The number of non-day school candidates achieving the highest grades across various subjects in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams has significantly increased over the past two years amid a growing trend of mainland Chinese students taking the tests, the Post has found.
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An analysis by the Post of official data showed that the number of non-day school candidates securing Level 5**, the highest grade in the seven-tier system of Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE), had increased at a much faster rate than those from the regular pathway, resulting in a growing share of top scores between 2023 and 2025.
Non-day school candidates comprise mainland pupils, independent repeaters, retakers, evening school students and inmates. All except evening school students can register to sit the exams as private candidates.
More than a quarter of the 2,700 private candidates enrolled in the DSE through a special entry route in 2025.
This route allows those who have completed or are currently pursuing a non-DSE curriculum in the year before the exams to sit the DSE. Most of those candidates are from the mainland.
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The total figure jumped 90 per cent from about 1,400 in 2024, when applicants entering through the special route accounted for just 18 per cent of all private candidates.
In 2022 and 2023, only about 500 candidates applied through this route, representing about 6 per cent of private candidates. Over the same period, the rise in non-day school candidates securing the highest grade was far less pronounced.