# Admission test question for 1st grade in Hong Kong. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485 "2014-06-10T16:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/21 "2014-06-11T00:34:35Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Never mind solving the problem, are beginning first graders in Hong Kong already supposed to know how to read (and read English, no less, when most will be Cantonese speakers) and count up to 100? Counting to 100 was part of my aforementioned Kindergarten test. The teacher moved beads on some rainbow abacus thingy\* and I had to count along. It was excruciatingly slow to a 5 year old who was very excited about counting, and counting _fast_, because counting fast is better. I don’t know how they teach reading to young Cantonese speakers. \*Apparently they make them still: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoGgFkGXRZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoGgFkGXRZU) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/22 "2014-06-11T01:07:36Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Never mind solving the problem, are beginning first graders in Hong Kong already supposed to know how to read (and read English, no less, when most will be Cantonese speakers) and count up to 100? That was my main reason for questioning the veracity of this being a pre-first grade test. Otherwise, it’s more of a “put yourself into another person’s perspective” sort of test rather than a sequence finding one. It’s not at all unlikely, to me, that third or fourth graders could figure this out quite easily. They’re not used to pattern-finding number tests. At least I sure as hell wasn’t at that age. This is actually a pretty fascinating test. I’d love to see it administered from K through 12 (or beyond) and see how many people can answer it within 20 seconds. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s somewhat of a bimodal distribution. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/23 "2014-06-11T02:19:41Z")
The answer was obvious:L8 ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/24 "2014-06-11T03:14:48Z")
it is fishy simply because it would not be practical to enforce the time limit, unless the entire admission test is that one question. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/25 "2014-06-11T03:22:01Z")
As others have mentioned, it’s fake. Hong Kong children are not taught to read Chinese characters before first grade. The giveaway is that the characters are written in simplified style used in China and not the traditional style used in Hong Kong. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/26 "2014-06-11T06:59:03Z")
I disliked the car being drawn as being backed in. That added a couple of seconds to my getting it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485/27 "2014-06-11T07:22:08Z")
Just a note: There’s a decided difference between the education systems of mainland China and Hong Kong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admission-test-question-for-1st-grade-in-hong-kong/690485.md?page=1)