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English exam for Hong Kong primary pupils ‘too difficult and tests maths ability’, school principal says. Can YOU pass it?

A city-wide exam criticised for putting too much pressure on for Primary Three pupils is too difficult and requires children to do too much in a short time, a primary school principal said.

A city-wide exam criticised for putting too much pressure on for Primary Three pupils is too difficult and requires children to do too much in a short time, a primary school principal said.

Fung Pik-yee, principal of Aplichau Kaifong Primary School in Ap Lei Chau, said the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) asked questions beyond the ability of eight- and nine-year-olds.

She cited the English exam as an example, saying some questions required pupils to solve mathematical problems. She said that would not help determine their English ability because teachers would have a hard time telling whether children who got questions wrong were weak in English or in maths.

“The exams often contain many pictures, numbers and other information,” she said. “For a child who is under time pressure and has to deal with a lot of questions, it would be too difficult for them to process the information.”

Fung said many schools had therefore required pupils to buy extra exercise books for drilling and put children and their parents under great pressure.

She said although the Education Bureau claimed the exam results would not affect the bureau’s evaluation of schools or secondary school allocation results, the bureau often initiated conversations with school operators and principals if results were poor.

“Although they claimed there was no pressure, their actions have made people suspicious and concerned,” she said.

Can you pass the TSA Primary Three English exam? Take the test to find out …

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