Thousands of Form Seven pupils are about to start scrambling for their futures when they receive the results of the last Hong Kong A-level examinations.
More than half of the last batch of pupils sent by public schools to take the university exam will fail to get a place at a public university.
They will then have to fight for jobs or continue their study in private colleges or in sub degree courses.
The Hok Yau Club, a student counselling centre, said repeating the exam in the hope of a better score would mean little as most schools no longer offered Form Seven courses.
But one 14-year-old music pupil is set to join the ranks of the city's prodigies today as his grades are good enough to gain early university entry, according to sources.
The exam authorities said yesterday that among 40,500 pupils who took the university entrance exam, including about 10,000 self-study students, about 18,000 met the requirements for government-subsidised degree courses.
With competition for courses keen, exam officials said they would prepare for an expected higher-than-usual number of applications for grade reviews.