Form Six vacancies were snapped up at a dramatic rate at schools across the city yesterday as 55,260 qualified students fought over just 25,575 places. This morning, just 4,100 of those remained up for grabs - more than 1,000 fewer than were left at the same stage last year. The 30,600 of those students who made the minimum entry requirement for A-levels but less than the 14 points or more needed to take part in the first two rounds of the allocations process can only watch and wait. They will get their first chance to secure a place at 2pm today, when they can apply for a place at their own school - if there are any vacancies remaining. Scores of schools were already full by 4.30pm yesterday, with a few filling their quota barely moments after students had picked up their results slips. Christian Alliance SC Chan Memorial School was the first to register that all its Form Six vacancies were full - updating the Education Bureau's vacant-places website at 8.01am. Many students and their families were prepared to go to extreme lengths to make sure they were among the successful minority. At Hang Seng School of Commerce in Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, some parents and siblings said they had lined up since midnight on Sunday. By 8.30am there were about 200 people lining up with them. The outstanding success of the sixth-form college's graduates in the A-levels in recent years has fuelled high demand for its places. When the doors finally opened at 8.50am, students sprinted into the school for fear that they would be too late to file an application. 'Although my niece has got a good result, I am so nervous that she would not be able to arrive in time,' said one woman. Her niece, Wong King-ting, 17, had attained 27 points. Nervous parents whose children had yet to arrive could be seen making frequent calls to urge their children to arrive as soon as possible. There were similar scenes outside Po Leung Kuk Vicwood KT Chong Sixth Form College in Tai Kok Tsui. Paul Tam Kwai-ling said he had been waiting outside the college since before sunrise. 'We've hired a taxi for HK$1,000 today to go around town. It's money well spent for a day like this. We would regret it if we couldn't find a taxi.' Fifteen direct-subsidy scheme schools organised a Joint Admissions Centre in Wan Chai to facilitate student applications. Sophia Yu Yi-ching, 16, and Nora Fung Wing-chi, 16, went straight to the centre after receiving their Certificate of Education grades of 15 and 13 points respectively. The two girls said they were pleased that they had managed to secure places at the school of their choice within half an hour of arriving. 'My parents are very satisfied and mildly surprised that it has all gone so well,' Nora said. Others went to the centre only after applying for, and failing to obtain, a place at their original school. 'It is not possible for me to get into my preferred school,' said Faith Lam, 17, referring to the school he previously attended. He said he had passed all his subjects and attained 13 points, one shy of the 14-point requirement. 'I just hope I can get into a good school here.' As the afternoon wore on, stragglers could be found making their way between the schools that still had places up for grabs. Outside Man Kiu College in North Point, repeater student Eric Kwok Wai-keung, 18, said he had scored 18 points, 8 more than last year. But he was having trouble getting into a school as he had received an unclassified score in English. All the schools he visited had asked him to wait for further notification. He said he would visit the schools again today hoping that they would loosen their entrance requirements as they had not been able to take up enough students.