Worries about their future and family expectations factor into Hong Kong students' stress levels.More than 80 per cent of students sitting this year’s HKDSE said their stress levels have been high since they started Form Six, according to a survey.
The survey was conducted by Quality People, a local job recruitment company. A total of 4,106 students from 52 schools, who will be taking the HKDSE starting this month, were interviewed from November to January.
The report revealed that 22 per cent of respondents said their stress levels were “very high” because of the exam, while 30 per cent said their levels were “relatively high” and 30 per cent said their levels were “high”. The overall figure of those who chose “high” or above was the same as the number from last year’s survey – 83 per cent.
Slightly more male students than female said they felt “very high” levels of stress, at 22.9 per cent and 21.3 per cent, respectively.
However, 34.7 per cent of female students felt their stress levels were “relatively high”, compared to 25.2 per cent of male students.
Many of the students (71.7 per cent) said they were worried about their future, while 66.2 and 45.9 per cent cited personal goals and family expectations, respectively, as sources of stress. However, most of the respondents said they felt they could handle their stress. Eighty per cent said they believed they could cope with their stress “totally” or “to a very large extent”. Just four per cent said they were completely unable to do so.
The survey also showed that about 60 per cent of the students spent four or more months preparing for their exams. That’s a drop of 11.2 per cent from last year’s results. Meanwhile, 31.3 per cent of the respondents said they spent two to three months studying for the HKDSE, up 9.5 per cent from last year.
When it came to how students studied, about half said they spent one to two hours revising at school each day, 38 per cent studied at tutorial centres for less than an hour, and 42 per cent studied at home.
Thirty-five per cent of the students said they had set up their own timetables to keep track of their academic progress.
Edited by M. J. Premaratne