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Level 5 exemplars and comments Paper 1 Question 1

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Comments

The candidate was able to provide a clear and detailed description of the changes in agriculture, rural

areas and among farmers regarding the condition of ‘sannong’.

The answer showed a good use of concepts in explaining changes such as “urbanization”, “labour

force” and “income gap”.

The candidate demonstrated appropriate use of sources in answering the question.

The candidate was able to point out two social problems closely relating to the negative impact of the

changes in the condition of ‘sannong’. For example, the identification of the income gap problem was

supported by the sources in the answer; the “decrease of social harmony” arising from the income gap

problem was also sufficiently explained.

The candidate showed good knowledge of the latest developments in China, with which he/ she

provided some relevant information to explain the problems.

The sources, in general, were well used in a synthesized way in the area of explanation, providing

evidential support and allowing the candidate to make inferences.

The candidate suggested measures which, to a large extent, could fundamentally solve the problems.

For example, by improving the transportation in the rural areas, several benefits could be brought about

and finally the problem of income disparity between rural and urban people could be tackled.

Moreover, the candidate was able to explain the causes of the social problems in a systematic manner;

therefore, the explanation on how the measures could solve the problems was more convincing. For

example, the candidate suggested adopting some kind of scientific research in farming so as to solve the

problem of food quality on the mainland.

However, some attention should have been placed on suggesting the measures in terms of

cost-effectiveness, possibility of extensive application and time factors, etc. in solving the problems.

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Question 2

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Comments

The candidate fully fulfilled the requirements of the question.

The candidate explained and justified clearly and logically his/her stance, with a well-structured, clear

and in-depth elaboration.

The candidate identified and explained clearly and in detail two reasons (self-esteem of young people,

society becoming more utilitarian-oriented) for an increasing number of young people in Hong Kong

undergoing plastic surgery from Source A, demonstrating a thorough understanding of relevant concepts

and the characteristics of Hong Kong society.

The candidate provided a convincing discussion on the basis of a critical evaluation of the ban from a

variety of perspectives (e.g. the potential risks on young people specifically, the characteristics of

personal development of young people, the effects of the ban and the rebuttals to the contention of

freedom restriction), exemplifying a high level of analytical and argumentation skills.

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Question 3

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Comments

The candidate demonstrated a thorough understanding of the demands of the question.

The candidate identified and described the trends of international tourism clearly by deploying the

figures in the source appropriately.

The candidate explained fully how the potential benefit, i.e. economic growth, will be brought about by

the trends in international tourism.

The candidate drew appropriately on the sources to provide a clear explanation of the relationship

between the trends and global concerns.

The candidate conjured up a well-structured and logical explanation of why global warming and cultural

conflict arouse global concerns, exemplifying a high level of data analysis and thorough understanding

of the issue.

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Level 5 exemplars and comments Paper 2 Question 1

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Comments

The candidate pointed out four factors from different perspectives including political and economic

ones, and from different stakeholders. The candidate was able to avoid the use of ungrounded

conspiracy as many candidates did, and used concrete evidence like the White Paper, alleged police

violence, etc. to support his/her arguments, and also gave a sense of understanding the situation and

background well.

The example of House News, however, seemed to be poorly chosen as the lack of advertisements was

not the main reason for its closing down, according to the founders. There were other, better examples

that the candidate could have given rather than this one.

The candidate agreed with the statement to a large extent, and showed a good understanding of the

meaning of governance, as well as how a high degree of press freedom could help.

Some concrete local examples were cited, such as vote rigging in the 2012 District Council election,

Headline News, etc. The candidate was able to successfully link such examples to different concepts

related to good governance, such as monitoring of the government, legitimacy, consolidation of public

opinion, etc.

There were minor, occasional glitches in some arguments due to failure to present clear cut examples.

Yet overall, the discussions and explanations were clear and carefully thought through.

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Question 2

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Comments

The candidate was able to delineate the barriers to achieving consensus, e.g. conflicting interests and

different concerns among different stakeholders, exhibiting a high level of analytical skills.

The candidate provided an in-depth elaboration on the conflicting views on the technicalities/ details of

the legislation on standard working hours and illustrated the arguments with appropriate examples.

The candidate showed a thorough understanding of the conflicting intra-sectoral interests, e.g. those

between low-skilled and high-skilled labour.

The candidate demonstrated an ability to think from multiple perspectives in the detailed and

comprehensive discussion of the improvement in various aspects of quality of life with the

implementation of standard working hours, e.g. the social, environmental and political aspects.

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Question 3

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Comments

The candidate provided an in-depth and multiple-perspective analysis of the effects of the entertainment

industry (e.g. understanding other cultures, cultural rejection) by deploying a wide variety of examples

for illustration.

The candidate provided an explanation which was highly relevant to the characteristics of global culture,

such as Americans learning traditional Chinese values through martial arts films, demonstrating a

comprehensive understanding of the related concepts.

The candidate gave some criteria for comparing the effectiveness of soft power with other ways to

increase governments’ world influence, e.g. the level of constraints, the time span of the impact. The candidate formulated logical and sound arguments, though a wider range of examples could have

made the arguments more comprehensive. The candidate exhibited a high level of analytical power and multi-perspective thinking, exemplifying a

Level 5 performance.