The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE, 香港中學會考) was a standardised examination between 1974 and 2011 after most local students' five-year secondary education, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), awarding the Hong Kong Certificate of Education secondary school leaving qualification. The examination has been discontinued in 2012 and its roles are now replaced by the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education as part of educational reforms in Hong Kong. It was considered as the equivalent of the GCSE in the United Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Certificate_of_Education_Examin…
There were the Chinese stream and English stream high school classes at that time. The former would take the Chinese HKCEE. The latter would take the English HKCEE. After taking one-year and two-year preparatory courses respectively, the former had to take the entrance exam for the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the latter had to take the entrance exam for the University of Hong Kong before they can apply for a university place. In the early 1970s, there were about 40,000 high school form 5 graduates and only about 1 to 2 % would get into the Chinese University. The HKU exam was equally competitive.
Following a picture in 1977 of the HKCEE taking place in Ho Tung technical college. The exam hadn't started yet. Students were writing down their candidate number on the exam answer book.
Note that what students put on the right hand corner of the desk is the admission form like this:
