College Admissions in other Lands: China
Last Thursday and Friday were key days for millions of Chinese high school seniors. Every college-bound kid in the massive country must endure the infamous college admissions tests which are administered in early June.
Northeastern U. Admissions Dean visits China
Ronné Patrick Turner, Dean of Admissions at Northeastern blogged about a recent trip she made to China. She found that students in China, as in the USA, stress about getting into top colleges and that, like here, parents are involved and supportive.
College admission tests in China
Chinese students take one standardized test, called the GaoKao. This is the annual National Higher Education Entrance Examination. Everything rides on a student doing well in this test. In a similar manner to the USA, there are differences in scores needed to gain admission to a different colleges. Here it tends to vary by college rank (Ivy League vs State Schools). In China the mark requirements for entry into a university or college course varies between provinces.
In 2006 for example, the minimum score to enter a key university for applicants from Beijing is 516 (total score). By contrast, the minimum score for applicants from Henan province is 591. Local kids are given the edge. People in the cities where the top universities are located are happy. Those living in the sticks are too far away to complain.
The examination is essentially the only criterion for getting into college. Everything rides on the one test. A poor performance on the test almost always means giving up on that goal. Students hoping to attend university will spend most of their waking moments studying prior to the exam.
There are special concessions for members of ethnic minorities, foreign nationals, persons with family origin in Taiwan, and children of military casualties. Students can also receive bonus marks by achieving high results in academic Olympiads, other science and technology competitions, sporting competitions, as well as “political or moral” distinction.
What it’s like to take a college admissions test in China
A fascinating article in China Today gives some insight into the strange world of testing, Chinese-style:
- all traffic in the surrounding area has been cordoned off to keep the streets quiet and avoid distracting students
- nerves are at fever pitch with everything riding on the three days of tests
- since many Chinese families only have one child (due to strict Government policies) there are many examples of ‘helicopter parents’ hovering over their kid as they spend every waking hour preparing for the test
- teachers play a key role. Mandatory classes are held in the school evenings and weekends prior to the test. Teachers also impart nutritional tips and in some cases, psychological counseling.
Teacher Manuela Zoninsein writing in Slate notes that:
Students become aware of the gaokao, the sole criterion for university admission, at an early age. Pressures and preparations begin accordingly. All schooling, especially middle- and high-school curricula, is oriented toward gaokao readiness. Students often joke that it takes 12 years to study for the test. Angel, a freshman studying at the China Foreign Affairs University, where I currently teach, remembers walking out after the first day of testing and hearing her best friend remark, “Well, there goes six years.”
As in the USA today, Chinese students all want to gain access to the same few prestigious institutions. The test is the price they must pay.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Chinese author Hong Zhang writes about the history of college entrance exams in China in this fascinating article.