'You're expected to study every single hour': Influencer Midi recounts taking China's toughest national exam

Seems only yesterday that we all sat for the O levels.
From burning the midnight oil, holding study group sessions at a 24-hour McDonald’s outlet or attending extra remedial lessons after school, O-level exams are a rite of passage for most Singaporeans.
But we are not the only ones who had to run the gauntlet. Midi, a Chinese social-media influencer based in Singapore, took to TikTok to share a similar experience.
What’s that, you ask?
It’s China’s college entrance exam, or gaokao. “[It’s] the most difficult exam in every China person's life,” Midi mentioned in the video.
The clip, posted on Monday (July 3), features Midi sharing what it’s like to sit for the gaokao.
@midiforreal Believe me, now looking back, Gao Kao is just a small stage in your life 🫶 #gaokao #gaokao2023 ♬ original sound - Midi✨米爷
According to her, the exam is used for admission into Tier-1 universities in China, with as many as "10 million students sitting for the gaokao" every year but "only 400,000 students" making the cut.
She also highlighted that students spend 12 years, from primary 1, gearing up for the gaokao.
Her personal experience was "waking up to study every day at 7am until 9pm to 10pm" for three years in high school. "You're expected to study every single day, every single hour," she recalled.
She added that even simple pleasures like watching a movie or using your mobile phone became a luxury. "Your parents, your teachers will even scold you if you cut your hair.
They [would] be like, 'If you can spend half an hour in the salon, why not just use this half an hour to study?'"
Despite the stressful routine of studying day in and day out, she pointed out that people still sit for the exam solely because "gaokao in China is believed to be the only fair chance for everybody" to get into a good university.
No matter if you're rich or poor, the exam standard is the same for everyone, Midi explained.
The stresses of national exams resonated with netizens from all over the world.
Some sympathised with the students who have to take the gaokao.
Other netizens mentioned national exams in their own countries that paralleled gaokao.
For instance, one Jamaican netizen mentioned that it’s similar to the GSAT and CXC. The former is Jamaica’s national high school entrance test while the latter is taken at the end of their secondary school education.
Another netizen pointed out that gaokao sounds similar to Bac II examination, taken by 12th-grade students in Cambodia.
Other netizens took the chance to mention how exams are much more lax in America.
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