very down-to-earth.
“Students could easily draw inspiration for their writing from everyday life,” she said.
She was able to complete all the questions and felt calm and confident about the listening paper.
Chan said this year’s writing exam offered a good range of questions.
Instead of being confined to standard essays, students could choose from formats such as letters to the editor or dialogue scripts, while topics were relatable and did not demand specialised knowledge.
“Even the work-related questions, such as those about social media security, were easy to handle without needing expert experience,” he said.
*Name changed at interviewee’s request
