Why keep 1967 and 1974 apart?

1967 is the year of the disturbances; the ICAC was founded in 1974, and the seven-year gap is evidence of how long institution building took.

Why not divide growth by the final value?

A percentage change uses the starting value as its base; dividing by the final value understates the rise and breaks the definition.

S5 History Hong Kong, Paper 3: anti-corruption, education and the sovereignty talks

2026-11-02

Tutor Prep Guide · Primary English

Paper 3 opens with the ICAC, nine-year free education and the Basic Law, then measures population and container growth, closing with an error item that confuses 1967 with 1974.

Skills　Divide growth by the starting value, keep policy years apart from event years, and never swap a multiple for a percentage.

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)

FoundationIn which year was the ICAC established?
FoundationWhich major education policy did Hong Kong adopt in 1978?
FoundationWhich document confirmed Hong Kong would return to China on 1 July 1997?
FoundationIn which year was the Basic Law promulgated?
IntermediateThe ICAC was founded in 1974 and sovereignty passed in 1997. How many years apart?
IntermediateThe Basic Law came in 1990 and the handover in 1997. How many years between them?
IntermediateThe negotiations began in 1982 and the declaration was signed in 1984. How long did they take?
ChallengeThe population grew from about 5.18 million in 1981 to about 6.41 million in 1996. What was the rate of increase?
ChallengeContainer throughput rose from about 0.2 million TEU in 1972 to about 14.5 million in 1997. How many times the earlier figure?
Error redoA student writes: “The ICAC was founded in 1967.” What is wrong?

03　Answers and one-line notes

#	Answer	One-line note
1	1974	The police corruption scandal destroyed public confidence, so the government set up a body answerable directly to the Governor.
2	Nine years of free education	Free schooling moved from six primary years to Form 3, which is what made universal compulsory education real.
3	The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984	The declaration settled both sovereignty and the governing arrangements, and the Basic Law was drafted on that basis.
4	1990	The Basic Law was promulgated by the National People’s Congress and fixed the institutional design for fifty years after 1997.
5	23 years	1997 minus 1974 gives 23, so the anti-corruption system had already run for more than two decades before the handover.
6	7 years	1997 minus 1990 is seven years, the window Hong Kong had to prepare for the transition.
7	2 years	1984 minus 1982 is two years; both sides wanted a quick settlement on sovereignty.
8	About 23.7 per cent	Subtract 5.18 from 6.41, divide by 5.18 and multiply by 100 to get 23.7 per cent; growth is always measured against the starting figure.
9	About 72.5 times	14.5 divided by 0.2 is 72.5, which shows how far trade and shipping drove diversification.
10	It was founded in 1974; 1967 was the year of the disturbances	The riots prompted reform, but the anti-corruption agency came seven years later, so the two years must be kept apart.

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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Questions and answers are written originally by the TutorZone team and are not taken from any school, publisher or examination authority paper. Every value is checked by computer.