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| Students taking the Zhongkao test. |
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For my
Chinese research topic I choose to research the Zhongkao testing. My pen pal,
Bree (whom is my secondary source), wrote about this senior high school
entrance examination. I found it very interesting and wanted to learn more
about it! In the paper she wrote me, Bree described that she was a junior high
school students preparing to take this big examination. It kind of confused me
because the way she described it made me think of taking the ACT, but in her
case this was a much bigger test than the ACT, although it was for getting
into high school!
I found
some helpful information from http://www.chinaeducation.info/Standardised-Tests/K12-Tests/Zhong-kao-examination.html as my primary source. The website explained
that the test was for students to get into institutions at the high school
level if they scored high enough. There are many different types of schools you
can get sent to: secondary skills, vocational, technical and common high
schools. Chinese students take the test at the end of their ninth grade year
(ninth grade is considered a junior high school grade). If students fail the
Zhongkao they are often sent back to junior high school. This is also called
“sending back the document”. If the student lives in a different region of
China then they may be tested over different subjects. The main subjects that
this written test focuses on is Chinese, Mathematics and English (http://www.chinaeducation.info/Standardised-Tests/K12-Tests/Zhong-kao-examination.html).
After finding this
information I learned that Bree got accepted into a vocational high school. I
honestly don't think I would like being tested like this, especially at such a
young age. It sounds like they are splitting up the super smart kids and the
kids that aren't as smart into separate high schools. I already despise the
ACT, and this type of testing sounds worse. I makes me wonder if it's anything
like MAP testing. I just don't see this type of testing being fair to all
students, because you have students who are bad test takers although they are
extremely smart. Therefore this type of testing doesn't benefit all students.
Work Cited
Letter from
Bree
