DSE 2023: Tutors shocked by easy geography exam, ‘highly unusual’ Chinese history paper
- Students and educators were surprised not to be asked about the An Lushan Rebellion, a frequent topic on the exam
- Physics exam easier than in the past, though it contained new application types students may not be familiar with
This year’s geography DSE was one of the easiest in the history of the exam. Photo: ShutterstockMore than 31,000 candidates sat for the final stretch of the month-long Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) examinations this week as they tackled the last of the remaining elective subjects, including geography, physics, and Chinese history.
This year’s Chinese history Paper 1 was “highly unusual” and deviated from past papers, as a frequently tested topic about the An Lushan Rebellion was excluded, tutors and students said.
The geography paper, however, was said to be one of the “easiest” in the history of the exam, with physics considered relatively easier than in past years too.
The DSE examinations will continue on Saturday, with candidates sitting for the final elective subjects, including history. It will end on May 18.
The results of this year’s DSE exams will be released on July 19.
A breakdown of this year’s economics, chemistry and biology exams
Here’s a wrap-up of some of the subjects tested in the past week
Geography
According to Titus Chan, a tutor from King’s Glory Education Centre, this year’s DSE Geography exam was one of the “easiest” in the exam’s history.
“In Paper 1, the multiple-choice questions went as expected, which tested candidates on azimuth, direction, radiant, and differentiating conventional signs,” said Chan.
He noted that map reading was “not very complicated”, and only a few tricky questions required students to pay close attention.
“For example, many students might have been confused with conventional signs like the difference between a gas station and LPG filling station,” he said.
The tutor said about four to five multiple-choice questions appeared on past exams, such as Question 17, which tested candidates on the nutrient cycle, and Question 14, which asked students to calculate urbanisation and urban growth.
“As long as students have done past papers to revise for the exam, this paper should not have been a challenge,” he noted.
According to the tutor, the data-based questions (DBQ) on this year’s exam were “very straightforward”. He cited Question 2, which tested candidates on volcanic eruptions in the Philippines.
“Although students were tasked to draw an annotated diagram, for me, this is a basic task ... if students avoided this question simply because of the diagram, it would be a shame,” he said.
He explained that many students gave up answering the first question as they could not recognise that the landform was a trench, adding that a similar question also came up in previous years.
The last part of the task – a four-point question asking students about land use zoning – appeared on past exams “multiple times”.
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The tutor considered the second essay question on Paper 2, which asked students about temperature difference, “the easiest in DSE history”.
“As long as you were able to differentiate the season, which is winter, and explain the distribution pattern, the differences between the land and the sea … this question was purely memorisation,” he said.
He expected a higher cut-off rate on this year’s exam: “Last year students could get Level 5** for about 70 per cent. This year [it] will probably be higher because the exam was easier”.
Physics
Wayne Leung from Beacon College said that this year’s physics examination could have posed a challenge for those unfamiliar with the new types of application questions in Paper 2.
Candidates, however, might have been relieved to learn that Paper 1 was one of the easiest in the past decade. That said, the tutor noted that this year’s Paper 1 did not include an experimental question that required students to conduct an experiment using the apparatuses provided to prove a theory, nor did it include one that required candidates to draw an optical ray diagram.
“Neither of these question types came up, which may have wasted the time candidates spent preparing for these question types.” However, the rest of the questions were fairly standard and did not deviate too much from what teachers and students would expect.
How to ace the DSE history exam
“Paper 2 only has about 10 years of DSE history, allowing for more new application questions to be devised, as seen on this year’s exam,” he said.
Leung added that weaker candidates probably would have struggled with these questions as they require a deeper understanding and application of the various concepts.
“Overall, this year’s exams were still relatively easier than past years’, and I expect the average score of candidates to be slightly higher. Students should be able to score well if they did not make too many careless mistakes.”
Chinese history
Lori Tsang, a star tutor at Beacon College, said that Paper 1 caught many candidates off guard.
“The Song to Qing dynasties were never tested in Part One in the past. And what was unusual about this year is that the An Lushan Rebellion, which always appeared during odd-numbered years, did not appear this year,” he explained.
He added that the exam usually followed a pattern, and exams that took place in even-numbered years would usually be related to the Ming dynasty or Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty.
“This year was very different, which I believe will shock the academic world,” said Tsang.
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He added that this year’s difficulty level was similar to last year’s, but some questions were “tricky” and deviated from past exams. Thankfully, Paper 2 was still rather straightforward.
The tutor anticipated that the exam’s cut-off percentage would remain “high” because numerous short questions were relatively straightforward, making it easier for students to score.
He predicted that candidates would need to get 84 per cent of the questions correct to get a top grade and score above 78 per cent to achieve Level 5*.
Miranda Li Xiangyu from Heep Yunn School agreed that this year’s exam was rather unusual.
“My teacher and tutor kept reminding me that the An Lushan Rebellion would be a prominent topic on the exam. I have taken four to five mock exams with my tutor, and this topic came up in each one, both as a compulsory and optional question,” she said.
The 18-year-old added that the question on the Song dynasty might have presented a challenge for some candidates: “It has never been a compulsory question before, and some students might have overlooked it if they didn’t predict the trend through exam analysis.”
Li is confident she will achieve a top grade on the subject: “It is my best-performing subject … especially Paper 2. I believe I can get about 22 points for each question, which is enough for me to get Level 5**.