The cancellation of the International Baccalaureate exams in May because of the coronavirus has raised fears Hongkongers will not get into their choice of university, but others have backed the decision.
The move has also increased the pressure to call off the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exams, which are still due to go ahead in Hong Kong.
In an unprecedented decision on Monday, the IB organisation said its exams scheduled for between April 30 and May 22 would no longer be held, given the pandemic’s spread, confirming an earlier South China Morning Post report.
It added more details would be released to schools by Friday. Students would still be awarded a diploma or course certificate based on their coursework and other forms of assessment.
Coronavirus: IB cancels May exams, affecting 200,000 students worldwide
This year’s IB programme – a two-year course providing an internationally accredited qualification for students to enter university – was taken by 200,000 students worldwide, including about 2,000 in Hong Kong.
Apart from the final exam, a student’s final grade is determined through internal assessments and coursework.
Predicted grades based on internal mock exams previously held would also be issued by schools for universities to consider during the application process.
Daniel Leong, a Year 13 student at South Island School taking the IB programme, said he feared not getting the grades he needed for university, adding some of his classmates were also worried about what grades they would be awarded.
“It’s uncertain for me, since I have been revising a lot for the final exams, hoping to improve on my mistakes in the mock exams,” Leong said.
“Just having it all cancelled seems kind of anti-climatic, that our hard work isn’t paying off.”
The 18-year-old said he had spent up to seven hours a day studying for the May exams.
But Christian Suen, 17, a Form Six student at St Paul’s Co-educational College, believed there were positives to the cancellation.
“Students in Hong Kong have missed a lot of [face-to-face] classes due to the coronavirus … which might have become a disadvantage compared with students in other parts of the world,” he said.
Kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong have been closed since early February until further notice.
Suen’s predicted IB score was 44 marks out of 45, while his conditional offer from a top British university was based on reaching 42, so he said he was relatively confident the new grading system would meet his requirements.
Ruth Benny, from Top Schools, thinks the IGCSE will be the next to cancel its exams. Photo: Handout
Ruth Benny, founder of education consultancy Top Schools, said parents had told her that some students felt “extremely disappointed” about the cancellation of IB exams, although many parents respected the decision and appeared to be more pragmatic.
“They prefer their children don’t put themselves at risk by sitting at an exam hall, having close contact with all the other students,” she said.
Benny also said she believed the IGCSE exams could also be abandoned this year.
Louis Campion, 15, from South Island School, who is due to sit the IGCSE exams in May and June, said he hoped the IGCSE exams followed the lead of the IB and others.
“With the Education Bureau having officially announced that schools are not set to resume on April 20, I can’t see how 200 students can be seated together in an exam hall when the government is advocating social distancing,” Campion said.
Hong Kong’s examination authorities, meanwhile, on Monday said the city’s Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) exams would not be cancelled hastily, following the government’s decision last week to postpone the exams for a month until April.
