It is that time of year when Chinese high school students come to the make-or-break point of their lives as they take the national college entrance exams: the Gaokao.

Exceptional results in the Gaokao  are seen as a ticket to prestigious universities and high-paying jobs. Every year, the exam puts high schools — or “cram schools” — under the spotlight.

A look into one town in eastern China’s Anhui province, famous for running such schools and producing high-scoring students, offers insights into how students are prepped with Gaokao skills and why different provinces have different passing grades.

CCTV Xia Ruixue reports.

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Chinese Gaokao versus overseas education

While it is a tense time for most students nationwide, some have opted for an alternative. An increasing number of Chinese students are choosing to pursue higher education abroad.

As more and more U.S. colleges, like Suffolk University in Boston, start to accept Gaokao scores instead of traditional U.S. tests like SAT or ACT, a comparison between the Gaokao and overseas education is presented. CCTV Xing Zheming takes a look.

Fred Mednick discusses Chinese Gaokao

CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke to Fred Mednick, founder of Teachers Without Borders and assistant professor in Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education, about how Gaokao has changed over the from earlier tests in terms of its format and its impact on the future of over nine million students.

Mednick has the experience of studying the test while living in China. With respect to that, he will share with CCTV his thoughts on the effort the Chinese government has taken in order to make Gaokao a more fair one.