Two English Schools Foundation pupils who achieved perfect scores in the International Baccalaureate Diploma exams are preparing to fly off to top overseas universities.
The number of ESF pupils with outstanding results jumped this year. Of the 726 who took the exams, 76 scored 40 points or above, up from 66 last year, and 15 secured at least 43 points. Two bagged the highest possible score of 45, while just one aced the exams last year.
Top scorers Ellen Tung Shue-ting and Alex Yau Yang were among the high achievers who attended a ceremony at King George V School yesterday following a sleepless night on Tuesday, when they waited for results to be released online at 4am.
Ellen, of KGV, who took maths, physics and art at higher level and English, history and Spanish at standard level, applied to eight American universities and is planning to study mechanical engineering or architecture and engineering at Princeton.
'I stayed up all night to get my results,' she said. 'I was very relieved when I saw I had a grade of 45 ... Everyone expected me to get 45, and I didn't want to disappoint anyone.
'The IB involves lots of work, and it's difficult - but not as suicidally difficult as many people think. For US universities, there are a lot of requirements - a foreign language and maths and English for example - so the IB Diploma is very suitable.'
Alex, of South Island School, took physics, chemistry and maths plus Chinese Language B at higher level, as well as economics and English at standard level. He applied to five British universities and five American ones to study maths.
