How banding actually works
The Education Bureau first standardises each student’s three internal-assessment submissions, then adjusts them with the average of the school’s two most recent Pre-Secondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test (Pre-S1 HKAT) samples. For the 2024/2026 cycle those samples are 2018 and 2024. The adjusted scores are ranked and split into three equal groups: a territory band, used for Part A of Central Allocation (unrestricted choices), and a school-net band, used for Part B (choices inside the net). Each band is exactly one third of the participating students. Individual assignments are never published and are deleted after allocation.
Why no website can compute your band
The HKAT sample averages for each school are not public, and the standardisation depends on the whole cohort’s distribution. Without both, any site that claims an exact band is guessing. This page is explicit: the tool above is an estimate, not the Bureau’s cut.
What parents can reasonably work out
Position inside the school, plus the school’s historical allocation pattern — roughly what fraction of past cohorts landed Band 1 offers — gives a realistic range. The guidance teachers give at choice-of-school interviews is based on exactly this, not on a public formula.
A worked example
Rank 30 of 120 is the top 25%. Under equal thirds that is a Band 1 indication. At a school whose history suggests only about 20% Band 1 offers, the same rank sits on the boundary: strong inside the year group, not necessarily safe in that school’s past cut. The advanced fields above are there so you can type in that kind of historical share.
FAQ
Is banding a property of the student or of the school?
The Education Bureau bands students. “Band 1 school” is folk usage for a secondary school whose intake is mostly Band 1 students — it is not an official label.
Does the Pre-S1 HKAT affect my own child’s allocation?
Not that child’s. The Pre-Secondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test is used to adjust the school’s internal scores for later cohorts, so marks from different primaries can be compared. For the 2024/2026 cycle the Bureau uses the average of the school’s two most recent samples (2018 and 2024).
Are individual bands published?
No. A student’s band is never released to parents, and the assignments are deleted after allocation.
Do the third-submission marks still matter if Discretionary Places fail?
Yes. All three submissions, including the Primary 6 second-term marks, feed the band used at Central Allocation. They also come up in later “knock on the door” (叩門) approaches to schools that still have places.
Can a strong primary school make my child’s band worse?
The school-based adjustment reflects how the school’s recent graduates did on the HKAT. Competition inside a strong year group is tougher, so a mid-pack rank may sit lower in the territory or the net than a parent expects — while the adjustment also credits the school’s overall standard. That is one reason no website can compute an exact band.
Is the band this tool shows the real one?
No. It only places the child inside their own school, using the historical shares you type in. The Bureau sets the real band from standardised, school-adjusted scores across the territory and the net.