Standardised Test

As part of a massive programme to torture the young and turn people off of learning, the Form 5 Standardized test is one of most important tests an HK student can ever take. It's the difference between scrapng the street of chewing gums and a souless office job. The grade from this test will determine their standing in society, only the top scorers can obtain the few seats for matriculation and more standardised testing torture for higher education. It is the exam before the A-level test which would have been equivolent to the American's SAT test. (note that single sex schools always do better.)

Whenever the stakes are so high, innovative cheating is to be expected. Premature opening or distribution of the test is a criminal offense. The HK media is going nuts right now regarding just such a scandal, where a student claims that some students are using phones and pda's to cheat.

The tests are conducted from April to May, it is going on right now. Young people are studying day and night in this ultra competitive scheme, I can see a few of them falling asleep in the library. They posted extra staff just to wake people up.

After the tests, and results posting, HK can usually expect a few suicide attempts.
HK's suicide rate is actually quite respectable for young people, 7.7 per 100,000, or half of what's in the US. Though this only tracks the completed suicides, with success rate of 1.2%, you can imagine ho many people actualy tried. In general older people are more likely to commit suicide, by twice the rate of young people's.