Hong Kong's DSE curriculum has soared in popularity and is very popular in the mainland, and many international schools in the Greater Bay Area have introduced DSE courses. In addition, some international schools in Beijing and Shanghai have also offered this course in order to expand the channels for students to pursue higher education.
Today, 51 International Education will take you to learn about the DSE course and see why this course is popular.
1. What is the DSE course?
The full name of DSE is Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, also known as the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, which is the "Hong Kong College Entrance Examination" designed by the Hong Kong Examination and Assessment Authority in 2012 for the new academic system.
DSE is open to mainland students, and their results are recognised by universities in Hong Kong, Macau, the Mainland and overseas. Many mainland students take DSE courses to apply to universities in Hong Kong and Macau.
2. What do you learn in DSE courses?
There are compulsory courses and elective courses in the DSE curriculum system.
The compulsory courses are Chinese, Mathematics, English, and Liberal Studies (in 2024, "Citizenship and Social Development" will replace "General Education" as the examination subject).
Elective courses are divided into Category A senior high school subjects, Category B applied learning subjects, and Category C other language subjects, including biology, chemistry, physics, Chinese history, Chinese literature, English literature, economics, ethics and religion, geography, French, German, Japanese, etc.
Students take 4 compulsory courses, plus 2 elective courses (which can be selected according to their interests) and take exams in a total of 6 subjects.
3. Is the DSE exam difficult?
The DSE exam is graded on a grading scale. A student's performance in the exam is graded into 5 grades, with Grade 5 being the highest grade and Grade 1 being the lowest. Students who perform at Level 5 can also aim for 5* and 5**, while students who perform below Level 1 will not be graded.
The full score of the DSE exam is 42 points, with Level 1 being counted as 1 point, Level 5 being scored as 5 points, 5* being scored as 6 points, and 5** being scored as 7 points (full marks for a single subject).
A student with a score of 30 or more is very good, and a score of less than 20 indicates that there is still work to be done.
4. What are the advantages of DSE courses?
Chinese is allowedThis is the most significant advantage of the DSE program over other international courses.
Deviations are allowedThe DSE course does not restrict students from choosing courses, and students can choose the subjects they are good at and avoid their weak subjects, so as to achieve better results.
There are two chances to take the exam, and if the candidate does not do well in the first year, he or she can also retake the exam in the second year and take the best five subject scores to apply to the university.
The difficulty of the exam is low, and the difficulty of the DSE course is much lower than that of the mainland college entrance examination, AP, and IB exams.
IELTS is exemptedThe results of the DSE English test are officially recognized by IELTS, and students can apply to prestigious universities around the world without IELTS.
For a list of high-quality DSE schools in the Mainland, click on the mini program on the mobile terminal to view the brochure of international schools