Hong Kong is one of the cities in the world with the biggest number of international schools available. Many parents in Hong Kong have considered sending their kids to study overseas. So how does the education system in Hong Kong compare to Spain?
Many International Schools in Hong Kong follow the British system. This means that students study in secondary school from year 7 (10-11 years old) till year 11 (15-16 years old). In year 11 students will take the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) public exam.
So what is the GCSE exam equivalent to? In Spain it is called ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria). However please note that in order to pass the ESO in Spain, there are no public exams to be taken, students only need to pass the internal exams set by the school.
Therefore if you have passed the GCSE it is equivalent to the ESO.
In Hong Kong and also in UK after the GCSE’s people would take the IB (International Baccalaureate) which the equivalent in Spanish is el Bachillerato. However there are certain differences, during the IB students only need to study for 6 subjects, while for Bachillerato there are a total of 8 subjects that you have to take. Another main difference is that the whole of you final grade of IB depends on your final exam, while for Bachillerato the final exam is only 40% of your final grade.