Johnny's efforts for the 2005 Promotion to Sergeant Qualifying Examination finally paid off when he scored 94 marks. He was closely followed by Woman Police Constable Michelle Lee Chun-yee with 91. Johnny's score is among the highest ever attained over the past five years.

Joining the Force more than 14 years ago, Johnny of Tin Shui Wai Division is no stranger to the qualifying exam, having sat for the exam for several times. His first two attempts failed, but he finally got a "Pass" in 1996 in the third attempt.

During an interview with OffBeat, he explained why he sat for the exam for the fourth time last year.

"There are three reasons," he said. "Firstly, seeing the Force continually making progress over the years, I believe it is time to brush up my professional knowledge and march along with the Force, because the more we are proficient in our job, the better service we can provide for the public.

"Secondly, my Divisional Commander encourages me to attain a higher grading. Lastly, it's my daughter's question that has prompted me to make another attempt at the exam."

He recalled: "One day, when my 10-year-old daughter was preparing for her exam, she suddenly asked whether I needed to take any exam. I said 'Yes' and assured her that I'd study side by side with her. So later I kept my promise and set a good example for her in pursuing life-long learning."

For Michelle, who joined the Force three years ago, and comes from Police Tactical Unit of Kowloon West, taking an exam means a good opportunity to take stock of her professional knowledge.

Exam recipes

For attaining higher scores, one of Michelle's recipes is "good preparation". She therefore started preparation around one year before the exam. Though she was, like many of her fellow officers, heavily engaged in duties related to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, she did her best to squeeze one or two hours each day for study.

"I pay special attention to the definitions of police laws to make sure that I wouldn't misinterpret their meanings," noted Michelle.

Johnny believes that good management of time is the key to success. As everyone has 24 hours a day, it is just a matter of how well one makes use of one's time. To Johnny, modern technology definitely is also a big help.

"I've a Pocket PC to download all exam-related information so that I can study the material whenever I have time. In the past, it wasn't easy to get a copy of the debriefing paper or other references. But now, candidates can find all useful information from POINT. It's really a great help," said Johnny.

Talking about better use of time, Michelle could not agree more with Johnny. Moreover, she considers colleagues' support and encouragement equally important.

"It's only if you're willing to make good use of your spare time and study hard that you can get better results. Never study just for the sake of passing an exam; it's your job that counts," she added.

"Remember this: take an exam as a way to test how well you're familiar with your job!" Johnny suggested.

Superintendent Poon Tsang-kee of the Examinations & Assessment Division, Learning Development Support Centre of the Police College, complimented Johnny and Michelle for their distinguished results.

"It's by no means easy to get such distinguished results. On the whole, I've found candidates' performance very satisfactory. Among the 1,730 candidates, 10 get "Distinction", and the average passing rate is over 50 per cent," commented SP Poon.

He advised candidates to pay more attention to the news and job-related cases. He also reminded candidates to skip any question when they are not certain about the answer. "Never make any wild guess; this approach also applies in officers' daily work. You should not hazard any speculation and take reckless action if you're in doubt!" said SP Poon.

For PC Johnny Yuen Kit-hei and WPC Michelle Lee Chun-yee, examination is more than scoring higher marks