Public Assessment

HKDSE Econ 2020 live paper

Nov 2020
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Live papers
 Paper 1:
 On compulsory part of the curriculum

 Answer all questions

 45 multiple choice questions

 Account for 30% of the subject marks

 60 minutes

2021: unchanged
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Live papers
 Paper 2 section A:
 On compulsory part of the curriculum
 Short questions
 All questions are compulsory
 8 short questions
 44 marks
 Account for 26% of the subject marks
⚫ 2021 total mark for section A: 44 marks
(30% of the subject marks)
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Live papers
 Paper 2 section B:
 On compulsory part of the curriculum
 Structured/essay-type/ questions
 All questions are compulsory
 3 structured questions (with 1 DRQ)
 60 marks
 Account for 35% of the subject marks
 2021 total mark for section B: 60 marks (40%
of the subject marks)
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Live papers
 Paper 2 section C:
 On elective part of the curriculum
 Structured/essay-type questions
 Attempt questions on ONE elective only
 2 structured questions
 16 marks each
 Account for 9% of the subject marks
 Total time is 2 hours 30 mins
⚫ 2021: section C cancelled
⚫ Total exam time: 2 hours 30 mins
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Summary of 2021 paper

 Paper 1 unchanged:
45 MCQs, 60 mins
Account for 30% of subject mark
 Paper 2 exam time unchanged:
2 hour 30 mins
Paper 2 mark allocation
Section A: 44 marks (30% of subject mark)
Section B: 60 marks (40% of subject mark)
Section C: cancelled
Total marks of paper 2: 104 marks
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Paper 1
 Number sat: 12039
 Overall mean score of 2020:

out of 45 questions
= 61.07% (27.52)
 Overall mean score of 2019

= 58.5% (26.31)
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Paper 1 Q5
If a public limited company in Hong Kong gets listed on
the stock exchange,
A. it will face a higher profits tax rate. (7%)
B. it can no longer keep its accounting information confidential. (42%)
C. its shareholders will enjoy higher liquidity of their assets. (40%)
D. it will enjoy economies of scale. (11%)
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Paper 1 Q6
Refer to the following dialogue.

I own a lake with great natural views. How can I earn

income from it, Captain Cook?

I have a fishing boat! I can be the

Landlord Li captain of some boat trips in the lake!

Captain Cook

Let’s organise fishing tours and charge the tourists a large sum! I
will pay you a daily rate, Captain Cook. And I will pocket the
remaining income. We will earn a lot of money together!
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Paper 1 Q6
Given the return of land is rent, the return of labour is
wage, the return of capital is interest while the return of
entrepreneur is profit. The income earned by Captain
Cook consists of _______ while the remaining income
earned by Landlord Li consists of _______.

A. wage……profit (51%)
B. interest ……rent and profit (3%)
C. wage and interest……rent (4%)
D. wage and interest ……rent and profit (42%)
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Paper 1 Q25
Which of the following should be deducted from the
gross domestic product of Hong Kong to calculate the
gross national income of Hong Kong?
A. the fee paid by a Hong Kong football club to a Japanese football
team for an exhibition match in Hong Kong (53%)
B. the rent earned by a Hong Kong property developer from its
residential property in Japan (10%)
C. the capital gain earned by a Japanese insurance corporation from
its financial investment in Hong Kong (27%)
D. the dividend paid by a listed company in Japan to a Hong Kong
resident (10%)

Most capable candidates managed to pick the key.

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Paper 1 Q33
Which of the following will increase the actual banking
multiplier?

A. The public tends to hold more cash. (22%)

B. The use of credit card becomes more popular. (36%)
C. The central bank increases the required reserve ratio(18%)
D. The interest rate of bank deposit decreases. (24%)

Most capable candidates managed to pick the key.

Two forces to increase the actual banking multiplier:

1. Less cash leakage (by public)
2. Less excess reserves (by banks)
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Paper 1 Comments
 Time: 45 MCQs in 60 mins
➔ Sufficient time
Candidates are weaker in
- Data interpretation
- Application of formula for calculation
- Integration of topics
- Macroeconomics
- Social/economic issues
- Number sense
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Paper 2
 Number sat : 12023
Overall mean score in 2020:
59.56%
 Overall mean score in 2019:
57.1%
 Overall mean score in 2018:
56.9 %
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Paper 2 Marking
 Onscreen Marking System (OSM)
 Scanned images

 Markers mark in Assessment Centres

 Section A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2

 Each marker marking 16-30 marks

➔ 300 to 600 scripts

 Increase reliability
⚫ Special thanks to markers of this year!
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Paper 2
 Welcome the Assistant Examiners to
comment on candidates’ performance by
Section:
 Section A1: (Q1, 3, 5, 7)
 Section A2: (Q2, 4, 6, 8)
 Section B1: (Q9, 10)
 Section B2: (Q11)
 Section C: (Q12, 13)
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Paper 2 Section A1 (Q1, 3, 5, 7)

Q1
A free good must be free of charge. Do you agree? Explain your
answer. (3 marks)

Q3
Below are the gross domestic product (GDP) data of a country.

(a) Identify the phase of business cycle which point A is in. (1 mark)

(b) Apart from increasing unemployment rate, list TWO general economic
phenomena which occur at point A. (2 marks)

(c) State TWO losses to society caused by unemployment. (2 marks)

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Paper 2 Section A1 (Q1, 3, 5, 7)

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Paper 2 Section A1 (Q1, 3, 5, 7)

Q5
(a) What is the opportunity cost of holding money? Explain.
(2 marks)

(b) Peter owes Mary $100 and he has no cash in his wallet. He
suggests repaying Mary by a cash coupon (with a face value of
$100) issued by a supermarket chain. Give TWO economic
reasons to explain why Mary would refuse to accept the cash
coupon as a repayment of Peter’s debt. (4 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A1 (Q1, 3, 5, 7)

Q7
Suppose the outputs per unit of resources of Country A and Country B
are as follows:
Toys (units) Cars (units)
Country A 10 OR 10
Country B 20 OR 10

(a) Which good would Country B export according to its comparative

advantage? Explain. (3 marks)

(b) Suppose Country A and Country B trade at an exchange ratio of 5

units of toys to 4 units of cars. A transportation cost of 0.2 units of cars is
required to exchange for 1 unit of toys and the cost is equally shared by
both countries. Calculate the gain per unit of export of Country B. Show
your workings. (3 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A1 Report

Q. Highlight of the comments
1 • Just recited the definition of free good without
relating their arguments to the question
3b • Failed to read the question carefully and included
‘increase in unemployment rate’ in their answers
3c • Wrongly regarded an increase in welfare payment
as a loss to society
5a • Only stated the definition of opportunity cost without
elaborating on the kind of investment return people
have to give up
• Simply put down the term ‘interest’ without
explanation
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Paper 2 Section A1 Report

Q. Highlight of the comments
5b • Failed to use the precise terms in money and
banking in the answer (general acceptability,
divisibility, durability, medium of exchange, and
store of value)
7a • Mistakenly compared the unit cost of cars with that
of toys in a given country
• Missed out the unit in their calculations
• Failed to state explicitly that country B enjoys
comparative advantage because it has a lower
opportunity cost in producing toys than country A
7b • Overlooked the keywords ‘the cost is equally
shared by both countries’ in the question
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Q2, 4, 6, 8)

Q2
A chain restaurant providing Chinese cuisine set up a cake shop.

(a) Explain which type of expansion this was. (2 marks)

(b) List TWO possible motives for the above expansion. (2 marks)

(c) After the opening of 10 more restaurants, the firm found that its
average cost decreased. State TWO possible reasons for this.
(2 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Q2, 4, 6, 8)

Q4
Study the following information of an economy.
Year Consumer price index (CPI)
2018 110
2019 117

(a) Calculate the inflation rate in 2019. (1 marks)

(b) Explain ONE difference between using CPI and GDP deflator to
measure the change in the price level. (2 marks)

(c) ‘The continuous open market purchase of government bonds by

the central bank is the cause of inflation in the economy.’ Justify the
statement with reference to the classical quantity theory of money.
(4 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Q2, 4, 6, 8)

Q6
Refer to Figure 1. Suppose an economy initially operates at E0. With the
aid of Figure 1, explain how market forces can restore the aggregate output
level to the full-employment output level in the long run. (5 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Q2, 4, 6, 8)

Q8
Assets ($million) Liabilities ($million)
Reserves 1000 Deposits 4000
Loans 3000
Study the above balance sheet of the banking system in Country A.
Suppose the public always hold $800 million cash and the banking
system does not hold excess reserves.

(a) Find the monetary base and money supply in Country A. (2 marks)

(b) Suppose firms withdraw $700 million from the banking system and
remit the whole amount overseas.

(i) Find the change in monetary base in Country A. (1 mark)

(ii) Calculate the maximum possible change in money supply in Country
A. Show your workings. (3 marks)
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Report)

2a • Failed to give a proper explanation for the type of
expansion they named
2b • Wrongly listed some motives which did not suit the
expansion in this case, e.g., increasing market
share
2c • Simply listed additional motives behind the
expansion without providing reasons for the
declining average cost
• Mistook the question as asking about increasing
average cost
4b • Merely stated one feature of CPI and another
feature of GDP deflator without pointing out the
difference
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Report)

4c • Failed to define the variables M, V, P, and Y
• Failed to realise that classical QTM assumes that V
and Y are constant
• Failed to mention that inflation is a continuous and
sustained increase in the price level
• Mistook that open market purchase of government
bonds would result in a fall in the money supply
6 • Failed to realise that the market adjustment
operates via a leftward shift in the SRAS curve to
restore output to its full-employment level
• Failed to provide the reason behind the SRAS
adjustment, i.e., a rise in production cost due to
excess demand in the factor market.
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Paper 2 Section A2 (Report)

8b(ii) • Neglected the word ‘change’ and calculating only
the new level of money supply
• Failed to state verbally that there was a ‘drop’ in
money supply OR failed to give a ‘negative’ figure
as their numerical answer
• Omitted the unit (i.e., $ million) in their answers
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9,10)

Q9
Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland are the two large theme parks in
Hong Kong.

(a) What is the market structure of the theme park industry in Hong
Kong? List TWO features of this market structure. (3 marks)

The first hotel in Ocean Park was launched in 2018 while the second
hotel and the water park were scheduled to be opened before 2021. It is
expected that such infrastructure development can attract more tourists
to stay longer in Hong Kong.

(b) Other things being equal, what will be the effects of the infrastructure
development on Hong Kong’s aggregate demand and long run aggregate
supply in the future? How about on aggregate output? Explain your
answers with the aid of a diagram. (8 marks)
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9,10)

(c) Instead of obtaining bank loans to finance the infrastructure
development, it is suggested that Ocean Park can be listed in the
stock market and issue shares to raise capital. State TWO
advantages of issuing shares over obtaining loans from banks for
raising capital. (2 marks)

(d) The contribution of the infrastructure development of Ocean Park

to Hong Kong’s GDP in 2019 could be smaller than the total amount
invested in the two hotels and the water park. Explain why the
statement may be correct with TWO reasons. (4 marks)
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9, 10)

Q10
The following source shows the current account data of the US in
2017 and 2018
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9,10)

(a)(i) Describe the changes of current account data of the US in the
above source. (2 marks)

(ii) ‘Based on the above source, we can conclude that the current
account deficit of the US in 2018 necessarily increased.’ Do you agree?
Explain. (2 marks)

Donald Trump, the US president, once said that imposing tariffs would
only increase the revenue of the US government and the US consumers
did not have to pay more for the imported goods.

(b)(i) With the aid of a supply-demand diagram, explain under ONE

extreme condition that the consumers would bear NO tariff burden after
the imposition of tariff. (4 marks)
(For simplicity, the tariff is assumed to be per-unit.)

(ii) Indicate the tariff revenue (i.e. sellers’ burden) in the same diagram.
(1 mark)
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9, 10)

(c) Economists argue that tariff may harm both the consumers and
producers.
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Q9, 10)

With reference to the above supply-demand diagram, complete the table
below. (3 marks)
Before tariff After tariff
Consumers’ surplus Area adf

Producers’ surplus

(d) The US government could impose quota to restrict imports. From

the viewpoint of the US government, state ONE advantage and ONE
disadvantage of using tariff instead of quota to restrict imports
(2 marks)
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Report)

9a • Misspelled the term ‘oligopoly’ or created a term like
‘oligopoly competition’
9b • Mistook an increase in tourist expenditure as a rise in
consumption expenditure
• Mistook the expense on infrastructure development for
an increase in government expenditure or an increase in
labour
• Failed to elaborate on how the case would lead to an
increase in LRAS
• Mislabelled the horizontal axis as price or $
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Report)

9c • Merely stated the advantages of issuing shares without
mentioning in what ways it is better than obtaining bank
loans as a means of raising capital
• Mistook that issuing shares could help Ocean Park raise
capital more easily than bank loans
• Wrongly focused on the difference between shares and
bonds
9d • Only stated the term ‘inventory’ without mentioning that these
goods are not produced in the current period
• Only stated the term ‘imports’ without mentioning that these
goods are not produced not produced by domestic firms
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Report)

10ai • Mixed up the ‘balance of goods and services’ with ‘balance
of current account’
10aii • Confused between ‘current transfer’ and ‘transfer payment’
10(b) • Mis-matched perfectly elastic demand with a vertical
(i)(ii) demand curve OR perfectly inelastic supply with a horizontal
supply curve
• Failed to mention that the after-tax market price would stay
unchanged, so that the consumers would bear no tariff
burden
• Failed to identity correctly the after-tax market price and/or
the per-unit price the sellers can receive net-of-tax, and thus
to indicate correctly the tariff revenue
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Paper 2 Section B1 (Report)

10(c) • wrongly included the tariff revenue in the after-tariff
producers’ surplus and mis-labelling the latter area as bci0

10(d) • Mistook that tariff would lead to a rise in import prices while
quota would not
• Mistook that tariff might lead to retaliation from other countries
while quota would not
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

Q11
Traffic congestion in the cross harbour tunnels during peak hours is a
serious problem in Hong Kong. For simplicity, the discussions below
only focus on two cross harbour tunnels in Hong Kong, namely the
Cross-Harbour Tunnel (CHT 紅隧) and the Western Harbour
Crossing (WHC 西隧).
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

Source C: An extract of a report on traffic congestion

Traffic congestion not only affects individual drivers, but also results
in inconvenience to society as a whole. Apart from the time wasted
during congestion, people also need to allow extra time for the
journey to cater for the uncertainty in travelling time. The stop-and-
go traffic pattern during congestion increases the total operating
costs of vehicles as more fuel would be consumed.
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

 43

Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

44
 45

Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

(a) Refer to Source A. State ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage of
providing cross harbour services by a private firm instead of the
government. (2 marks)

(b) Refer to Source B. With the aid of a supply-demand diagram,

explain the phenomenon in the CHT (紅隧) during peak hours.
(4 marks)

(c) Refer to Source C.

(i) Explain, with ONE example, why there may be a divergence between
private and social costs during traffic congestion. (3 marks)

(ii) Explain why the situation in part (i) may result in inefficiency.
(2 marks)
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

(d) According to Sources D and E, explain why private cars may be
regarded as one of the major sources of traffic congestion in the cross
harbour tunnels. (2 marks)
(Assume that the number of persons using the cross harbour tunnels
per day during peak hours is constant.)

For part (e), candidates are required to present their answers in an

essay form. Criteria for marking will include the use of sources and
economic theories, relevant content, logical presentation and clarity of
expression.
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

(e) Suppose there are two cross-harbour-tunnel-toll adjustment
proposals to relieve the problem of congestion:
Proposal I: The government raises the toll of the CHT (紅隧) for
private cars to $75.
Proposal II: The toll of the WHC (西隧) for private cars is reduced to
$20.
With reference to the above sources and your own knowledge in
Economics, discuss which proposal, proposal I or II, each of the
following groups of stakeholders would prefer:
- the owners of the WHC company
- the politicians who are concerned about the income inequality in Hong
Kong
- the government economists who are concerned about government
revenue and/or expenditure
- ONE other group of stakeholders
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Q11)

(Hint: You may discuss the reasons why one group of stakeholders
would prefer a certain proposal OR why that group would not prefer the
other proposal.) (14 marks)

(f) Suggest ONE proposal, other than tunnel-toll adjustment, for

relieving the traffic congestion problem. Briefly explain how your
proposal works. (2 marks)
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(a) • Only provided a sentence or two without saying whether it was
an advantage or disadvantage
11(b) • Failed to state that ‘the price is set below its equilibrium
(market-clearing) level’ in their verbal elaboration
• Wrongly drew an upward-sloping supply curve
• Imprecisely stated that shortage corresponds to the situation
where demand is bigger than supply (rather than ‘the quantity
demanded is bigger than the quantity supplied at the given
price/toll’
• Wrongly referred to a case of an increase in demand (not
mentioned in the given information) as the cause of shortage
11(ci) • Failed to mention that other drivers using the tunnel are
adversely affected, or that they are not compensated for these
adverse effects
• Failed to use the information from source C to support their
answers, e.g., they cited air pollution as an example of
external cost
 50

Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(cii) • Failed to pinpoint the gist of the inefficiency in this case—i.e.,
MSC>MSB and over-use of the tunnel
• Wrongly explained inefficiency by comparing marginal private
cost with marginal private benefit
• Mistook that MSC>MSB would result in under-production
11(e) General comments:
• Showed improvement in organisation
• Unnecessarily provided a list of the effects of both proposals
• Included discussion of some other stakeholders while
considering the preference of a given stakeholder
• Just copied data from the sources without analysing them
before concluding which proposal is preferred by which
stakeholder
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(e) For the owners of the WHC company
• Failed to realise that WHC is a private firm so the original
price it sets should be profit-maximizing
• Failed to use more precise terms, such as a change in the
demand for WHC service or competitive demand, in their
elaborations
• Described the situation loosely as a change in the usage
of the 2 tunnels upon toll adjustments under the 2
proposals
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(e) For income inequality
• Being able to provide proper reasons to support their
choice between Proposal I and Proposal II
• Merely argued for Proposal I on the grounds that the toll
raise would only affect the rich, without mentioning that
most rich people drive private cars while the poor
commute by public transport
• Merely argued for Proposal II on the ground that the toll
cut would relieve the poor’s burden, without mentioning
that the percentage drop in toll (as a regressive tax) for
the low-income group is bigger than that for the high-
income group
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Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(e) For government revenue and/or expenditure
• Being able to give concise and precise explanations to
demonstrate their in-depth understanding of public finance
• Merely referred to the information in Source C or Source F
without addressing the gist of the question in discussing the
effects of externality or the difficulty in negotiation with WHC
about the toll adjustment

Other stakeholders
• Simply named their chosen group vaguely as ‘people,’ or
‘citizens,’ or ‘drivers,’ making it difficult to analyse precisely
the effect
• Neglected the fact that both proposals can reduce the traffic
jam, so alleviation of traffic congestion cannot be used to
support one proposal against another
 54

Paper 2 Section B2 (Report)

11(f) • Failed to read the question carefully, and stated taxation on
cross harbour tunnels or toll adjustment as their answers
 55

Paper 2 DRQ (statistics)

Essay mean (%) SD (%)

2019 (max: 11m) 53.27273 33.81818

2020 (max:12m) 52.33 29.25

 56

Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

Q12
ABC Electricity Limited, the sole supplier of electricity in Country A, adopts uniform
pricing.

(a) If the marginal cost is constant, explain how the profit-maximising output of ABC
Electricity Limited will be determined. Indicate the output (QM), the price (PM) and
the deadweight loss in Figure 2. (5 marks)

(b) Suppose the government imposes a lump sum tax, which is a fixed amount
regardless of the quantity produced, on ABC Electricity Limited. (Assume that the
tax amount is smaller than the profit.)

(i) Indicate the after tax profit-maximising output (Qt) and price (Pt) in Figure 2.
(2 marks)
(ii) Explain whether economic efficiency would worsen as a result of the tax.
(2 marks)
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Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

 58

Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

(c) ABC Electricity Limited charges users in the urban area $1 per unit of
power consumed and users in the rural area $1.5 per unit of power
consumed. Define price discrimination and explain why this price
arrangement may NOT constitute price discrimination. (3 marks)

ABC Electricity Limited planned to install new equipment for electricity supply
in the rural area and asked the equipment providers to bid for the contracts.
It was found that the two equipment providers in a region agreed to take
turns being the bid winner.

(d)(i) Which anti-competitive behaviour would the above case constitute? If

the above case happened in Hong Kong, which conduct rule of Competition
Ordinance would be violated? (2 marks)

(ii) State TWO ways the above behaviour would harm ABC Electricity
Limited. (2 marks)
 59

Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

Q13
Refer to Figure 3. PPFA and PPFB are the production possibility
frontiers of Country A and Country B respectively. E0 is the
consumption point of Country A without trade.

Assume the domestic cost of production of 1 unit of Good X in Country A

is 1.5 units of Y at E0.

(a) With reference to the domestic production costs of Country A and

Country B, explain which country will specialize in producing Good X.
(3 marks)

(b) After Country A engages in trade with Country B, the consumption

point of Country A is E1.
 60

Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

 61

Paper 2 Section C (Q12-13)

Indicate in Figure 3,
(i) the consumption possibility frontier (CPFA) of Country A (Hint: CPFA
should pass through E1),
(ii) the production point (AT) of Country A after trade and explain your
answer in terms of terms of trade, and
(iii) the consumption possibility frontier (CPFB) and the production point
(BT) of Country B after trade. (5 marks)

(c) Suppose Country B adopts artificial intelligence technologies in the

production of Good Y, which doubles her productivity of the good.
(i) Explain whether your answer in part (a) would be affected by the above
change. (2 marks)
(ii) Give TWO reasons to explain why the adoption of artificial intelligence
technologies may boost economic development of Country B. (4 marks)
(iii) Apart from adopting artificial intelligence technologies, list TWO factors
that may boost economic growth. (2 marks)
 62

Paper 2 Section C (Report)

12(a) 58% • Wrongly drew an upward-sloping marginal cost curve
• Failed to state the profit-maximising condition in their
verbal elaboration, or simply stated ‘marginal benefit =
marginal cost’ as the condition
• Only provided vague arguments instead of applying
clear economic concepts
12(b)
• Failed to realise that the imposition of a lump-sum tax
12(dii) would not affect marginal cost or marginal revenue

• Wrongly stated the harm such anti-competitive

behaviour would inflict upon the consumers,
instead of ABC Company
• Wrongly conceived that the company had violated
the law and would thus be punished
 63

Paper 2 Section C (Report)

13(a) 42% • Overlooked the given information and calculated
the opportunity cost of producing 1X in country A
as 1Y (=100/100)
13(b) • Failed to realise that country A would not
specialise completely in producing one single
good
• Failed to explain how they could find the
production point of country A in part (ii)
13(c)(i) • misread the question and thought that the
productivity of both Good X and Good Y doubled
simultaneously
• Failed to support their answer with a proper
calculation of the new opportunity cost
 64

Paper 2 Section C (Report)

13(c)(ii)(iii) • Wrongly use GNI, instead of per capita GNI, to
explain the AI-effect on economic development
• Narrowly discussed per capita GNI and ignored
the other two aspects of HDI
• Failed to realise that any factor contributing to an
increase in the population only may not lead to
an increase in per capita GNI (despite its positive
effect on GNI)
 65

Paper 2
General reminder:
 Don’t use colour to indicate the areas in
the diagram
 Don’t successively use symbols in the
answer
 Express the answer in a comprehensible
way: rough work written not in the
designated spaces will NOT be marked
 66

Paper 2 Overall comments

 Some candidates failed to demonstrate a thorough understanding of
basic economic concepts and principles, especially when applying them
to solve hypothetical or real-life problems. Candidates should
strengthen their analytical skills instead of simply regurgitating concepts
and theories
 Some candidates lacked skills to extract information from tables and
graphs as well as to draw well-labelled diagrams. Candidates should
pay special attention to the headings, labels, and axes as they are
essential to our understanding of the data presented therein.
 Some candidates had difficulty in presenting their answers in a clear
and precise way. Candidates should equip themselves with better
language abilities as well as graphical skills, and make sure that their
handwriting is legible.
 Some candidates did not read the questions carefully. Candidates
should devote special attention to the assumptions and conditions laid
down in the questions to avoid giving irrelevant answers.
 Some candidates did not seem to be well-informed about current
economic issues in the real world. Candidates should pay more
attention to economic news.
 67

Grading - paper marks and subject marks

 Raw mark of Paper 1 (max mark): 45
 Raw mark of Paper 2 (max mark): 124
 Adjusted mark: Marks awarded by markers are
adjusted, if necessary, to rectify lenient, strict or
erratic marking.
 Weighted paper mark: Marks of different papers
are converted to the same comparable scale,
taking into account the spread of marks in different
papers and the published paper weightings,
before they are combined to form the subject
mark.
 68

Grading - Grading procedures

1. Sample scripts selection

2. Standardisation
3. Post-marking exercise:
The grading panel will discuss and suggest a
provisional grading recommendation (including
preliminary cut score range) on each paper
through expert judgment base on:
 69

Grading – Post-marking exercise

 The level descriptors
 The standards of 2012 DSE (library scripts)
 Marked-live scripts, selected according to the total marks
 Feedback from markers on the level of difficulty of
papers
 Inter-paper correlations, the mean and standard
deviation of the current year’s papers
 Paper mark cumulative distributions
 Performance samples from 2018 and 2019 DSE (library
scripts)
 70

Grading – Panel of judges grading meeting

• Preliminary cut score range
• Samples scripts around the cut score range
• Group ability index:
- constructed per level
- an index for each level based on the number of
candidates in this group (this subject) achieving
that particular level in the four core subjects
- depends on the correlation of the subject and
EACH of the 4 core subjects
 71

Grading – Panel of judges grading meeting

Panel of judges considers:
• Preliminary cut score range
• Samples scripts around the cut score range
• Group ability index (GAI) as reference
➔ Recommendation for the cut score for the subject
• The panel of judges plays a very important and
independent role in setting a cut score for each
level based on the actual performance of
candidates
Grading – Internal meeting and 72

Public Examinations Board meeting

• Internal meeting: A senior management team
led by Secretary General of the Authority will
meet to review the recommendations of
individual subject panels.
• PEB meeting: The recommendations of the
internal meeting will be reviewed at the PEB
meeting and the final cut scores of all HKDSE
subjects must be endorsed at this meeting.
Grading – Determination of 73

level 5** and 5*

• Statistically determined
• The highest 10% (approximately) of level 5
candidates will be awarded 5**
• The next highest-achieving 30%
(approximately) of level 5 candidates will be
awarded 5*
 74

Grading: Standard Maintenance

• Standard of the level 1,2,3,4,5 should be
maintained across years
• the cutting scores NOT constant:
the cutting scores depends on level of difficulty
of the papers and the actual performance of the
candidates
• It is possible that a level 2 candidate perform
better in one particular question than a level 5
candidate:
the level represents the overall performance
 75

DRQ: Online Resources

Sample questions (with updated assessment
criteria):
Eng: Chi:

PowerPoint of
the seminar on DRQ:
 76

DRQ: Related Past Questions

• 2012: Nil
• 2013: Q8, Q11b
• 2014: Q7ab
• 2015: Q8
• 2016: Q11d, Q12c, Q13b
• 2017: Q10b, Q13b
• 2018: Q11, Q13b
• 2019: Q12 (with essay)
• 2020: Q11 (with essay)