As thousands of Hong Kong students begin an anxious wait for examination results, many are considering how they can perform better next time. And a sizeable number must also be wondering whether they would again go through 'mock' examinations.
Along with evening classes and intensive homework, privately-organised mock exams have become one of the standard preparations for the Hong Kong Advanced Level (HKAL) and the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). A good pass is the key to a place in university.
Advertising posters on street corners boast that mock exams can bolster prospects for students and help them aim for a perfect score. After seeing one such poster, Sin Ka-pui, 19, and Cooly Tong Chi-sun, 20, each paid $200 to a commercial tutorial company to do an English usage mock test.
Their hopes soon turned to disappointment. 'I think I can only get a D grade,' Sin said after finishing the first three English papers in her A-Level public exam. 'The so-called tips are garbage.' Alex Cheung Chi-hung, marketing manager of the Hong Kong Mock Examination Society which sold tests to more than 6,000 students this year, defends the use of marketing slogans like 'Helping students make an examination forecast' and 'Scoring at least 75 per cent'.
'As a commercial institute, we are doing the same as others in the market,' he said. 'If everyone else markets like this but we don't follow suit, we will lose a lot of business.' Nor does he believe that the advertisements give false hope to students.
'The students should know their own ability,' he said. 'If they fail in the examinations, it is not our fault.' Industry insiders estimate that as many as 40,000 Form 7 students take one or more mock exams before sitting for the official tests. Hundreds of operators, ranging from tutors working out of their own flats, to large 'institutes' with the revenue to widely advertise, are cashing in on the opportunity to reap huge profits.