How students prepare for the certificate examination

opinion survey 2008

Participating parties

Dr Robert Ting-yiu Chung, Programme Director of Public Opinion Programme, University of Hong Kong

Prof Kit-tai Hau, Department Chair of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ben MakOxford University Press

Research Methodology

Student survey 1,026 successful exit interviews with students who just

finished their Chinese/English/Mathematics certificate examination in April/May 2008

Stratified sampling in 30 examination centres

Teacher survey 305 successful self-completed mail questionnaires Teachers of certificate level Chinese/English/

Mathematics subjects

Questions asked

for students: What have you done to prepare yourselves for the

exam (in school and outside of school)? Now you have completed the exam, what do you think

are the most effective tools?

for teachers: What have you done to prepare your students for the

exam? In view of your students’ exam results in recent years,

what do you think are the most effective tools?

Key findings - students

52%

38%33%

40%

24%

47%

20%

41%

20%

38%

19%

44%

15%

55%

12%

32%

12%

27%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

操練歷屆會考試題

*

老師在平日課堂所授的學科知識

補習班／精讀班（筆記）

日常功課和作業

由老師編寫的筆記

老師指導的應試策略和技巧

教科書學校提供的模擬試題／補充練習

坊間的模擬試題／補充練習

坊間的會考參考書／天書

has used considered effective

* 在「使用那種方法預備會考」的問題並沒有「老師平日課堂所授的學科知識」答案選項，因為假設絕大部份學生都有老師教授。

Key findings - teachers83%

56%

75%

31%

70%

43%

62%

41%

59%

38%40%

23%

38%

15%

37%

17%

24%

8%

17%

7%11%

4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

老師教導的應試策略和技巧

教科書及相關教學資源

日常功課和作業

由老師揀選的歷屆會考試題

由老師揀選的模擬試題／補充練習

學生自行額外操練歷屆會考試題

由老師編寫的筆記

學生於坊間購買的模擬試題／補充練習

坊間的會考參考書／天書

has used considered effective

Summary of data

Students and teachers use a lot of different means to prepare for exam, but there is no clear consensus about the effectiveness of those tools

‘Practising past papers’ are deemed important by both teachers and students

Exam guide books (天書 ) are deemed not useful by both teachers and students

Students believe that teachers have not taught them enough skills to prepare for exam

Interpretation of data

The new syllabus and exam format seem to have weakened the confidence of some teachers and students

‘Practising past papers’ can be helpful if and only if: The students have already mastered solid subject

knowledge, which is the result of good classroom teaching. NSS will not change this. On the other hand, pure drilling and memorizing “tips” will not help

Past papers are used to gauge students’ strengths & weaknesses

Scores are used as a motivator to show improvement and encourage self-learning

Interpretation of data

Choosing a good textbook and relevant learning materials provided by publishers are good enough to replace exam guide book (天書 )

Tutorial centres marketing expert. They package themselves as exam expert. But teachers can do equally well by conducting more sharing with other teachers and better utilize exam related materials provided by publishers

The role of Oxford Continue to provide comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date

and yet easy to use textbook package. Because teaching will become even more important in NSS.

Enhance our already powerful question bank and on line learning platform. More past-exam-like questions will be included. New features will be added to motivate self-learning. We have just opened a new production and IT centre in Shenzhen to support the development work.

Enrich our teach support programme with territory-wide workshops, regional sharing groups, up-to-date exam analysis, etc.