HKDSE: record 11 super top scorers among 24 students with top results

A record 24 students emerged as top scorers in this year's Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examinations.

They include one, who defied the odds to rise to academic excellence - despite severe visual impairment.

11 of the 24 top students also attained the coveted Super Top Scorers distinction.

At Wah Yan College Hong Kong, top scorer Aiden Cheng has been afflicted with congenital visual impairment with just ten percent of vision left.

But he refused to let his impairment hold him back.

Spending nearly ten hours in revision every day, Aiden eventually became one of the city's top scorers at the HKDSE this year.

Now, Aiden sets his sights on pursuing a double degree programme in Government and Laws at HKU, hoping to empower vulnerable and underrepresented communities in litigation in future.

Apart from thanking his parents, he says technologies have helped through his learning journey.

Top Scorer AIDEN CHENG TSZ-IN: "There are a lot of moments where I utilise these sorts of technologies, for instance, say to evaluate some of my ideas for writing or speaking assessments to really reduce the time spent on repetitive or redundant tasks in our revision. Maybe we have physical constraints but that does not mean we cannot fulfill something that normal people could or even could not and to really strive for what they actually hope for in their dreams."

Among the common refrains from this year's top scorers is the importance of balancing hard work with rest.

For instance, Wah Yan College Hong Kong's Aiden Cheng told us he turns to chess or table tennis to clear his mind.

Having the most number of top scorers at the HKDSE this year was St. Paul's Co-educational College.

Five students achieved the top grade of Level 5** in six subjects while three of them earned an extra Level 5** in the Mathematics Extended Module -- making the trio super top scorers at the public exam.

All of them hope to study medicine at a local university.

Some -- motivated by the personal experience of witnessing loved ones battle cancer.

Super Top Scorer WONG YIK-KA: "I just kept asking myself how much am I going to sacrifice for this, how much am I willing to sacrifice my time sacrifice my sleep, my play time just to achieve something that I always wanted."

Super Top Scorer CHAN HOI-YIN: "I was really overworking myself, but eventually I found out that I actually need sleep to improve my performance in exams."

Super Top Scorer MA TUEN-HANG LUANN: "This passion for these subjects as well as my satisfaction that I gained from volunteering, I think that all of these combined together would make medicine a really great career path forward for me."

A top scorer wishes to become a psychiatrist.

Top Scorer CHOI SHIN-HANG: "I told myself, if one day, I have a lot of friends and I have the power, I would try to make myself the lighthouse for people who might feel lonely or lost."

Another student Yi-lam used to grapple with a congenital heart condition, which inspired his path forward.

Top Scorer CHONG YI-LAM: "Going into hospital and out of hospital multiple times and eventually undergoing a successful surgery to cure it, I think that's what inspired me the most."

Three schools celebrated their first-ever top scorers in DSE.

They include two schools in Sha Tin: Shatin Tsung Tsin Secondary School and Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School, whose top scorer earlier skipped a grade from Primary 5 straight to Secondary 1 and Po Leung Kuk Laws Foundation College in Tseung Kwan O, which groomed a super top scorer.

St. Mary's Canossian College produced a top scorer - Audrey Yiu.

Po Leung Kuk Tang Yuk Tien College in Tuen Mun saw a top scorer for two straight years.