China's gaokao: a high-stakes exam that shapes lifelong opportunities

In *The Highest Exam*, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li portray the gaokao as a centralized, hierarchical contest where a student's provincial rank, not the raw score, decides university placement and long-term economic prospects. They highlight that over ten million students sit for the exam each year, while families invest heavily in tuition, uniforms, tutoring and even expensive housing to meet district admission rules, with some paying fees up to $75,000.

The analysis shows that lower-income families devote a disproportionate share of earnings—57 percent for the bottom quartile—to education, intensifying social pressure and mental-health issues among children. While the single-exam system appears more meritocratic than the U.S. college admissions process, the authors argue it merely sorts students within a broader context of stark inequality, high youth unemployment and a K-shaped economy. They conclude that genuine reform must address systemic economic disparity rather than merely tweaking the education system.