What is the difference between a percentage and a percentage point?

A percentage is a relative change such as a 72 per cent fall; a percentage point is the difference between two percentages, as 41.2 minus 9.8 gives 31.4 points.

Why remember the year a policy began?

The year shows how fast the government answered grievances and is the base for any chronological or causal argument.

S5 History Hong Kong, Paper 2: social reform and economic restructuring

2026-11-02

Tutor Prep Guide · Primary English

Paper 2 starts with the policy response to the 1967 disturbances, then covers the Chinese language movement, the housing programme, free education and the shrinking manufacturing share, ending with an error item on timing.

Focus　Keep percentage points separate from percentages, divide the change by the base for a rate of fall, and fix the starting year before measuring a gap.

01　Paper details (check answers afterwards)

Item	Detail
Questions	10
Suggested time	25
Difficulty mix	Foundation 4 · Intermediate 3 · Challenge 2 · Error redo 1
Chapter	Chapter: S5 History: Hong Kong 1945-1997
Level	S5

02　Questions (10 items)

FoundationWhat measures did the government take after the 1967 disturbances?
FoundationWhat did the Chinese Language Movement of 1971 seek?
FoundationWhat was the aim of the Ten-Year Housing Programme launched in 1972?
FoundationHow did free education expand between 1971 and 1978?
IntermediateThe campaign was launched in 1971 and the law passed in 1974. How many years apart?
IntermediateThe programme ran from 1972 to 1982. How long was it?
IntermediateManufacturing employment fell from about 892 000 in 1980 to about 250 000 in 1997. What was the percentage fall?
ChallengeThe manufacturing share of employment fell from 41.2 per cent in 1980 to 9.8 per cent in 1997. How many percentage points, and which sectors absorbed the workers?
ChallengeWhy did Hong Kong factories move across the border on a large scale in the 1980s?
Error redoError: a student says Hong Kong had already become a service economy in the 1970s. What is correct?

03　Answers and one-line notes

#	Answer	One-line note
1	Tougher labour laws, more public housing and new youth and community facilities	The 1967 disturbances exposed housing, labour and youth grievances, so the government turned to social policy on a large scale for the first time after the war.
2	Official status for Chinese equal to English, granted by the Official Languages Ordinance in 1974	Students and community groups campaigned until the Official Languages Ordinance in 1974 gave Chinese statutory status.
3	To provide adequate public housing for about 1.8 million people within ten years	The plan also cleared squatter huts and rebuilt old resettlement blocks, giving the new towns their housing base.
4	Six years of free primary education in 1971, extended to nine years of free education in 1978	Free schooling was extended from primary to junior secondary, so universal education depended on it.
5	3 years	1974 minus 1971 is three years, showing that institutional change lagged behind the campaign.
6	10 years	1982 minus 1972 is ten years, matching the name of the programme and giving a check on the dates.
7	About 72 per cent	The loss is 642 000, and 642 000 over 892 000 is about 0.72, so employment fell by roughly 72 per cent.
8	A fall of 31.4 percentage points, absorbed by finance, trade, logistics and tourism	Subtracting 9.8 from 41.2 gives 31.4 percentage points, while services rose above eighty per cent of GDP as Hong Kong became a service economy.
9	Reform and opening on the mainland offered cheap land and labour, while Hong Kong wages, rents and textile quotas pushed costs up	Production moved to the Pearl River Delta while Hong Kong kept orders, design, finance and management in a factory-back, shop-front division.
10	The shift came mainly from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, when manufacturing still held 41.2 per cent of jobs in 1980	Manufacturing was still the largest employer in the 1970s, and service dominance followed the northward move of factories, so the timing cannot be pulled forward.

04　What to do after marking

After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.

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