GAOKAO

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GAOKAO ??
The National College Entrance Exam

• Presented by Gang Chen, Allie Schexnayder,
  Emily Dimmitt

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Introduction

• You unlock this door with years of education and
  test preparation. You're moving into a land of
  both nerves and excitement, of hopes and
  disappointments. You've just crossed over into...
  the land of the GaoKao. In China, the National
  Higher Education Entrance Examination,
  colloquially known as the GaoKao (Gao meaning
  high, Kao meaning test), is the ultimate
  yardstick of academic accomplishment. If ones
  score is good enough, they will receive entrance
  into a prestigious university. Too low, and its
  years of hard work in a blue-collar job. By
  presenting a history of the exam, example
  questions taken from GaoKao, examining the
  universities the highest scores gained admittance
  to, and examining the praise and criticism the
  test has received, we hope to present you, the
  viewer, with a deeper knowledge about the GaoKao
  and enable you to create your own opinion.

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HISTORY
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How Important is the GaoKao?

• Reason for a major turn around in the Chinese
  education system.
• Only given once a year, and during that period,
  the nation almost universally holds its breath as
  its youth take the largest test of their life.
• Scandals have arisen from it. Ex Two widely
  publicized scandals - students were told to pay
  exorbitant amounts to keep their university
  spots.

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Parents waiting outside of a test center
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Police emerges to ensure security and help those
in need
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GaoKao Schedule

• X Stands for either Humanities Comprehensive
  OR Science Comprehensive
• High School students in China have to choose an
  Orientation , which is either Humanity or
  Science
• Other three subjects are required for almost
  every student taking the Gaokao

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Whats inside? (Sample or Practice Questions)
Essay (To be done usually in one hour. 800
characters or more.) Topic one Using The
drizzle dampens clothes but cannot be seen
flowers fall to the ground without a sound
(???????,???????) Write an essay of your
choice. Topic Two Walking as things wear away
(??????)
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Whats inside? (Sample or Practice Questions)

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Whats inside? (Sample or Practice Questions)

• Multiple Choice Sample Questions
• ____is  he  whom  you  talked  about  just  now.A
  . That      B. It  C.
  There  D. Where
• 2) We  don't  think  that  another  five  days____
  _ necessary  for  us. A. are             
       B. is          C. has  been         D.
  have  been
• 3) . His heart was filled with joy __ of
  arriving home in a couple of days. A. when
  he thought B. when thinking C having
  thought D to think

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Get it Done! Where are the Kings and Queens of
GaoKao now?
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Data Analysis for Zhuangyuan
??

• Obviously, more than 90 of the highest scorers
  choose Peking University or Tsinghua University
  in Beijing. The admission process is depends
  solely on the applicants score in GaoKao. In
  2008, 10,500,000 students participated in GaoKao
  and only the top 0.03 percent of students gained
  admission into these two universities.
• Zhuangyuan is a Chinese term referring to the
  person who got the highest score in GaoKao.

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Data Analysis for Zhuangyuan
WHAT?! WHY?!

• You may be confused as to how the highest scorers
  would fail to get into any university based on
  chinas score-oriented admission policy.
  However, it is because a mistake in the
  application process. In China, colleges are
  officially categorized into several types and
  each applicant can only select a limited amount
  of institutions to apply (usually 3 or 4). So, if
  the student didnt get into the selected
  institution, they would have no chance for any
  other schools.

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Data Analysis for Zhuangyuan ??

• Grinnell College, a liberal arts college in Iowa,
  got a Zhuangyuan student. This shows that
  Chinas high school students are now focusing not
  only on Chinese colleges but also overseas
  institutions.

Grinnell College
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Criticism

• Students dont learn how to think using
  analytical reasoning
• Can bring about many social and psychological
  problems for students
• GaoKao is in the process of being reformed, but
  very difficult.
• Regional discrimination Most universities will
  set a quota of
• Migrating examinees

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Praise

• Brought social equality and justice back into
  Chinese
• College is a necessity in todays global economy
• About 36 million students have been admitted to a
  school of higher education of some sort.
• Enrollment rates have skyrocketed from a slight
  4.7 percent in 1977 to 56.85 percent in 2006
• Regional quotas have also allowed many poorer
  students to find a place where their intelligence
  could be utilized

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Conclusion

• The ultimate purpose of the GaoKao is to help
  equalize education opportunities in China. It
  enables students to have a national measuring
  stick on which to compare themselves. However, it
  is not an equitable test for everyone. This is
  completely obvious in the claims of regional
  discrimination. The pressure placed upon the
  students taking exam is also extreme to the point
  of stressing a student too much so they have a
  harder chance of doing well. It also
  discriminates against different learning styles,
  as not everyone learns the same way, but they are
  forced to. People can still be very intelligent,
  but they might not test well. China could
  restructure their GaoKao by catering more to
  different learning styles. They could also add
  another component to the university admission
  process, such as a review of cumulative grades
  throughout a persons school career. Currently,
  the system isnt fair to all, and isnt that what
  education gives everyone- a better chance? The
  GaoKao is a good plan in theory, but the way it
  is practiced now is not beneficial to Chinese
  students.

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Works Cited

• "Gaokao Three Decades On." CRIEnglish. 22 May
  2007. 13 Nov 2008
  .
• Martinsen, Joel. "Gaokao Questions 2007." Danwei.
  8 June 2007. 09 Nov 2008 holarship_and_education/gaokao_questions_2007_the_
  woes.php.
• hipeng, Guo. "College entrance exams make or
  break in China." Boston Globe. 6 June 2007. 11
  Nov 2008 ticles/2007/06/06/college_entrance_exams_make_or_b
  reak_in_china/.
• Robinson, Susan. "Higher Education in China The
  Next Super Power is Coming of Age." Boston Globe.
  American Council on Education. 10 Nov 2008
  http//www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?SectionHome
  CONTENTID11822TEMPLATE/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm
• Yang, Cunzhen Gale, Trevor . "Policy Analysis
  On Chinese Higher Education Entry Policy."
  Association for Active Educational Researchers. 5
  Dec 2004. American Council on Education. 09 Nov
  2008 .

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QUESTIONS?
Comments?
Anything related?
Unrelated?
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THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRECIOUS TIME
Honors Colloquium Fall 2008