A talented girl who is extremely popular in partial subjects
On June 13, the 2024 Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition (referred to as the "Alibaba Mathematics Competition") announced the finalists. In the end, 801 mathematics masters from all over the world successfully advanced. They are located in 17 countries and regions around the world, with an average age of 22 years old. They mainly come from well-known universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, MIT, and Cambridge. In the list, Jiang Ping seems a little special. At only 17 years old, she achieved a good score of 93 points, ranking 12th in the world among the contestants. She was also the only girl in the top 30. Jiang Ping also made history. She majored in fashion design and was the first to enter the competition. The technical secondary school students in the finals created something that was impossible in the eyes of everyone.
Under the guidance of mathematics teacher Wang Runqiu, Jiang Ping began to study advanced mathematics, starting from "Advanced Mathematics" published by Tongji University and continuing to "Partial Differential Equations" written by Lawrence C. Evans. With the help of mobile phone translation software and an "English-Chinese Dictionary", she has already taught herself one-third. Today, her level has reached the level of an undergraduate in the Department of Mathematics.
A way out for students who are partial to science
Q
talented girl only attended a technical secondary school in China. How would her fate be different if she transferred to a DSE course in Hong Kong?
The DSE course requires students to study 4 compulsory subjects and 2 elective subjects. If students who are good at science subjects plan their elective subjects appropriately, they have every chance to obtain high scores in the exam. The DSE score set up awards of 5* or above to reward specialized students. Therefore, even if students fail English but can achieve stars in other subjects, they still have a chance to attend the University of Hong Kong.
If she is a mathematically gifted candidate like Jiang Ping, DSE’s admissions system has the following three ways to help her take advantage of her expertise.
Flexible admission policy, flexible admissions
Hong Kong universities have introduced a new policy in the past two years. Even if one DSE subject fails to meet the minimum requirements, it is still possible to enroll in a Hong Kong school as long as the scores in other subjects are high enough. Taking the University of Hong Kong as an example, the policy of flexible arrangements will still be adopted in 2024. Those who fail the English test with only 2 points, but still exceed the median score after a 10% discount on the total score, will have the opportunity to enter the University of Hong Kong.
For gifted students with competitive abilities, Hong Kong schools have diversified flexible admission policies. In addition to considering DSE test scores, students’ outstanding achievements in other areas are also considered, including the SNDAS school nomination direct admission program, principal nomination, and OEA competition. Achievements, etc., are open to students as a supplementary admission method.
There are extra points for Level 5, and Extended Mathematics is a separate subject
The University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University adopt a different scoring method from the general scoring method, adding extra points to level 5 to make high-scoring subjects even higher, level5=5.5 points, level5* =7 points, level5**=8.5 points. Currently, universities in Hong Kong count Extended Mathematics as a separate elective subject towards the total score.
Hong Kong schools have a weighted scoring system with a weighting towards mathematics.
The admission scores of many universities in Hong Kong will be biased towards English and mathematics. For popular departments such as engineering, business, science, etc., the scores of English and mathematics are usually weighted by 1.5 times or 2 times, so students with high scores in English and mathematics will be calculated. It will be particularly advantageous. If the candidate is strong in mathematics, then when he obtains particularly high scores in the two subjects of compulsory mathematics and M1/M2, the total score will be more advantageous than other candidates with an even distribution.
According to the admission scoring method of the above majors, all majors have added 1.2-2 times weighting to mathematics. Among them, the artificial intelligence major of JS6224 and the actuarial major of JS6729 have special requirements for mathematics: M1/M2 compulsory courses must reach Level 4 or above. Moreover, mathematics and M1/M2 are both weighted twice, so in the mathematics section alone, the score difference between candidates will increase exponentially. For example, the original difference between Level5 and Level5* is 1.5 points, but after weighting, the difference is 6 points.
Since you can focus on partial subjects, should you still pay attention to English?
Although the flexible admissions policy seems attractive, does it mean that students who are strong in mathematics and weak in English do not need to pay attention to English? The shortcoming of this view is that students who achieve high scores in other subjects but do not perform up to standard in English are actually rare.
Based on years of observation and experience, most students who achieve stars in other subjects are usually able to achieve a score of 3 or above in English instead of failing. In other words, students with strong English proficiency usually do well in other subjects, while students with weak English proficiency usually do not perform well in other subjects.
For most candidates who are on the edge of admission, their overall score may just meet the admission standards of Hong Kong's prestigious schools, but they cannot successfully enroll because their English scores are not up to standard. For example, a student may have scored a total of 20 points in five subject examinations and could have entered the Business School of City University of Hong Kong, but was unable to be admitted because of unsatisfactory English scores. Therefore, it is recommended that the vast majority of students should focus on improving their English first. Once your English scores are improved, your chances of entering Hong Kong universities through the DSE exam will increase significantly.