Events & News

World Class Tests in Mathematics and Problem Solving administered by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in April this year have found Hong Kong youngsters aged between 8 and 14 outperform their peers in other parts of the world by a wide margin, with distinction rates ranging between 27% and 38% compared with the global average distinction rate of 10%.

World Class Tests are launched in 2001 by the British Government's Department for Education and Skills for assessing and nurturing gifted youngsters. It is an international benchmark for Mathematics and Problem Solving. The questions in the tests are designed by professors of renowned universities in the UK, USA and Australia.

The Tests were first introduced in Hong Kong in 2004, and since then, over 20,000 students from nearly 400 schools have taken the tests. In 2008 HKUST was commissioned to promote and administer the tests in the Asian region.

World Class Tests are organized throughout the world in April and November each year, and the results announced today are of the April tests conducted on HKUST campus and various school test sites in Hong Kong, in which over 1,600 youngsters from 246 primary and secondary schools took part.

"Faced with increasing competition in the region, the development of talent has become an imperative issue on the government agenda. In this context, the World Class Tests have a key role to play in identifying gifted youngsters for special development," said Mr Tony Lam, Director of the World Class Test Asia Center at HKUST.

"We are greatly encouraged by the results of the Hong Kong students," said Dr Chiang Yik-Man, Associate Professor of Mathematics at HKUST. He added, however, that with more data collected from subsequent tests, the conclusions drawn will become more definitive.

For the 8 to 11 age group, 981 students (male 637, female 344) took the Mathematics paper. Male students performed better than female students in most of the questions, but female students exhibited a longer concentration span.

For the same age group, 563 students (male 396, female 167) took the Problem Solving paper. There was no significant difference between the male and female candidates.

For the 12 to 14 age group, 648 students (male 409, female 239) took the Mathematics paper. Male candidates performed better in most of the questions.

For the same age group, 477 students (male 293, female 184) took the Problem Solving Paper. In general there was no significant difference between the male and female candidates.

Note: For the lists of awardees (individual and group) please refer to the Appendices 1 and 2.
 

附 錄 1
Appendix 1

中 學 組 數 學 科 最 傑 出 表 現 學 校 獎
Most Outstanding Group Performance in Mathematics (Aged 12-14)
拔萃女書院 Diocesan Girls' School
拔萃男書院 Diocesan Boys' School
嘉諾撒聖瑪利書院 St. Mary's Canossian College

中 學 組 解 難 分 析 科 最 傑 出 表 現 學 校 獎
Most Outstanding Group Performance in Problem Solving (Aged 12-14)
拔萃女書院 Diocesan Girls' School
拔萃男書院 Diocesan Boys' School
英華書院 Ying Wa College

小 學 組 數 學 科 最 傑 出 表 現 學 校 獎
Most Outstanding Group Performance in Mathematics (Aged 8-11)
香港培正小學 Pui Ching Primary School
大埔舊墟公立學校（寶湖道） Tai Po Old Market Public School (Plover Cove)
華德學校（上午校）Bishop Walsh Primary School (A.M.)

小 學 組 解 難 分 析 科 最 傑 出 表 現 學 校 獎
Most Outstanding Group Performance in Problem Solving (Aged 8-11)
香港培正小學 Pui Ching Primary School
拔萃女小學 Diocesan Girls' Junior School
港大同學會小學 HKUGA Primary School

附 錄 2
Appendix 2