In this edition of our student interview series, we turn our attention to answering strategies and techniques for the bilingual Chinese-English paper in Part 1 of the 2026 first sitting of the Hong Kong Dental Licensing Examination (HKDLE).
For Mainland Chinese candidates who are more familiar with a purely Chinese medical context, knowing how to switch between and allocate mental energy to “reading in English” and “reading in Chinese” under high-pressure, time-limited exam conditions is a highly practical skill. In this issue, we invited Dr. F, who has just completed the exam and passed HKDLE Part 1 on his second attempt, to share his most authentic reflections on bilingual reading strategies and exam trends across three core subjects: Conservative Dentistry (Cons), Periodontology (Perio), and Prosthodontics (Prostho).
(Note: To protect the interviewee’s privacy, the content of this article has been anonymized.)
Interviewee: Dr. F
A candidate with a Mainland China background who successfully passed HKDLE Part 1 on his second attempt.
Conservative Dentistry (Cons): English as the Main Reference, Chinese for Verification
In the Cons exam, Dr. F adopted a reading strategy centered primarily on the English version of the questions. He found that the English wording in the Cons section of the Hong Kong exam paper was generally concise and straightforward. By contrast, the official Chinese translation sometimes felt less natural.
Therefore, in this subject, the most effective way to use the bilingual paper was to focus mainly on reading the English question stems, while using the Chinese translation only for quick cross-checking and verification when encountering uncertain vocabulary or expressions.
Periodontology (Perio): A “Chinese Safety Net” Under High Pressure
However, when it came to Periodontology, his original reading rhythm was completely disrupted. According to Dr. F, the Perio questions in this exam were not only extremely long, but also particularly challenging due to the complex design of the answer choices. The questions were not simple single-best-answer questions; instead, they often presented several lengthy compound statements, followed by combination options such as A, B, and C.
Under the intense pressure of having roughly one minute per question, Dr. F felt that time was severely limited, leaving him with little capacity to read the English text word by word. To save time, he decisively shifted away from English in the Perio section and relied almost entirely on the Chinese translation for rapid comprehension and answer selection.
For long questions and complex question formats, the speed advantage of reading in one’s native language became a crucial “safety net” in the exam room.
Prosthodontics (Prostho): Improved Translation Quality and a More Balanced Bilingual Approach
When discussing Prosthodontics, Dr. F, as a second-attempt candidate, had a very direct basis for comparison. In his previous exam attempt, the Chinese translation in the Prostho section contained many grammatical issues and logical inconsistencies. In many places, the Chinese wording was difficult to follow, and candidates could easily be misled by poor translation quality.
To his pleasant surprise, however, the translation quality in this exam had clearly improved compared with the previous sitting. The Chinese wording was much more accurate, allowing him to adopt a more balanced bilingual approach when answering questions. By referring to both the English and Chinese versions, he could reduce the risk of losing marks due to misreading the English while also avoiding being misled by poor translation. Overall, the reading experience was much smoother.
Latest Exam Trend: From “Clinically Oriented” Back to “Textbook-Based”
In addition to bilingual reading strategies, Dr. F also shared an extremely important observation regarding the changing trend of HKDLE Part 1 questions in this sitting.
Based on previous exam experiences, he felt that Hong Kong exam questions used to lean heavily toward local clinical experience. For Mainland Chinese candidates, if they were unfamiliar with Hong Kong’s clinical routines and practices, it was difficult to select the correct answer through rote memorization alone.
However, the first sitting of the 2026 exam appeared to show a different trend. Many questions could be clearly traced back to textbook-based theoretical knowledge. Dr. F admitted that this might also be because he had studied the textbooks more thoroughly this time. Nevertheless, it was undeniable that the 2026 exam questions seemed to be shifting toward a “return to textbooks.”
For Mainland Chinese candidates with a solid foundation who are willing to put serious effort into mastering textbook theory, this is undoubtedly a very positive signal.
With the advantage offered by the bilingual exam paper, learning how to flexibly shift reading focus according to the question styles of different subjects, while thoroughly understanding the underlying textbook theories during revision, may well be the key logic for breaking through in this year’s exam.