Rising Trend of Non-Day School Candidates in Hong Kong’s DSE Exams
Recent data reveals a significant shift in the performance of non-day school candidates in Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams. These candidates, who do not follow the traditional school route, have shown a sharp increase in achieving the highest grades, particularly Level 5**, which is the top score in the seven-tier grading system.
The Post conducted an analysis of official data and found that the number of non-day school candidates securing Level 5** has risen at a much faster rate compared to those from regular schools. This trend has led to a growing share of top scores between 2023 and 2025. Non-day school candidates include mainland pupils, independent repeaters, retakers, evening school students, and inmates. Except for evening school students, all others can register as private candidates for the DSE.
Increased Participation Through Special Entry Routes
In 2025, over a quarter of the 2,700 private candidates enrolled in the DSE through a special entry route. This route allows individuals who have completed or are currently pursuing a non-DSE curriculum in the year before the exams to sit the DSE. Most of these candidates are from the mainland.
The total number of candidates using this special route jumped by 90% from about 1,400 in 2024, when they accounted for 18% of all private candidates. In 2022 and 2023, only around 500 candidates applied through this route, representing about 6% of private candidates. The rise in non-day school candidates achieving the highest grade was less pronounced during those years.
Subject-Specific Improvements
The surge since 2024 has been especially noticeable in subjects commonly taken by mainland candidates, including the three core subjects—Chinese, English, and mathematics—as well as physics and extended mathematics modules.
In English, the number of non-day school candidates achieving Level 5** increased from 10 in 2024 to 75 in 2025, a more than 600% rise. Meanwhile, the total number of non-day school candidates sitting this subject exam rose by only 34%.
In mathematics, 254 non-day school candidates obtained Level 5** in 2025, up from 160 in the previous year—an increase of nearly 60%. The number of candidates taking the subject rose by 50%.
In Chinese language, the number of top scorers among non-day school candidates rose to 168 in 2025 from 93 in 2024, marking a 330% increase over two years. This compares with an 88% rise in the total number of students sitting the core subject during the same period.
Comparing Performance with Regular School Candidates
Meanwhile, the number of school candidates attaining Level 5** in English, Chinese, and mathematics grew by just 5% in 2025 compared with 2024, reflecting an overall increase.
Lee Yi-ying, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary Schools Council, noted that the results reflect how mainland students have boosted the exam performance of non-day school candidates. She explained that most of these students use the DSE as a pathway to university and pay high tuition fees for DSE studies, showing higher career awareness and determination to achieve good results.
Discipline and Preparation
A principal, speaking on condition of anonymity, mentioned that some mainland schools require students taking the DSE to study after normal school hours and sit monthly mock exams during their final year. This demands a high level of discipline, and only the most capable students are chosen to take the DSE.
The rising trend of non-day school candidates securing Level 5** was also observed in physics, where the number of top achievers more than doubled from 36 in 2024 to 79 in 2025.
In extended mathematics modules, there were also notable increases. In Module 1—calculus and statistics—non-day school candidates with Level 5** increased to 31 in 2025 from 29 in 2024 and 12 in 2023. In Module 2—algebra and calculus—the number jumped to 59 in 2025 from 49 in 2024 and 38 in 2023.
Language Preferences and Exam Trends
The Post also found a rising trend of candidates opting to take these subject exams in Chinese. Between 2024 and 2025, the proportion of candidates choosing the Chinese version rose by 6.4 percentage points in Module 2 and 5.2 percentage points in physics, marking the largest increases across all subjects.
In terms of the distribution of Level 5 between non-day school and school candidates, the proportion among the former has increased over the past two years. In the Chinese language, non-day school candidates accounted for just 8% of all Level 5 achievers in 2023, while those in the regular route represented the remaining 92%. But this year, the proportion of non-day school candidates obtaining the top grade grew to 27%, while that of school candidates decreased to 73%.
In Module 2 of the extended mathematics paper, school candidates made up more than 80% of the top achievers in 2023, while the proportion shrank to 74% in 2025, with non-day school candidates’ share expanding to 26%.
However, in subjects less popular among mainland students, such as economics and information and communication technology, non-day school candidates showed no significant improvement in performance.
Grading System and Government Response
According to the Examinations and Assessment Authority, the DSE uses a standards-referenced reporting system, meaning grades are awarded based on demonstrated ability rather than performance relative to peers. The grading benchmarks are anchored to the stable performance of day school candidates each year to ensure consistency.
A well-known tutorial school in Shenzhen recently claimed that 258 of its students who sat the DSE as private candidates were admitted to Hong Kong’s top three universities this year. Twelve of them enrolled in dentistry and six in medicine at the University of Hong Kong.
The government reported that the number of dependants of parents recruited through different talent schemes admitted to government-funded first-year first-degree programmes increased from 62 in 2022-23 to 68 in 2023-24 and 185 in 2024-25, marking a 172% rise. The 2025-26 figure is not yet available.
This trend has raised concerns among local students and parents about their chances of being admitted to publicly funded programmes in local universities, prompting the government to tighten eligibility requirements.
