Record numbers use memorised essays in exams

A record number of HKCEE students gave answers or partial answers to questions in this year's English composition test that appeared to have been memorised beforehand and had no relation to the question.

The number of students who supplied dubious answers was 134, in line with an increasing trend in recent years.

Officials say the number of students caught out using either memorised essays or phrases has been rising over the past two years after the problem subsided in the early and mid-1990s. Last year 70 were punished for this offence.

In all of this year's cases in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations, candidates used the same essay - believed to have come from various sources, including the Internet and private tutorial centres - said chief examiner Graham Kennedy of the Examinations Authority. The examination's narrative question asked students to write an essay on the dilemma they would face if they picked up a test paper that they accidentally spotted on the floor of the teachers' room. But instead of answering the question, some candidates repeated a model essay about a person dreaming of running away from someone chasing them with a dagger.

Some injected memorised phrases into their essays that did not make grammatical sense, Mr Kennedy said. He could not explain the reason for the increase in the number of copycats and admitted it was difficult to curb the practice.

'It's not a question of the topics. We are very careful with questions,' he said.

'Candidates don't really care what the topics are, they just use the [memorised] essay.

'It's unlikely that this comparatively large number of candidates would have produced such similar essays if they believed they could easily be traced to a single source.

'This suggests that the adaptability of the expressions was a major selling point in their promotion as a means to exam success.'

Students found to be using memorised essays or phrases received marks of between zero and seven or eight out of 20. The essay section makes up about 25 per cent of marks for the entire English paper.

Mr Kennedy said students who used memorised essays could fail the entire English paper if they were caught.

A table of memorised expressions will be published in the authority's annual report this year to warn students that they may not be given any marks if they fail to use phrases properly.

Legislator for the education constituency Cheung Man-kwong said: 'Private tutorial centres are opportunists. They don't bear the moral responsibility over whether students are learning.'

The number of students accused of using memorised essays or phrases amounts to less than one per cent of the number who sat the English exam.

Graphic: PHRASEGET