The language barrier was the biggest hurdle for new immigrant students and hard work was the key to overcome it, said pupils who learned if they had made Form Six yesterday.
Chan Yuet-chung, who scored six As and has only lived in the SAR for two years, said she was delighted with her results but still felt she needed to improve her English.
'When I first came to Hong Kong from Harbin, the schoolmaster asked me to repeat a year, because my English was not up to standard.
'My family couldn't afford to hire a private tutor for me. I had to study it by myself.' Yuet-chung said. 'I am a believer in hard work and I won't rely on tutoring.' The 20-year-old student of Pui Kiu Middle School scored a distinction in English. She said Cantonese had been an early difficulty during her studies.
'Most lessons were taught in Cantonese and I couldn't fully understand.' The same problems were encountered by Poon Ping-yu, another new immigrant student from the same school.
Ping-yu has lived in Hong Kong for 18 months and scored the 14 points needed to move on to Form Six, but he may need to repeat Form Five. He blamed the language barrier. 'I came from Xiamen and I couldn't speak Cantonese. My English was also poorer than other students',' he said.