Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman pop up in Hong Kong’s DSE English exam

Students and teachers received a surprise on Thursday when celebrities such as singer Taylor Swift and actor Hugh Jackman appeared in the reading section of Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) English exam.

About 51,000 candidates sat for the reading and writing papers, with the listening section to be held on Saturday. The exams will end on April 30, with results scheduled to be released on July 16.

Some students were taken aback by the slight changes to the questions, with one DSE candidate saying this year’s Paper 1 reading exam was the most difficult he had taken.

“It was tougher than all my school exams and past DSE papers I’ve practised,” said Wilson Tsang, from S.K.H. St Mary’s Church Mok Hing Yiu College.

The reading section included an article on celebrity gossip, exploring why it was popular and its possible benefits. It mentioned stars such as Joe Jonas, who recently filed for divorce, alongside Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Dalton Gomez and Hugh Jackman as examples.

Beyond typical comprehension skills, students needed to apply understanding of real-world showbiz references to tackle some of the questions.

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