Hong Kong’s 2025 Diploma of Secondary Education results produced a record 16 top scorers, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority said as scores were released on 16 July. The cohort includes one “ultimate top scorer,” Henry Wang of Hong Kong Chinese Women’s Club College, who achieved the maximum grade of 5** in eight subjects—an accomplishment recorded only once before, in 2018, since the HKDSE replaced the city’s previous school-leaving exam in 2012. Ten other students were named “super scorers” for earning 5** in seven subjects, while five obtained 5** in six subjects. HKEAA secretary-general Wei Xiangdong described the results as “record-breaking,” but cautioned that direct year-on-year comparisons are complicated by a 2024 syllabus change that switched the graded Liberal Studies course to the pass-or-fail Citizenship and Social Development. A total of 55,489 candidates registered for this year’s exams, including about 42,700 school candidates. More than 38 percent met the common entry threshold for Hong Kong’s publicly funded universities—level 3 in Chinese and English, level 2 in mathematics and a pass in Citizenship and Social Development—according to HKEAA data. Wang, who moved to Hong Kong from mainland China at age three and plans to study medicine locally, said he relied on teachers and peers rather than tutorial centres while preparing for the exams.