How do you feel about the college entrance exam in your country?
By daeckardt
@daeckardt (6237)
United States
April 24, 2011 5:01pm CST
I have talked to a number of students from China that were attending various universities (since I used to teach English in Chinese universities) and have heard how hard you have had to work to get into college. If you are from China, how did you do on this exam and were you able to get into the school of your choice? If you haven't taken the test yet, are you ready for it? If you are from somewhere else, is there a test that you have to take in order to go to college, and if so, how did you do on it?
I took the ACT (I think it stands for American College Test, but not really sure). Some students took the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). Some people have never done particularly well on written tests, but do fine in college. I did well (above average), but had a lot of difficulty in college.
Please try to include at least one good paragraph (3-4 sentences). Be as detailed as you can. And try to comment on what someone else has said. Have a great week!!!
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Oldsix691418 (3872)
• China
24 Apr 11
Hi,daeckardt!I think this topic will be very popular here.
Since you have worked in China,you must have known the college entrance exam of China.In China,going to college is usually looked as the only way to find a good job later,so almost all tht parents of the students hope their children can do very well in the college entrance exam and will be admitted by a better college.
I have taken the college entrance exam twice,but my college dream never came true.So I had to take part in the national self-taught exam after I began working.During the several years of the studying,I had to go to Guangxi University to take oral and spoken English exam.Hehe,they were the only chances that I went to a college.
.1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
25 Apr 11
I'm sorry that you were never able to go to a college beyond taking your oral and spoken English exam. It is good that you are able to at least practice your written English here. I don't know about in China, but I know here everyone wants to have a bachelor's degree and anyone who wants to go to college can attend two years even if they didn't get a high school diploma. It is harder to get into a four-year school than a community college. There have been many successful people that never even attended college at all. There are other kinds of success and from what I know about you, you are successful! You might not have attended college, but really how many college graduates are able to grow oranges? It might not be a really prestigious job like working in an office, but at least you don't have to work for someone else when you do that job!
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
26 Apr 11
I guess it isn't like here where you can go back to college after you are working in order to complete a degree later in life. I didn't get my first bachelor's degree until I was 36. I got my second when I was 48. I am working on a master's degree now and I am 51. I love online education!
@Oldsix691418 (3872)
• China
25 Apr 11
Of course I got my college diploma in 1991,but I had to give up studying further for age,I had to find a girl and get married...1 person likes this
@eileenleyva (27562)
• Philippines
24 Apr 11
The entrance exams for colleges and universities in the Philippines vary in the degree of difficulty. The University of the Philippines College Admission Test or UPCAT is, thus far, the toughest. The UPCAT is a a five hour exam that tackles Math, Science, English, Reasoning and Filipino. Some 17,000 students apply for the all quota courses in this state university but few freshmen make it to the main campus. And for every UPian, that is the easy part. The more difficult part is how to get out, because as the students only know, the education they receive is brash, whatever that means. UP graduates are proud to have the Bachelor's Diploma. That alone spells excellence already.
The other challenging tests are from the Ateneo de Manila, University of Santo Tomas and de La Salle University.
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
24 Apr 11
Wow! So it sounds to me like that means that if you want to apply to different universities you have to take each school's test. Is that correct? That is a lot longer than I remember the ACT being, but I took that back in 1978 so it might be different now.
You said 17,000 students apply for the all quota courses. Is that the courses everyone has to take? When you say that few freshmen make it to the main campus, what does that mean? Do they just drop out? It sounds like school is a lot harder there than what I have had to go through. Are you a student now or are you already a graduate?
Thanks for sharing your experience!!!
1 person likes this
@eileenleyva (27562)
• Philippines
25 Apr 11
Yes, passing the school's entrance exam is a prerequisite. A quota course means a limited number of students are accepted in that specific course. For example, the College of Science majoring in Biology accepts only 40 freshmen each year. Since UP has the most number of applicants, all the courses are filled. And the university can only accept and accommodate a certain number of freshmen in the main campus.
UP has several branches all over the country. Students who want to study Sciences are sent to Los Banos, and those who want to take up Math are sent to Baguio. That way, the main campus does not get congested.
sall
Philippine college education is tough. The Ateneo, La Salle, and UST produce also the best and the brightest.
One said thing, we do have a brain drain problem.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
26 Apr 11
Wow! I'm glad I don't live there. I don't think I would have ever made it to college, let alone graduate school. As far as the brain drain problem, are there jobs available for graduates or do the HAVE to go somewhere else in order to get a job?
1 person likes this
@youless (112100)
• Guangzhou, China
25 Apr 11
I think the students in China all suffer a heavy study pressure. We have so many homework and exams all the time. It is hard to have a break. And we have to study hard so that we may get a better marks in the college entrance exam. It is a important time for every student. It seems you will become to be a loser once you can't enter the university. This is why even until today, sometimes I will still have a nightmare about study and exams in the school in the past.
I love China
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
26 Apr 11
So parents and friends will look down on kids that don't pass the college entrance exam? That seems so unfair. Do all students in China get the chance to take the test or are there some who don't even get into high school? Every person should have the chance to go to school for higher education, even if they don't do as well on the test as other people. I have gone to schools that were not that well known, but I got the same basic education as people who have attended Harvard without having to pay as much. I hope that you are/were able to achieve your educational goals! Thanks for the comment!
@sashakiddo (1102)
• United States
25 Apr 11
I live in the US as well, and I took the SATs. My mother entered me in a SAT course provided by College Board or Princeton Review, I'm not sure which one. It was a couple hundred dollars but it is known for improving scores by 100-200 points within a month (around 4 hours a week). I am ambivalent to the test because once you have the right training you can do really well on the test. But some people don't have access to that training, they don't have the money to pay for those SAT courses. If you have a college oriented family, the family will help, but for students who don't get that exposure, the test will be unfair.
Now I am on to taking the GREs for graduate school, and it is basically the same thing. Unfair.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
26 Apr 11
Unfair is right! I have trouble with tests that allow too little time to complete them. Some of the tests I had to take for jobs, for example, expected that people would not finish them. When tests were based on specific skills, I scored well. Later the tests were changed so that one test could be used for any job area. When they changed to that format, my name didn't even show up on job registers because I don't do well on that type of test. I know that most of the tests that are used for college are aimed at middle class white students and those are basically the ones who can afford to pay for the training for them. This puts others at a disadvantage. Thanks for sharing!
@harck721 (372)
• Philippines
25 Apr 11
I would say that the college entrance exams in our country are difficult, but only to those who didn't study well enough for them. Review centers are rampant in the Philippines and the passing rate of their students are pretty high. I don't know how well I did in my college entrance exam, since they don't release that info for free in the University of the Philippines (Oh, the woes of being poor.), but I did get into the course I applied for.
In college, I'm pretty average, in the lower percentage of the achievers at most. I make good grades in some subjects and don't do as well in others.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
26 Apr 11
I know how it is to be pretty average. I just barely passed when I was in college the first time and had to give up my dream of becoming a nurse. Now I'm glad that I wasn't able to pass the lower level classes because I don't think I could have functioned in that capacity all my life. I never did find the right area to study, although I think education was the closest that I got. It seems odd that they wouldn't send your test scores to you. I know that I got all my test scores within a month of taking the test. Oh well...
