

Essay Questions from China's "Brutally Long" College Entrance Exam - cwan
http://sun-zoo.com/chinageeks/2009/06/08/2009-gaokao-essay-questions/

======
trominos
Question 1 sort of feels like another essay question where the _good_ answer
[to "which viewpoint is best"] is "it depends," but the "correct" answer is
"let's see how well I can support one of these viewpoints by selectively
ignoring scenarios when the others are more applicable." Which reminds me of
the SAT. Seems like there's some consistency between standardized testing in
the US and in China -- it's crappy everywhere (although certainly done with
more style in China).

~~~
TrevorJ
I get the sense that the "correct" answer is correct because it's state-
sponsored.

------
smanek
I found Q2 section 3 about "An American peasant, so poor that he had no food
to eat, was forced to go to odd jobs for a local rich person" somewhat
funny/interesting. I would have like to see the questions associated with that
prompt.

~~~
antiismist
I think it was a passage in Chinese that needed to be translated into English.

~~~
AndrewO
It looks like this blogger was able to pass that part of the exam!

Kinda funny when you think about it: he actually _did_ the assignment while
trying to figure out what the assignment was in the first place...

------
est
Math test (in Chinese) if anyone is interested

Version 1 for BS <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0607/1750010465.html>

Version 1 for BA <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0607/1930010486.html>

Version 2 for BS <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0607/1958010489.html>

Version 2 for BA <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0608/1416010515.html>

English test

Version 1 <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0608/1916010543.html>

Version 2 <http://edu.sina.com.cn/shiti/2009/0609/0010010616.html>

See rest of the tests (History, Geograph, Chemistry, etc) here, all of them
are in Chinese through.
<http://edu.sina.com.cn/gaokao/2009gdgaokaoztjdp/index.html>

~~~
rms
Are the math tests no calculator allowed?

~~~
est
yes, digital calculator is allowed

~~~
rms
Basic scientific calculator or a full feature graphic calculator? At a glance,
I think I would have been able to prepare just fine for that test as a high
school senior with a scientific calculator (means it has +-/*, and log, sqrt
sin cos etc.), but it would have been a breeze with a TI-89 (which
symbolically solves equations and simplifies expressions). If graphing
calculators are allowed that would give a very big advantage to the rich or
anyone that knows what a big advantage such a calculator gives.

------
lunaru
This reminds me of the writing section of the SAT2/GRE. I'm more curious about
what high scoring answers look like in relation to what a high scoring answer
might look on the SAT2.

For example, does basing arguments around an obscure (but not pretentious)
chinese proverb/idiom net you points in the same way you get bonus point for
alluding to a literary classic here? Do long winded arguments ding you?

The other funny thing is that I hear lots of stories about how kids literally
study themselves to death for these exams, yet writing an essay is an art that
benefits from exactly the opposite: instead of studying hard, having lots of
life experience outside the classroom almost always helps more.

------
nailer
If it's long, but the questions are mundane and trivial, is it still brutal?

~~~
megaduck
It's brutal because the pressure is amazingly intense. Your test results,
quite literally, will determine the rest of your life.

College admission is _entirely_ based on your GaoKao score, grades don't
matter and extracurriculars don't exist. Due to the Hukou system
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system>), your college attendance decides
where you can live and where you can work in the future. For a peasant, a good
GaoKao score is the only real way out of poverty.

To add to this, you don't get to pick your major in college. That's also
decided by your GaoKao score, and your future career is decided by your major.

So, imagine if your whole life hinged on your SAT scores. Wouldn't that make
the test a little more difficult?

~~~
nailer
I think it'd make the test just as easy, but more stressful. Since the
questions are not difficult, I would worry that my answers are being
interpreted as a test of what I think rather than how I think. Maybe this is
just semantics, but I think difficulty of an exam is irrelevant of what it
will be used for.

~~~
megaduck
Actually, I think it's more than just semantics. Stress makes it harder in a
quantifiable way. Stress impairs both memory and abstract reasoning. For the
language composition portions it narrows your thinking, and strips out
creativity.

Something fun like a pub quiz is measurably easier than something like the
GaoKao, even if the questions are the same.

~~~
electromagnetic
For the average person, stress seriously breaks down their ability to perform.
However, there's a significant but smaller proportion of people who thrive on
stress and these are the people you want at the top.

When something decides your entire life, the ones who excel at the task are
going to be the ones who thrive on stress. In China this ability probably ends
up putting you through the best schools in the country and either into the top
ranks of corporations or into the government. Despite the system being unfair,
it is probably an ideal way to select out those who are needed to manage and
run a 1.3 billion person country.

Western countries either had higher education firmly established by the time
the industrial and technological revolutions hit. Those that didn't, like the
majority of North America, were able to grow slowly into the world with new
technologies. However, China has essentially been shot from agricultural,
through industrial and are now falling at terminal velocity through the
technological era as they catch up with everyone else. The system in China
seems amazingly stable, however the real question is what happens when they
start getting bombarded by unions so big they can't quell.

~~~
megaduck
You've got the general shape of it, but I've got one minor clarification about
your history. You make the GaoKao sound recent, when it's basically the modern
version of the Imperial Examination. The Imperial Examination started in 605,
and ran continuously until the early twentieth century, so this is how China
has been selecting their administrators for centuries.

We can debate the merits of Chinese higher education, but it's definitely not
new.

------
ekpyrotic
I thought the questions were fun, I would have enjoyed answering them.

~~~
ShardPhoenix
Agreed, they seem more interesting than the kind of essay questions I got in
school.

------
ComputerGuru
Is that story about John Dalton true? I know he is attributed with discovering
color blindness as an illness and whatnot, but I can't find _any_ other
reference about Dalton, color blindness, and christmas socks:
<http://bit.ly/ySNwL>

~~~
qaexl
I don't know if the story of Dalton is true or not. I don't think it matters
for this test.

I think both Questions 1 and 2 are meant to respond to cultural value systems
outside of China. I'm not sure about now, however, I can easily see a "Dalton"
in China before 1990s accepting that the color of the socks are red, even
though he sees it as grey and drop the matter.

Likewise, the story of the instant ramen noodles points out the persistence
required for entreprenurialship, something that we take for granted reading
Hacker News. On top of that, there is the political issue being that this is a
story about Japan, something that is still emotionally charged (at least with
my parent's generation). The story also presents the instant ramen inventor as
being motivated by patriotism (or at least, humanitarian) rather than the
profit motive. Finally, China has also seen several severe famines post WWII
as a direct result of government policies (the government and the military has
traditionally been responsible for making no one region becomes devestated by
famine). The story presented an _individual_ rather than a state organization
taking it upon himself to help solve the food problem. How does that square
with the current policies of the Chinese government? Should non-University-
elites be encouraged with this kind of initiative?

The story about the kerosene is weird to me. My first reaction is that it
appears to be grafting the old Confucian values onto an American setting. We'd
have to substitute "peasant" for something else -- "menial", "indentured
servent", "slave", each carrying a very different baggage. (I doubt Chinese
unversity candidates would be aware of the emotional charges these words
bring). Going by my gut, I'm not sure any modern American would try to correct
their mistakes by _demonstrating_ diligence (putting the wash out and
carefully watching it). That kind of value system is more old-school Chinese,
I think, that by demonstrating the proper diligence due to one's social
superiors, Good Things Happen (the stain gets removed ... whether or not it is
scientifically valided is not relavent in this story).

As for Question 1, I remember reading that story in an American self-help
book. I have forgotten where it came from. It was a fable obviously
demonstrated to encourage the development of strengths. It also fits in with
the shift in American education towards building up self esteem (for example,
see the work of Carol Dewek related to this topic). This is quite different
from a cultural system where fathers would throw sons into a harsh environment
just to the overcome weaknesses. The phrase, "eating bitter" (吃苦) is still in
use today. I am sure many of the candidates writing this essay have memories
of their parents pushing them academically, sending them through cram schools
and hiring tutors if they could afford it. I'd say a good number of them would
remember being the "rabbit" in one or more of the subject matters. The
justification the parents (at least, my parents) tells the kid is, "you'll
thank me later". So here is an essay question that gives you a chance to say,
"yeah, the rabbit should be forced to swim for his own good; even I learned
how to swim" or "no, I think this system is broken despite the fact that I am
a product of this system".

