Number of Hong Kong students with perfect scores in International Baccalaureate drops by nearly a third after grading system change amid pandemic

The number of Hong Kong students bagging perfect scores in the International Baccalaureate (IB) exams dropped by nearly a third to 23 this year, with grading based on schoolwork after written tests were cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The figure was down from last year’s 34, despite the number of local candidates increasing slightly from 2,284 to this year’s 2,324. They were among 174,355 students who received IB diploma and vocational programme results worldwide on Monday.

Hong Kong’s average score was 36.31 this year with a 97.9 per cent pass rate, higher than the global average of 29.9, according to the IB office.

Classes in Hong Kong schools were suspended from early February because of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the IB body decided in March to cancel written exams globally – originally set to take place in May – in an unprecedented move.

Students were instead graded based on criteria such as their internal coursework, as well as from predicted scores in mock exams, under a mechanism formulated by the IB office.

Coronavirus: IB cancels May exams, more than 200,000 students worldwide affected

The two-year IB curriculum, aimed at those aged between 16 and 19, requires students to take six subjects and complete three components, including a 4,000-word essay. It offers students an internationally accepted qualification for university entrance.

Among Hong Kong’s 23 students who scored the full 45 marks this year, four were from St Paul’s Co-educational College while another three came from Diocesan Boys’ School. Nine students from the two schools also achieved 44 points.

Christien Wong, 17, is a top scorer from St Paul’s Co-educational College in the Mid-Levels. He said he hoped to study medicine to save patients as many of his relatives were doctors. Wong had received offers from both the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University.

“A classmate has shared with me his brother’s experience volunteering to join the frontline ‘dirty team’ at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. Although I am not currently in the medical field, I feel that I would also volunteer to help patients if that’s needed,” he said.

Schoolmate and top scorer Christian Suen Chung-man, 18, who would be studying human, social, and political sciences at the University of Cambridge, meanwhile said he hoped to work in the UN to fight for the rights of women and children globally.

“There is still a gap in women’s rights and income in some countries[compared to men]. I hope to be able to help them in future,” Suen said.

Two other top scorers from the school, Lou Tsz-ching and Chan Yuet-yee, said they would study business-related subjects in Britain and Hong Kong respectively.

At Diocesan Boys’ School in Mong Kok, all three top scorers said they were eyeing universities in Britain with two of them pursuing a law degree. Leo Pang Yin-ching, who is expected to study law at Cambridge, said he felt stressed after learning that the written exams would be cancelled.

“The conditional offers were quite high, and since our internal assessments were sent to IB for re-marking, I was worried the external examiners would have a very different standard from our schoolteachers,” the 17-year-old said.

Torres Hong Cheuk-wun, 18, who has applied to study economics and philosophy at the London School of Economics, said he had enjoyed the subject from an early age.

“I feel like economics can help solve many world problems … But while we focus a lot on achieving benefits in economics, we lack discussions on ethics, that’s why I would like to study philosophy as well,” he said.

Victoria Shanghai Academy has four students who scored 44 points this year. Angie Cheang Ching-hang, 18, said she had hoped to achieve a perfect score.

“My in-school results for English were actually very good. I can’t say I’m disappointed … but I feel like [if I could have done the written exams] I would have [got full marks].”

Elizabeth Shing Hoi-tung, who also scored 44 and said she hoped to study pharmacy at Chinese University, said she believed it was “rewarding” to strive for breakthroughs to battle pandemics.

“I’ve always been interested in pharmacy … I kind of want to research more on medicines and how we can treat the pandemic,” she said.

The academy’s secondary school principal Christopher Coates said the school was proud of students’ performance. He added that the school was also prepared for different scenarios for the next batch of IB students, in case contingency plans were needed amid the pandemic.

Additional reporting by Joanne Ma