More students who took the N-level exams this year qualified to go to Secondary 5.

Of the 12,305 students from the Normal (Academic) course who collected their results on Monday (Dec 19), 75.2 per cent did well enough to be promoted to Secondary 5 and go on to take the O-level exams at the end of it.

This is a marginal increase from the 74.9 per cent who did so in 2015.

Of those who took the exam from the N(A) stream, 99.6 per cent passed, similar to last year’s 99.5 per cent.

In the Normal (Technical) stream, 97.1 per cent of the 5,470 students who took the exams this year passed. Last year’s figure was 96.6 per cent.

They may apply to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), or laterally transfer to the Secondary 4 N(A) course if they obtained an A grade for English and mathematics, and at least a B grade for one other subject.

Switching to the N(A) course will give them the opportunity to go on to Secondary 5 to take the O-level exams.

The first batch of students to graduate from Crest Secondary School, the first specialised school catering to N(T) students, also collected their results on Monday (Dec 19). Students at Crest Secondary take up a four-year academic programme leading to the N levels, similar to their peers. But they also learn vocational skills, and graduate with an ITE Skills Certification in facility services, mechanical servicing, retail services or hospitality services.

At Crest, 98 per cent of its 198 graduating students received the N-level certificate, while 34 of them have accepted offers from the ITE via a scheme that considers their abilities related to courses and skills in leadership, sports or the arts.

N(A) students with a score of not more than 11 points can opt for one of about 1,200 places in the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP). The scheme, offered at polytechnics, lets students skip the O levels and move on to a one-year preparatory course before entering a related diploma course.

N(A) students who have a score of not more than 19 points can also choose to go to a two-year Higher Nitec course at the ITE through the Direct-Entry-Scheme to Polytechnic Programme (DPP).

The DPP guarantees students, who attain a qualifying grade point average in their ITE course, a place in a matching polytechnic diploma course. About 1,000 DPP places will be offered across all three ITE Colleges.