Editor’s note: The college entrance examinations (gaokao) will be held on Tuesday to Friday amid an upsurge in COVID-19 infections in some places. Will the sporadic outbreaks in infections affect gaokao candidates’ performance? Two experts share their views with China Daily’s Yao Yuxin on how students and their families can overcome the challenges, and candidates can get good scores in gaokao. Excerpts follow:

Self-motivated students may perform better

Given that gaokao will be held amid sporadic outbreaks, the most important thing is to safeguard the rights of every candidate to take the exams. In other words, despite testing positive for the novel coronavirus, they should not be denied entry to a test center for reasons such as nucleic acid testing results.

Fortunately, the problem has been addressed as separate rooms have been arranged for students who test positive for the novel coronavirus or are suspected to have contracted the virus.

The pandemic prevention and control measures do create some inconveniences, so students should leave for the test centers well in advance to avoid delay. Apart from that, candidates do not need to worry too much about the anti-pandemic measures, and instead should seriously prepare for the exams.

In fact, the pandemic can give the students who are good at self-regulation or can study on their own an edge over others in gaokao. The restrictions on people’s movement, which have forced many examinees to study intermittently at home, have created much more time for self-study and reduced the cram sessions at school. On the other hand, students who get high scores by memorizing answers will be at a slight disadvantage.

This can make gaokao more equitable, and students who are truly talented and passionate about studies, rather than those who get high scores through rote learning, will perform better.

So instead of worrying too much, self-motivated and self-regulated students should be more confident about performing well in gaokao.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences

Pandemic an additional test for candidates

Gaokao candidates need not worry about the pandemic and COVID-19 protocols. Education authorities around the country are well-prepared to ensure gaokao is held in a safe and methodical way and all candidates can take the exams.

The number of students that have signed up for gaokao this year is about 11.93 million, an increase of 1.15 million year-on-year. However, given the authorities’ more than two years’ experience of holding the exams amid the pandemic, the increase in the number of candidates should not raise safety fears.

Aside from Shanghai that has postponed gaokao for one month, the rest of the country will hold the exams on schedule .

To rule out the possibility of infections and ensure the students’ safety, examinees were required to have their body temperature measured and their health condition monitored for 14 consecutive days ahead of the exam. And separate rooms have been earmarked for students who have come in close contact with an infected person or have contracted the novel coronavirus.

Students should strictly follow the pandemic prevention and control measures, and focus on preparing for the exams. Since gaokao is a competitive test for candidates within one provincial-level region, the impact of the pandemic on all will be the same.

Therefore, the students should adapt to the changes, and consider gaokao as another test of their resilience and academic knowledge, which will stand them in good stead even beyond the exams.

Candidates should study hard for gaokao, and take the exams in a relaxed and confident manner. In fact, they should use gaokao as a test to show their knowledge and aptitude which they have accumulated over 12 years of schooling.

Xiong Bingqi, head of the 21st Century Education Research Institute

The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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