Saturday, March 15, 2025
Google search engine
HomeSpotlightIs China's exam Gaokao the toughest entrance exam on Earth

Is China’s exam Gaokao the toughest entrance exam on Earth

Dating back to 1952, the ‘Gaokao’ is a notoriously difficult three-day test with incredible demands — both academically and socially.

In each June, millions of high school grads in China have been bracing up to appear for the annual college entrance examination called “Gaokao”. It’s considered a prerequisite to get into college that puts an incredible amount of pressure on students.

In 2016, 9.4 million students sat for the test, competing to get into the country’s top universities.

The notoriously hard exam tests high school leavers on their Chinese, mathematics and English and another science or humanities subject of their choice.

The exam is a mixture of problem-solving that requires intensive rote-memorisation, and vague philosophical questions designed to test one’s creativity.

The essay questions range from the literary to the philosophical or even downright cryptic. On Chinese social media today, students from different provinces compared their prompts.

These are some examples of essay questions from previous years:

• “A teacher asked the students to look at butterflies under a microscope. At first, they thought the butterflies were colourful, but when they looked at them closely, they realised that they were actually colourless.” Based on this story, write an essay.

• Who do you admire the most? A biotechnology researcher, a welding engineering technician or a photographer? Based on this, write an essay.

• You are free because you may choose how to cross the desert; you are not free because you must cross the desert either way. Write an 800-word essay on this.

Source: The Chairman’s Bao

The exam rooms are strictly monitored to prevent cheating. But from hidden earphones and watches, to T-shirts with receivers, students have tried almost all means and ways to get past this.
In previous years authorities installed metal detectors at entrances to make sure students did not sneak in smartphones. In Henan province, even deployed a drone carrying a radio scanner to catch cheats.

But why is Gaokao so important?

The quality of education in China varies greatly depending on which university you’ve gone to. It’s not enough to simply get into university — you need the best institution you can possibly access.

If a student receives a low score, they’ll most likely go straight into menial work.

Examinees for the Gaokao wait outside the testing venue at a university campus in Wuhan, China.Source:Getty Images

But as Universal principle, there are exceptions to this rule. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, is arguably the most famous Gaokao “loser”.

He failed the exam twice — and the chief executive billionaire is now one of the richest men in China.

“Life is so changeable,” he wrote. “Today it goes well, yet tomorrow it may not; today you fail, but it doesn’t mean you have no chance to succeed in future.”

Reforms from year 2017

In early October 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued an official test syllabus for English for 2017, which increases the test’s English vocabulary from 3,200 to 3,500 words, showing that a strengthened English unit is still an integral part of the Gaokao system.

Under the reforms, students will be given more flexibility and autonomy. Chinese, Math and English will continue to be compulsory Gaokao subjects, but students will now be given two attempts to pass their English test. They will no longer have to choose between being streamed into either “science based” or “liberal arts based” exams – instead, they will be able to select three elective subjects of their choice that match their desired major at their desired institution, including both science and liberal art type subjects if they wish. This model is now being interpreted by many provincial governments as the “3+3” model.

The first students from Shanghai and Zhejiang will sit the new Gaokao in 2017.

RELATED ARTICLES

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -
Google search engine

Most Popular

Recent Comments

Aashish Mishra on Job Vacancy
dre on Quiz9 Q2
dre on Quiz9 Q3
Travis on Quiz9 Q1
Travis on Quiz9 Q2
Travis on Quiz9 Q2
Travis on Quiz9 Q3
sanco on GK1 Q1
sanco on GK1 Q4
sanco on GK1 Q6
sanco on GK1 Q8
junior on Quiz8 Q2
junior on Quiz8 Q4
junior on Quiz8 Q5
junior on Quiz8 Q7
junior on Quiz8 Q1
junior on Quiz8 Q3
junior on Quiz8 Q6
junior on Quiz8 Q8
Victor on World5 Q1
Victor on World5 Q7
demo on Book3 Q5
demo on Book3 Q3
demo on Book3 Q6
demo on Book3 Q5
demo on Book3 Q4
demo on Book3 Q2
demo on Book3 Q1
Basil2 on Quiz7 Q6
Basil2 on Quiz7 Q4
Basil2 on Quiz7 Q5
Basil2 on Quiz7 Q5
Basil2 on Quiz7 Q7
Sid on World5 Q1
Sid on World5 Q2
Sid on World5 Q3
Sid on World5 Q4
Sid on World5 Q5
Sid on World5 Q6
Sid on World5 Q7
Sid on World5 Q8
mb14 on GK1 Q7
mb14 on GK1 Q6
mb14 on GK1 Q4
mb14 on GK1 Q5
mb14 on GK1 Q3
mb14 on GK1 Q2
mb14 on GK1 Q1
mb14 on GK1 Q8
sanco on Quiz9 Q3
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q1
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q2
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q4
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q3
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q5
Michael Martens on Quiz8 Q8
Nick Votto on World5 Q1
Nick Votto on World5 Q2
Nick Votto on World5 Q3
Nick Votto on World5 Q4
Nick Votto on World5 Q5
Nick Votto on World5 Q6
Nick Votto on World5 Q7
Nick Votto on World5 Q8
hgn on GK1 Q5
hgn on GK1 Q6
hgn on GK1 Q8
Thomas on GK1 Q1
Thomas on GK1 Q2
Thomas on GK1 Q3
Thomas on GK1 Q4
Thomas on GK1 Q5
Thomas on GK1 Q6
Thomas on GK1 Q7
Thomas on GK1 Q8
Brian Allen on GK1 Q3
Brian Allen on GK1 Q2
Brian Allen on GK1 Q2
Brian Allen on GK1 Q1
Brian Allen on Quiz9 Q1
Brian Allen on Quiz9 Q2
Brian Allen on Quiz9 Q3
Helen Carter on Quiz7 Q6
Helen Carter on Quiz7 Q4
Helen Carter on Quiz7 Q5
Helen Carter on Quiz7 Q7
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q1
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q2
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q3
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q4
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q5
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q6
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q7
Nancy Evans on Quiz8 Q8
James Smith on World4 Q2
James Smith on World4 Q3
James Smith on World4 Q4
James Smith on World4 Q5
James Smith on World4 Q6
James Smith on World4 Q1
Jeff King on Book3 Q5
Jeff King on Book3 Q4
Jeff King on Book3 Q3
Jeff King on Book3 Q2
Jeff King on Book3 Q1
Linda Walker on Quiz9 Q1
Linda Walker on Quiz9 Q2
Linda Walker on Quiz9 Q3
Linda Walker on World5 Q1
Linda Walker on World5 Q3
Linda Walker on World5 Q2
Linda Walker on World5 Q4
Linda Walker on World5 Q8
Linda Walker on World5 Q7
Linda Walker on World5 Q5
Linda Walker on World5 Q6
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q4
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q6
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q5
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q7
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q5
Donald Gracia on Quiz7 Q7
Betty Adams on GK1 Q1
Betty Adams on GK1 Q3
Betty Adams on GK1 Q3
Betty Adams on GK1 Q4
Betty Adams on GK1 Q5
Betty Adams on GK1 Q6
Betty Adams on GK1 Q7
Betty Adams on GK1 Q8
Prathibha Prakash on commerceduniya
surya prakash kumawat on Vacancies of CA Articleship in Delhi NCR
i want all ipcc exam paper of last five years on Question paper of Advanced Accounting May 2013 exam of CA IPCC
syed on commerceduniya
sonali navale on commerceduniya
ramesh on commerceduniya
jailaxmi.ece@gmail.com on Contract Law_Answer_Dec 2011
miankshee on commerceduniya
yatish lalwani on dariakoreczak@gmail.com
Parvez Virani on dariakoreczak@gmail.com
Rahul Vats on mabum2@facebook.com
Narendra Boyina on Gimme one more chestnut!
Gayatri Sinha on
cduniya on industrial_training