The Examinations & Assessment Authority says 16,302 students who passed this year's Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, satisfy the general admission requirement for local tertiary institutions.

The passing rate for college entry was 47.5%, down from 49.2% last year. There were 34,977 candidates this year, up 3.4%, with 74.5% passing A-level subjects, and 3.7% scoring an A-grade, up on last year's 73.7% pass rate and 3.6% A-grade score.

This year saw 81.5% get passes or above in Chinese and English languages, on last year's 82.1%. Students scoring As in both subjects stood at 1.5%, same as last year.

Candidates penalised for breaching examination regulations fell 5%, or by 185 people. There were no confirmed cases of cheating, although 12 candidates brought unauthorised material to examination centres. Four were given mark penalties and the remainder received warning letters.

The examination results will be released tomorrow.