[5] On 31 March 2021, it was announced that Liberal Studies would be renamed Citizenship and Social Development and have its curriculum revamped starting from the 2024 HKDSE.

[6] Under the NSS, a number of subjects in the HKCEE and the HKALE have been combined to suit the varying interests and talents of students.

Most candidates in the HKDSE sit all four core subjects plus two or three electives to satisfy local university admission requirements.

Category C (Other Languages) subjects usually take place in June (French and Spanish may be taken in the previous November), in line with CAIE AS-level practice.

Before the exam, candidates have a chance to become familiar with the different level descriptors and samples and may use them as objectives for their study.

It may also be chosen as an elective for native Chinese speaking students, in which case it will not serve as an alternative language for UG admission.

It reduces reliance on a one-off public examination as students' projects and assignments throughout senior secondary years are graded by their teachers.

[22] In the criterion-referenced grading system, experts in relevant subject matters establish the marking standards for each level.

[26] Starting from 2024, "Top Scorers" are candidates who obtained perfect scores of 5** in each of the three core subjects and three electives, and achieved an "Attained" level in Citizenship and Social Development.

[83] In addition, HKDSE holders applying through JUPAS must have results from at least 5 subjects, including the Compulsory Subject of Chinese Language, metaphorically referred to by students as 'the paper of death' due to its extensive coverage of Classical Chinese literatures written in a completely different writing system than Modern Standard Chinese; while international qualifications like IGCSE/A-level and IBD have more flexibility in the choice of subject and additional language for students.

Due to these differences and the perception of an advantage that international qualifications have over HKDSE in university admission, there has been a considerable amount of concern over the emergence of a bipartite education system, based on wealth instead of merit.

Tsui Lap-chee, then president of the University of Hong Kong at the introduction of HKDSE, commented: "The Education Bureau demands universities [to screen pupils by] setting the so-called 3322 as minimum entry requirement for undergraduate programmes — aka a minimal of grade 3 in Chinese and English Languages, and a minimal of grade 2 in Mathematics and Liberal Studies.

Also, many university programmes, including medicine and law, which are regarded as "elite programmes" in Hong Kong, only consider the extended modules as a part of the core Mathematics subject for admission, meaning that applicants will receive extra credits only if they get higher grade in an extended module than in the easier compulsory part.

The proposal was put forward by Legislator Michael Tien to the then Secretary for Education Yeung Yun-hung, which he did not respond directly.

[91] Some have the opinion that the high expectation is well-founded since it is the main language used in daily life in Hong Kong, but every year nearly half of all candidates fail the subject.

They hence lose the chance to gain entrance to a university because of the obligatory "3322" requirement, even though tertiary education in Hong Kong is delivered in English.

Elaine Yau of SCMP commented that the exam results are "proving [HKDSE as] a major hindrance to admission".

[93] The spread of COVID-19 in Hong Kong caused the Education Bureau (EDB) and HKEAA to remodel the 2020 HKDSE.

One of them was that written exams would take place on 27 March as scheduled, whereas physical education, music practicals and Chinese speakings be postponed to May.

[94] At the end of February, the bureau announced that option one would be adopted where HKDSE would be held as scheduled on 27 March and Chinese oral exams would be postponed to 18 May.

Some measures were made by the Bureau to prevent the chance of virus transmission, such as providing candidates with face masks and checking their body temperature.

[95] In mid-March, after a spike in COVID-19 cases reported in Hong Kong, the secretary announced that the HKDSE would be postponed by a month to 27 April, as in the previously discussed option 2.

Some thought that with such a large number of candidates staying in a packed area for examination, the possibility of virus transmission would be high.

[98] In part (c) of the question, which is also the third and the last sub-question, requires candidates to answer "Whether Japan did more good than harm to China between 1900 and 1945."

A day after the exam, the EDB, the Hong Kong government officials, and major pro-establishment figures and legislators slammed the question for being "biased", "insensitive to the war crime victims who suffered from atrocities committed by the Japanese Army during Sino-Japanese War", and "hurting the pride and dignity of the 1.4 billion Chinese people".

Subsequently, a student group filed a judicial review to challenge the HKEAA decision to invalidate the question.