Top of the class: Examinations & Assessment Authority Secretary General Peter Hill says 25 Certificate of Education Examination candidates got A grades in 10 subjects.

Certificate of Education Examination results will be released tomorrow, with 64% of school candidates attempting six or more subjects gaining the Secondary Six admission requirement, up 1.2% on last year.

The number of candidates taking part this year was around 120,000, up 2.18% on last year, with 63% day-school candidates.

Altogether 45 subjects were examined, 35 of which were available in both Chinese and English. The percentage of entries taken in Chinese was 52%.

A total of 53.6% of students obtained a grade of E or better in 5 or more subjects including Chinese, English and mathematics, compared to 52.1% last year.

Twenty-five candidates got A grades in 10 subjects and 47 got As in nine subjects. About 8.9% of day-school candidates obtained grades of F or below in all subjects.

English passes up

The number of day-school candidates sitting for the English Language Syllabus A rose 13.9% to 32,722. There was a less marked fall of 10.2% in the number of day-school candidates who sat for Syllabus B, from 48,276 last year to 43,350 this year.

In line with these changes there was a higher passing percentage for both syllabuses, from 52.2% to 58.8% in Syllabus A and from 74.8% to 78.2% in Syllabus B.

For Chinese, the passing rate was 72 %, compared to 69.9% last year, indicating a slight improvement in the passing rate in this subject.

Examinations & Assessment Authority Secretary General Peter Hill said the examination ran relatively smoothly this year, except for claims of possible cheating by going to the washroom and using a mobile phone during the English Language (Syllabus B) Paper 2 examination to access a website containing information of direct relevance to several questions.

The investigation into these claims was recently concluded. The most critical line of investigation was an analysis of the relevant website's log, which pointed to a single case of access by a person from Hong Kong.

The service provider refused to reveal the user's identity and legal advice confirmed that any attempt to compel disclosure was not likely to succeed.

Investigation results

The authority identified those candidates with high scores on that part of the question paper. Six had discrepant scores, and four of them had score patterns that warranted further investigation.

Nothing emerged from the investigation to link any of them with the use of a mobile phones during the exam or suggest any of them had cheated.

Two people brought prepared crib notes into the examination room and they were disqualified from the entire exam. Two candidates who brought in unauthorised material were also disqualified from the subject concerned.

In view of widespread public concern over potential cheating through the use of mobile phones and other telecoms devices, the authority will consult the school sector on the feasibility of banning mobile phones from examination halls and the introduction of devices that detect them.

Collecting results

School candidates can collect results notices from their schools tomorrow, while result notices for private candidates have been posted.

For Secondary Six admission, private candidates who sat six or more subjects and who have not received their results notices by 10am tomorrow can apply in person for a free duplicate copy at the authority's offices at 12/F Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai or G/F 17 Tseuk Luk Street, San Po Kong, bringing along their admission form. Enquiries can be made on 2239 2732.

Results will be available online for private and evening school candidates from 8am onwards tomorrow. For the next three weeks candidates can view their results here. Those who have registered for SMS service can check their results using their mobile phones by 9.30am tomorrow.

Candidates can lodge an application for re-marking, including re-checking, for a maximum of two subjects by August 16. They can apply for re-checking only for up to two other subjects. They will be notified of the re-checking outcome on August 24 and re-marking on August 31.