What it's like sitting the Gaokao, the world's most notoriously difficult exam

Pre discussion questions

How do you feel about exams?

What do you think the girl in this picture is feeling?

Halfway through the year, millions of Chinese high school students will sit a terrible university entrance examination.

The "Gaokao" exam started in 1952. It is a notoriously difficult three-day test.

These high school exams have so much expectation for the future lives of all the students. The exams are exhausting for the 9.4 million students who experience the "weekend from hell" each year.

Some parents even pay for "Gaokao hotels" close to the exam center.

In some cities, "test taxis" are allowed to go first through the traffic on this day.

The test is so important across China that it changes Chinese life for one day.

Students sitting the Gaokao are tested on their Chinese, mathematics, English and either a science or humanities subject of their choice.

The exam is a mixture of problem-solving that requires strong memorizing. There are vague philosophy questions to test a student’s creativity.

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 colorful, but when they looked at them closely, they realized that they had no color. 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.

Chinese students spend up to 80 hours or more studying every week. Holidays and school-breaks are rare. And a student has almost no social life.

Students have at least 11 classes every single weekday, with nine classes on Saturday and up to five on Sunday.

Total daily class-time is roughly 10 hours, but in the actual year of the exam, students cram in as many extra hours as they can. They feverishly do practice exams in private.

It's the norm to spend every waking moment studying.

The pressure seems to never end. Students have immense pressure - but they just have to grin and bear it.

The Gaokao is controversial in China. The test is criticized because it is largely about memorization learning rather than actually using that knowledge.

But at the same time, it's very important for any Chinese student wanting a good future.

Why is the Gaokao so important? The whole future of a Chinese student is about this test. Getting into the best universities means the best future and the best of everything.

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, is maybe the most famous Gaokao "loser".

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

Last year, he wrote an open letter to Chinese students which fast went viral.

"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."

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=4, B=2, C=8, D=1, E=3, F=7, G=5, H=6

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1.      Be careful, this area of the city is notorious for thieves.

2.      Running a marathon is exhausting.

3.      In mathematics you can not be vague, you must be exact.

4.      The transport strike at Christmas was terrible, people were feverously tying to get out of the city to see their families.

5.      It is the norm to take off your shoes when you enter a house.

6.      The president felt immense pressure to resign after the protests.

7.      The weather this week is very cold, you will have to grin and bear it.

8.      There was a lot of controversy about the mayor’s decision to build the park.

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1.      How notorious is the university entrance test in your country?

2.      What subject did you find the most exhausting to study in high school? Why?

3.      If someone is too vague when they speak to you, then how do you ask them to speak more exact?

4.      How feverish is the Korean SAT exam?

5.      Is it also the norm for high school students in your country to study hard like these students in China?

6.      What do you do when you have immense pressure?

7.      Do you agree that grinning and bearing difficult situations can make you a stronger person?

8.      What topics are controversial in your country these days?