Local aces beat the world

Hong Kong students showed they are world class at the recent CIGCSE exams. Three 16-year-old Form Six students were world best in their subjects. Also up among the leading lights is French International School. Its students held the top three places over nine subjects in Hong Kong.

FIS's Ashley Chan took world top honours in Chemistry and Terence Young Yue-ching was best in the world in Foreign Language Mandarin Chinese. Sha Tin College's Anthony Leung Chi-hin was world top in Maths. Ashley and Terence were first and second in Hong Kong respectively, and Hoi Pok-ho was third, to give FIS a clean sweep.

The FIS head was out of reach, but Sha Tin College said it was 'extremely proud of Anthony and the commitment and hard work that he made'. It did not give further details of his score.

Anthony said he learned of his win during an announcement at his school's weekly assembly. 'It was quite a shock. I was very surprised and certainly happy,' he said.

The student, who lives in Hang Hau, added: 'My parents were happy, a little surprised and, like me, they don't quite believe it.'

The test is designed for students between the ages of 14 and 16 and given at international schools.

'It wasn't very difficult but certainly challenging,' Anthony said. 'They give you the data and you [have to come up with] a solution.'