Гонконгский экзамен A-Level: история и особенности

Former school qualification in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE, 香港高級程度會考), or more commonly known as the A level, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), was taken by senior students at the end of their matriculation in Hong Kong between 1979 and 2012. It was originally the entrance examination in University of Hong Kong until the introduction of the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) in 1992, which made it the major university entrance examination until academic year 2011/2012. The examination was conducted from March to May, and the results were routinely released in the first week of July (or late June). There were altogether 17 A level and 17 AS level subjects in the HKALE. AS level was commonly known as Hong Kong Advanced Supplementary Level Examination (HKASLE). AS level subjects were taught within half the number of periods compared to that required for A level subjects, but they demanded the same level of intellectual rigour. Most day school candidates took four or five subjects in the HKALE. Apart from Chinese Language and Culture and Use of English which were taken by almost every school candidate, and other language related subjects, all subjects could be taken in either English or Chinese. The same standards were applied in both marking and grading; the instruction medium is not recorded on the results notices nor certificates. The examination of an A level subject generally consists of two 3 hour papers taken in the morning and afternoon of the same day. The results of the HKALE are expressed in terms of six grades A – F, of which grade A is the highest and F the lowest. Results below grade F are designated as unclassified (UNCL). The abolishment of fine grades used in 2001 (i. e. A(01), A(02), B(03), B(04), etc.) was in force from 2002. It was well criticized that AL subjects demand substantial memorization and clarification of difficult concepts such as Chinese History, Biology, and Economics which have their syllabus partly equivalent to first year undergraduate courses in terms of the length and depth. Research level knowledge is also required in specific AL subjects such as Pure Mathematics and Chemistry. Actually, it was thought that the examinations were intentionally designed to be difficult by stakeholders for different reasons such as UK imposed elitism as well as limited university seats dated back to 1992. It was even conspired that the past stakeholders intentionally made it difficult to hinder the growth of local people, in contrast to their well funded stakeholders who usually went for overseas education but returned to manage their family businesses. However, such world class exams do lead to the births of different famous local professors, resulting in the golden era of higher education in Hong Kong since the 2010s. With the introduction of the Early Admissions Scheme in 2001, top scorers in HKCEE could skip the HKALE and enter universities directly after Form 6. Therefore, the HKALE in 2002 was the last one which all HKCEE top scorers needed to take for university admission in Hong Kong. As a part of the educational reform in Hong Kong, the examination was abolished after academic year 2012/2013. The final HKALE in 2013 was only offered to private candidates who had taken the HKALE before, and the exam results could not be used to apply for universities through the JUPAS as before, but only through the Non JUPAS system.

Prior to 1993, students needed to choose among two university entrance examinations, the HKALE or the Hong Kong Higher Level Examination. The former originally led to a three year course in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) at the end of Form Seven (Upper Six), mainly for students in English medium schools. The latter led to a four year course in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), then operated in Chinese, at the end of Form Six (Lower Six) for students in Chinese medium schools. Later on, the majority of education authorities considered that the "dual band" examination system had become practically unsuitable and that a unified matriculation system would be urgently needed, as stated in a report presented to the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development as early as in 1981. In the report, the "dual band" system was found to be the crux that caused confusion and anxiety among Hong Kong students, in addition to the inevitably keen competition for tertiary places (Hong Kong Education Department, 1981, p. 178). Through considerable debates (Tang and Bray, 2000), programmes in CUHK switched to three year systems as those launched in HKU in 1991. Consequently, the Hong Kong Higher Level Examination was abolished and was finally merged with today's HKALE. Advanced Supplementary Level subjects were also implemented at the same time to cater for different needs of candidates (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, 2003, p. 4).

A survey was conducted to equate the results with the International English Language Testing System by the HKEAA. HKASL A B C D E IELTS 7.41 – 8.30 6.92 – 7.40 6.51 – 6.91 6.03 – 6.50 5.40 – 6.02

The controversy followed the HKEAA's announcement in 2007 that if a candidate exceeded the word limit (500 words) in a task in Section E (Practical skills for work and study), anything written beyond the limit would not be marked. However, according to the marking guidelines issued the previous year, students who did so should be deducted only two marks from the style mark for doing so. That resulted in criticism by many students, who claimed that although the word limit instruction was stated in the paper, they were not clearly informed of the marking criteria and that the marking scheme the HKEAA adopted in the previous year gave them a misleading impression. The authority later stated that candidates should have read all instructions before attempting the questions. It also stated that candidates who followed the instructions strictly should be treated fairly.

The test lasted approximately 45 minutes and was allocated 15% of the total subject mark. Like the UE listening test, the exam material was broadcast on Radio 2. Like for the English test, Fantasia on Greensleeves was played before and during the intermissions of the examinations. The broadcast version was in Cantonese. The Putonghua students were assigned to designated examination venues, which provided CD tapes separately, with contents the same as those of Cantonese. Candidates were required to answer questions as they listened to the material. Samples of questions were provided on the first two pages of the paper. Before 2003, candidates wrote sentences for answering questions. From 2003, multiple choice involved ticking the correct answer and the "Fatal Four". "Fatal Four" (奪命四式) was difficult for many candidates: they had to indicate the correctness of the given statements on the listening material. Possible answers are "true", "false", "partially correct" and "cannot be determined". Answers were not often given clearly or literally. Candidates were often required to analyse the implied meaning of a given speech during the course of listening, like the attitude of a speaker. Moreover, marks were deducted for a wrong answer, which could cause a negative mark. It was originally to prevent candidates from guessing an answer they did not know, but it caused trouble for some confusing questions.

The test had two parts, personal presentation and group discussion, both of them allocated 7.5% each of the total mark. In personal presentation, 10 minutes of preparation time was given for candidates to make a 3 minute speech on a certain topic. Sometimes, candidates were asked to describe a picture. After the personal presentation, group discussion took place. Normally 5 candidates in a group, it had 5 minute preparation time. Then, each candidate had 1 minute for the first round speech, and 10 minutes time got them to discuss a topic freely. In personal presentation, some personal topics were asked, and in group discussion, topics were related to major events or common issues.

This test was school based in the sixth and seventh forms. Students were required to read at least 5 books and finish the related assessment, given by the school. Book reports were the most common format, but group presentations, or even in class tests, were allowed. Any book that was suitable was allowed. Guildlines with a list of recommended books were given to schools. Most schools required students to choose from the list or chose the books from the list for their students. To prevent schools from giving too many extraordinary grades to students, points were to be adjusted by the performance in examination. The list of recommended books had about 30 books about Chinese culture, ranging from novels or cultural studies to historic reports. Among the list of the books, Tangshan Earthquake was always on the top favour list of books, as the prologue of the book was one of the 26 required passages in the old Chinese Language syllabus in HKCEE (the new syllabus does not have any required passages).

In 2001, the HKEAA decided on an across the board revamp upon the format of questions in the exam. The changes included the replacement of questions on prescribed texts with open ended questions in the questions on culture paper. It was HKEAA's attempt to prevent candidates from memorising the suggested reading materials. That, however, was dismissed by a number of candidates as a move towards the subject turning out into a saliva subject (吹水科, Jyutping: Ceoi1 Seoi2 Fo1) in which candidates concentrate on writing large amounts of verbose text and neglect the actual quality of the contents. In 2005, the format of the Reading Comprehension paper was changed from speed reading of various articles to fine reading of only three articles, without prior notice. The move stirred up much controversy from some candidates, some of whom teased the words in one of the comprehension texts. The HKEAA reiterated its stance that there has not ever been a "specific" format for the exam and insisted that there was nothing wrong with the paper. In the Listening exam of 2007, there was a part asking students to determine whether marked sentences were correct or not, based on the whole recording. There were 10 questions, carrying 2 marks each. In that part, if a candidate answered a question correctly, 2 marks were awarded but if the question was answered, 2 marks were deducted. No marks were given or deducted for blank answers. A candidate who answered all the questions, with no more than 5 being correct, would end up having no marks for that section, but if 5 were correct, 10 marks were given. That stirred up controversy among candidates, who claimed that the marking scheme was not fair. They said that all questions were compulsory so there should not be any advantage to those who left some of the blanks empty by deducting marks for wrong answers. The HKEAA said that it had been in practice for years to prevent students guessing answers, but in fact, this type of marking had appeared only in table type questions in which candidates were required to tick some of the boxes in the table but not in questions in which all blanks were to be filled.

The Education Bureau of Hong Kong announced that in 2009, the new schooling structure, under which all students receive 12 years of pre university education, would be implemented. The HKALE was last administered in 2012 and then merged with the existing Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, to form the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination at the end of the new, three year senior secondary curriculum. The HKALE in 2013 was available only for students who had taken the exam before and could not be used to fulfil the JUPAS requirement. As an aftermath of the abolishment, sixth form colleges are no longer needed. As a result, the first and now only such college in Hong Kong, PLK Vicwood KT Chong Sixth Form College, has changed mainly as a senior secondary school.