HKDSE Maths Topic Map (2012–2024): Question Frequency and Official Correct Rates from 831 Past-Paper Questions

The most common question in DSE Maths prep is "where should my time go?" Most "hot topics" lists online are based on impressions, not counts. So we tagged all 831 HKDSE Mathematics Compulsory Part past-paper questions from 2012–2024 — 246 long questions in Paper 1 and 585 MCs in Paper 2 — question by question against the syllabus, and aggregated the official territory-wide correct percentages that the HKEAA published in its answer keys. The result is this traceable, downloadable topic map.

Full methodology is at the end of this page; the unit-level dataset is free to download (attribution required).

Headline findings

1. Roughly two-thirds of DSE Maths questions primarily test junior-form (S1–S3) knowledge. By our per-question tagging, 164 of 246 Paper 1 questions (67%) and 373 of 585 Paper 2 questions (64%) involve only junior-form knowledge points — no senior Compulsory Part content is needed to answer them.
2. The rectangular coordinate system is the single most examined topic cluster: 162 questions in 13 years, appearing every single year (between 9 and 16 questions per year). Yet in the four years where HKEAA published per-question statistics, candidates averaged only 43.6% correct on these questions (n = 34). The most frequent topic and the most costly topic are the same one.
3. The three worst-performing areas in the official data are all junior-form geometry and coordinates: rectangular coordinates (43.6%), trigonometry (43.8%), and angles & parallel lines (48.0%).
4. The most reliable scoring high-frequency topics: percentages (66.4% territory-wide correct), measures of central tendency (66.4%), and formula manipulation (63.2%).
5. Among senior Compulsory Part units, the frequency leaders are the equation of a circle (32 questions across 13 years), measures of dispersion (31), and quadratic equations (29); the equation of a straight line has the lowest official correct rate of any senior unit (41.4%, n = 9).

Frequency heatmap: junior-form topics

Each cell shows how many Paper 1 + Paper 2 questions touched that unit in that year (a question touching several units is counted once per unit):

Three things stand out:

• Rectangular coordinates dominate: slopes, distances, mid-points, lines and circles in the plane — the coordinate plane is DSE Maths' home turf, at 12+ questions a year.
• Formulas, identities and index laws together contribute about 15 questions a year — usually not as standalone questions but as the first step hidden inside almost every question.
• Probability and central tendency deliver a steady 6–9 questions a year — the backbone of the Data Handling strand.

Frequency heatmap: senior Compulsory Part units

At the senior level, the equation of a circle leads (32 questions, 128 marks over 13 years), followed by measures of dispersion (31) and quadratic equations in one unknown (29). If you are prioritising senior content late in your prep, these three give the best return.

Where Hong Kong actually loses marks (official HKEAA data)

For the 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019 exams, HKEAA published the territory-wide percentage of candidates answering each Paper 2 question correctly — 177 questions in total. Aggregated by unit (only units with ≥10 data points shown):

The reading is blunt: coordinate geometry and trigonometry are the double-pressure zone — most examined, worst answered. If you are pushing from Level 3–4 upwards, these three areas give the largest payoff. Conversely, percentages and formula questions are answered correctly by nearly 70% of all candidates: marks you are not supposed to drop — if you do, diagnose it immediately rather than filing it under "careless".

Distribution across the three strands

Measures/Shape/Space and Number/Algebra together account for over 90% of all topic occurrences. Data Handling is the smallest strand but shows up reliably every year with highly predictable question types — the highest yield-per-hour zone in the syllabus.

How to study with this map

• S4–S5 foundation phase: fix the junior-form basics of the three loss zones first — coordinates, trigonometry, angles & parallel lines. It isn't senior content, but it decides whether you can even receive the senior questions.
• S6 sprint phase: at the senior level, drill the circle, dispersion and quadratic units first; harvest Data Handling in the final two weeks — its question types barely change.
• Attribute every lost mark: dropping a 43%-correct-rate question is normal (all of Hong Kong drops it); dropping a 66% one is a red flag — that is exactly where ranks separate.

Want to turn this map into your revision order? Use our free DSE Maths Priority & Study Plan Generator: pick a target grade and it ranks which topics to tackle first — using the same frequency × official-correct-rate data above — and builds a week-by-week plan. No sign-up, shareable, printable.

To practise directly against this map: ScoreCoach's practice bank (original and licensed questions) is organised around this same topic framework — filter by topic, build practice sets, get step-by-step AI marking, and generate your personal weakness map from your own mistakes. Related reading: Top 10 mark-losing spots in DSE Maths, How step marking works, A 5** study roadmap.

Methodology and data notes

Scope: 2012–2024 HKDSE Mathematics Compulsory Part past papers — 246 Paper 1 questions and 585 Paper 2 questions, 831 in total. Sample papers, mock papers and practice papers are excluded.

Topic tagging: every question was tagged AI-assisted against the knowledge-point framework of the Hong Kong Mathematics Education Key Learning Area curriculum (junior-form foundation + senior Compulsory Part), with human spot-checking. A question touching several units is counted once per unit (question-count basis, not mark-weighted), so unit counts sum to more than the number of questions. 795 of 831 questions carry tags and enter the statistics; 36 (mostly early-format legacy tags) are excluded. This is a statistical aggregation for educational research; question content is © HKEAA, and neither this article nor the downloadable dataset contains any question text.

Official correct rates: taken from the per-question correct percentages HKEAA published in the answer keys of its Question Papers/Examination Report volumes for 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019 (177 Paper 2 questions), averaged by unit. This is territory-wide population data, not this site's user sample. Other years have no published per-question data and we do not extrapolate. Correct rates cover Paper 2 MC only.

Known limitations: (1) tagging is AI-assisted; individual classifications may differ from a teacher's judgement — corrections welcome; (2) correct-rate data covers four exam years; per-unit sample sizes are shown, and no conclusions are drawn for units with n < 10; (3) "junior/senior" refers to the curriculum level of the knowledge point, not question difficulty.

Update schedule: refreshed annually after DSE results are released, at this same URL. Any data revisions will be noted in this section.

Download and citation

• 📊 Full dataset (CSV): dse-maths-topic-frequency-2012-2024.csv — 45 topic units × 13 years of per-year counts plus official correct rates. Free to use; please attribute with a link to this page.
• Cite as: DSE ScoreCoach, "HKDSE Maths Topic Map (2012–2024)", https://dseai.hk/en/blog/dse-maths-topic-map

Data covers past papers up to 2024. "HKDSE" is an examination administered by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA); this site is not affiliated with HKEAA. Correct-rate data is © HKEAA and is aggregated here for statistical and educational reference only.