Tens of thousands of candidates who sat this year’s university entrance exam are urged to come up with different plans as they are about to begin the next chapter of their lives.

The call from youth organisation Hok Yau Club came as about 59,000 candidates are set to find out the results of the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam on Wednesday.

To plan for their academic future, student guidance consultant Clement Ng said youngsters should list out the subjects they are interested in and understand their strengths and weaknesses.

“They have to estimate the best and the worst of their expected results, and also consider different scenarios where the students may be performing exceptionally well or underperformed, and set a very clear plan for different results and clarify which course they have to apply for based on the DSE score,” he said.

“This may help the students to know what to expect, what to do and press down the pressure due to facing different uncertainties and keep them fully ready no matter facing what kind of results.”

For those who fail to meet the minimum university entry requirement, Ng said they can still take sub-degree courses, adding that they still enjoy a lot of choices for further studies.

He also highlighted parents’ role as supporters, saying that their expectations should be realistic and they should encourage their kids to make their own choices.

“They may ask a lot of different questions even when the students feel worried. For parents, most importantly, is try to support the kids no matter what they choose, believe their kids have the ability to choose their best future decision.”

With the rapid development of AI, Ng suggests students who want to become tech creators to opt for courses such as those relating to computer science, whereas those who want to become the user of AI should take courses they are interested in and make use of AI to enhance effectiveness.

Roughly 15,000 publicly funded university places are up for grabs this year.


Edited by Edmond Fong