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sixth-form education very complicated. The HKEA's independent status
should eventually place it in a good position to act as a unifying
force in the fragmented post-Form V sector, and the Report of the Board
of Education's Committee on Sixth-Form Education (described later)
makes proposals about how this can be achieved.
22.
The standard achieved in each
The Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination (HKCE) is
intended primarily to be a test of general education for students who
have completed a recognised secondary school course of five years. It
is conducted annually according to regulations prescribed by the HKEA
in accordance with the provisions of the Hong Kong Examinations Authority
Ordinance 1977. The candidature is drawn from Form V/Middle V students in
schools which have been approved for participation in the examination;
students may also enter as Form VI/Middle VI or private candidates
under specified conditions. A wide range of subjects is offered and
alternative syllabuses are available in many subjects. Form V/Middle V
candidates are required to enter for at least five but not more than
nine subjects at any one examination.
subject is recorded as one of eight grades of which A is the highest
and H the lowest. An average candidate who has satisfactorily completed
the approved course (normally five years) in a subject in a secondary
́school might be expected to achieve grade E or above. Many overseas
authorities now accept a grade C in most of the main subjects as being
equivalent to a pass in the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary
Level) examination, with which the HKCE has close affinities in terms
of its general organisation and objectives. The HKCE was originally
organised as two separate examinations, one in the medium of English
for Anglo-Chinese schools and the other in the medium of Chinese for
Chinese middle schools: these were later amalgamated in order to give
all participating schools complete freedom of choice in the language
medium to be used for teaching and examining. Apart from those subjects
which by their nature are language-based (e.g. English literature, Chinese