Focus

Testing year ahead as key exam looms

By Zhou Wenting and Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-07 07:54

When Wang received a letter offering a place at the nearby East China Normal University, which meant she did not need to take the college entrance exam, she said her mother was overjoyed. Only a small proportion of students win college spots with recommendations every year (this also usually involves sitting an exam), leaving the rest to fight it out in the end-of-year showdown.

"I was still considering taking the gaokao and sticking with my preferred major but my mother said to me, 'If you accept this offer, we will both be set free from the tension'," said Wang. "She was so happy when I said yes that she took me on holiday to Singapore and Malaysia."

Four years ago, Wang Chenshuang (no relation to Wang Naixin) also took the so-called "easy way out" and accepted an offer from a college that was not her first choice.

As one of the elite students of Chongqing Foreign Languages School, she was confident and had her heart set on Xiamen University in Fujian province. Yet, the tension took its toll when her classmates began vanishing from class.

"We were supposed to fight together in the last year but when I saw more and more empty seats of people granted recommendations for various universities, I was overwhelmed by the stifling tension," said the 22-year-old.

Wang Chenshuang eventually took an offer from the advertising department of Shanghai International Studies University, which at the time was not well known in Chongqing.

"The sense of relief was far greater than the depression I felt walking away from my dream university," she added.

Second chances

Compared to those in the cities, parents in rural areas rely even more on the gaokao to give their children a chance to change their destiny, say experts.

Yang Lei, who sat the gaokao in the summer of 2009, grew up in Guangfeng, a poor county in North China's Shanxi province, and was determined throughout school that he would change his family's fortunes.

"My home is the poorest in this village," he said. "Most of our neighbors have homes built with bricks but we still live in a stone house."

Yet, the youngster's dream of winning a place at a prestigious university suffered a serious setback when he failed to attain the score he wanted in the college entrance exam.

When this happens, children, particularly those from the countryside, have only a few options, with the main ones being: Get a job or fudu, re-sit the last year of high school.

Large numbers of students nationwide opt to fudu every year for another shot at higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, 26 percent of the 10.2 million who sat the gaokao in 2009 were fudu students.

Yang, 18, prepared to take his second gaokao at a popular school in Linchuan, a city in Jiangxi province, and studied until roughly 2 am every night.

"I always had a book in my pocket," he said. "Even while I was waiting in line in the canteen I was studying."

He explained he spent just 160 yuan ($24) a month on food, which is his only expense as tuition and accommodation are free due to his good academic record. "My parents live on scant food at home, so I can't indulge myself with meat and fish in the school canteen," he said.

After acing this year's college entrance exam, Yang finally realized his dream and was accepted into Peking University's center for health science to study clinical medicine.

"As a doctor I will be able to give my parents a wonderful life," he added.

Students in their last year at Lintou High School in Hanshan county, Anhui province, take part in a pillow fight as part of a stress-busting exercise. Cheng Qianjun / for China Daily

Twelfth graders at Huaibei Experimental High School in Huaibei, Anhui province, enjoy a relaxing painting class. Wang Zhangwen / for China Daily

Pupils surrounded by textbooks prepare at Yinghua Foreign Languages School in Shantou, Guangdong province. Ma Ka / for China Daily