What Are The Similarities Between The Gaokao And The SAT
In her article Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory, Brook Larmer talks about students in China preparing at Maotanchang High School to take the gaokao. Throughout the article, the author talks with Yang Wei, a 12th grader at the school, and his family about the gaokao. They also talk about his preparation for taking the gaokao and his progress in school. Although there are some similarities between Chinese students' experience with the gaokao and American students with the SAT, the two are essentially very different. There are some similarities between taking the gaokao and the SAT. Both of them are college-entrance examination that determine what colleges people will get into. Another similarity would be that each of the exam has their own
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prep courses. The gaokao at first “offered extra exam-prep courses outside the regular curriculum for a modest fee.” However in 2004, the Chinese government banned tuition-base courses from public schools and turned the entire curriculum into an “intensive cram course.” For the SAT, some places also offer a thing called SAT prep for a modest fee too. Both of these prep courses were made to teach and prepare students on how to take these examinations. Therefore, students could get ready for them by practice tests. When taking the SAT or the gaokao, most of the students are nervous because this will determine if they receive a scholarship or if they get into any colleges. This would also include me because I am also nervous that if I do not do well on the SAT, I would not get into a good college. Even though there are similarities in taking the gaokao and the SAT, there are many differences as well.
The gaokao is “administered every June over two or three days (depending on the province),” but the SAT are administered 7 times a year. Another difference would be who can take the examinations. The gaokao are usually for seniors because for them, “no electives are permitted, only gaokao courses.” However the SAT are mostly for juniors and seniors. Furthermore the subjects on each exam is different. The gaokao “has two versions, one focused on science [and] the other on humanities.” The SAT on the other hand focus on subjects such as math, reading, and writing. One more difference would be how the teachers teach their students to prepare for these exams. For the gaokao, teachers would spend “17-hour days monitoring classes of 100 to 170 students” and there are charts that rank classes “by cumulative test scores from week to week.” The classes of teachers who “finish in last place at year's end can except to be fired.” Some of the teachers would also “pit [students] against one another in practice-test “death matches” [and] the losers must remain standing all morning.” I have never heard or seen such a thing in SAT classes. On the contrary, the teachers who teach students how to do the SAT are more relaxed and less nervous than the teachers who teach the gaokao. In addition to this difference would be the maximum score that can be achieve on both exams. The maximum score that someone can achieve would be “750 on the gaokao,” but the maximum score for the SAT would
2400. Although there are some similarities between Chinese students' experience with the gaokao and American students with the SAT, the two are essentially very different. There seems to be more differences than similarities between the two exams.
prep courses. The gaokao at first “offered extra exam-prep courses outside the regular curriculum for a modest fee.” However in 2004, the Chinese government banned tuition-base courses from public schools and turned the entire curriculum into an “intensive cram course.” For the SAT, some places also offer a thing called SAT prep for a modest fee too. Both of these prep courses were made to teach and prepare students on how to take these examinations. Therefore, students could get ready for them by practice tests. When taking the SAT or the gaokao, most of the students are nervous because this will determine if they receive a scholarship or if they get into any colleges. This would also include me because I am also nervous that if I do not do well on the SAT, I would not get into a good college. Even though there are similarities in taking the gaokao and the SAT, there are many differences as well.
The gaokao is “administered every June over two or three days (depending on the province),” but the SAT are administered 7 times a year. Another difference would be who can take the examinations. The gaokao are usually for seniors because for them, “no electives are permitted, only gaokao courses.” However the SAT are mostly for juniors and seniors. Furthermore the subjects on each exam is different. The gaokao “has two versions, one focused on science [and] the other on humanities.” The SAT on the other hand focus on subjects such as math, reading, and writing. One more difference would be how the teachers teach their students to prepare for these exams. For the gaokao, teachers would spend “17-hour days monitoring classes of 100 to 170 students” and there are charts that rank classes “by cumulative test scores from week to week.” The classes of teachers who “finish in last place at year's end can except to be fired.” Some of the teachers would also “pit [students] against one another in practice-test “death matches” [and] the losers must remain standing all morning.” I have never heard or seen such a thing in SAT classes. On the contrary, the teachers who teach students how to do the SAT are more relaxed and less nervous than the teachers who teach the gaokao. In addition to this difference would be the maximum score that can be achieve on both exams. The maximum score that someone can achieve would be “750 on the gaokao,” but the maximum score for the SAT would
2400. Although there are some similarities between Chinese students' experience with the gaokao and American students with the SAT, the two are essentially very different. There seems to be more differences than similarities between the two exams.