ESF sees record number of perfect scorers in IB exams, including student one step closer to doctor dream

Royce Leung Man-hin had not imagined he would be on the path to becoming a doctor, but getting a perfect score in this year’s International Baccalaureate exams has put him a step closer to fulfilling his childhood dream.

The 17-year-old English Schools Foundation (ESF) student, who has had a moderate hearing impairment since he was six, said the perfect score of 45 points was “surprising” as his previous internal predicted grade was 39 and he had not been confident enough to apply to read medicine at local universities.

He is among 46 perfect IB scorers across the seven secondary schools of the ESF – which has set a record high number for the city’s biggest international school groups – with 12 saying they aspire to become doctors and seven expected to major in law or politics related subjects.

A total of 130 pupils from Hong Kong obtained a perfect score this year despite the written tests going ahead amid the Covid-19 pandemic, more than double last year’s 55, and accounting for around 11 per cent of the 1,155 top scorers worldwide.

“During my treatment in primary school, I told my doctor I had low self-esteem and didn’t want to wear hearing aids,” Leung said during a press conference on Wednesday. “But my doctor helped and taught me how to accept myself … I started to admire doctors and [have] wanted to become one ever since.”

The Sha Tin College student, who was aiming to become an orthopaedist to help tackle the concerns of an ageing society, added: “Studying medicine seemed to me a very far-fetched dream. Even for students taking the local university entrance exams, only those who are [the] crème de la crème can get admitted. The requirements are simply so high.”

Leung said after receiving his results both the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chinese University had reached out to him.