Pulled History Question 'no Major Impact On Grades'

The Examinations and Assessment Authority said 42 percent of students who took the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam this year met the minimum requirements for local university admission. The figure is similar to that of last year.

The exams authority on Tuesday also played down the impact on student performance in the history exam, which was overshadowed by a row over a question that was subsequently pulled.

Authorities say grades earned by students were in line with those in previous years. Nearly 5,000 took the history exam this year, with 94 percent attaining a passing grade of level 2 or above.

The question asked students if Japan did more good than harm to China between 1900 and 1945.

Overall, 18,634 out of around 45,000 day school students attained level 3 or above for Chinese and English languages, and level 2 for Mathematics and Liberal Studies.

And there are seven so-called "top scorers" this year, achieving level 5** for seven subjects. That's down from 12 a year ago.

"The number will vary each year, whether it's because of the pandemic, or because of the papers' difficulty, or because of the actual performance and ability of the cohort, I really cannot tell," the authority's secretary-general, So Kwok-sang, said.

Students will pick up their DSE results on Wednesday.