The reason is the adoption of 'standards-referenced reporting'.

Under the new reporting system, the HKCEE certificate will now display 'levels', or standards, for the Chinese and English language results, while retaining 'grades' for all other subjects.

Grades A to F in Chinese and English have been replaced by Levels 1 to 5. The top-scoring students at Level 5 will receive a 5*. Each level represents a fixed standard of performance. The HKCEE language results will also carry a written description, or 'descriptor', of the student's performance in the areas of reading, writing, listening, speaking and integrated skills.

The advantage of the descriptor is that it describes what students can do.

'With a set of descriptors as reference for the different levels, employers and teachers have a better understanding of how well the students do,' said Philip Leetch, who has 15 years' experience of writing HKCEE English language exercises.

In the old HKCEE grading system, there were no descriptors for the different grades. The standards-referenced system is in line with international practice and trends. Advocates of the system say it is 'world-class, internationally recognised, transparent, explicit, and remains constant over time'.

The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) maintains that the new system gives a very clear picture of a candidate's performance and ability.

'Standards-referenced reporting has been adopted by countries like Britain and the United States in their national testing programmes,' said HKEAA Secretary General Peter Hill.

Advocates of the new grading system say the old A-to-F system was 'elitist' and intimidating to students who were not high achievers.

But critics of the new system claim the competitive spirit encouraged by the old A-to-F system was good for students. They even fear the new standards-referenced approach could result in falling standards.

'Under the new system, the number of students in the top band, Level 5, will rise. Employers will be misled into thinking that overall graduates' language standards have improved,' said Yau Hong-yin, a Form Five student at a Tsuen Wan school.

'I don't know much about the references. Our teachers haven't explained much. Everyone is confused.'

George Lo Chun-kai, the first Hongkonger to score 10As in 1987, the first year candidates were permitted to take 10 subjects, thinks standards are slipping.

'As I recall, less than three per cent of candidates received an A in the 1987 English paper,' said Mr Lo, an alumnus of Wah Yan College, now working for an American computer company.

'Compared to my school years, exam papers these days are relatively easy. I doubt that introducing a more 'lenient' grading system will help to raise students' standards.'

The standards-referenced system will apply to all Form Five public examination subjects from 2012, when the HKCEE and the Advanced Level are merged into the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.

The new system

The HKCEE Chinese Language and English Language papers have undergone major changes.

In the English language examination, the more difficult Syllabus B has been merged with the easier Syllabus A. In the Chinese exam, the number of papers has been increased from two to five.

Under the old system, marks were reflected in a parabola, with the vertex (top end) representing the highest scores.

Take last year's English Language (Syllabus B) results: 3.2 per cent of all candidates made it into the vertex, getting an A; 6.7 per cent earned a B or above; 15.1 per cent were in the A-C bracket, and so on.

Under the new system, Grades A to F will be replaced by Levels 1 to 5. The top-scoring students within Level 5 will be awarded a 5*.

The candidate will be given a level according to his or her performance. A student's grade will not be affected by other candidates' performance.

The new system will apply to all HKCEE subjects from 2012, when the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education is introduced under the 3-3-4 structure.