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0The 2022 National College Entrance Examination is coming the day after tomorrow. In today's program, we invite two juniors who have gone through the examination to recall that time from high school to college and reflect on the meaning of it from the perspective of college students.
Host: Amy
Guests: Chloe 张叶昊
01:19 Guest self-introduction
Both guests are juniors at college.
01:40 What are your most vivid memories when you recall the days before the entrance exams?
Chloe once attended an intensive training program to prepare for her art exam. During that time, she was pushed by her teacher to practice communicating with people. And as a minority, she practiced tongue twisters in the school hallway when her Mandarin was not standard. The most memorable part of her college entrance exam was the math test, where she cried in front of the examiner because of the increased difficulty of the test paper.
Zhang used to be a “competition student” who was specifically trained for academic competitions. When he retired in his senior year of high school, he remembered deeply the sense of loss when he returned to the regular class. He went through a rather confusing period, but later he realized that it was always right to do more exercise and he soon got on the right track in his study.
11:30 What was your view of university as you prepared for college entrance exams? Did it serve as a motivation to support you?
When Chloe was a high school student, she had a lot of imagination about the richness of college life. She couldn't help but think about the possible opportunities to go abroad for exchange, to travel around with friends, to go to concerts, etc. She also hoped she could become a skilled person in college.
Zhang, however, said he had not imagined university life when he was preparing for the college entrance exam. Because he once went to a training camp at Peking University as a competition student, he had then learned what college life was like. He spent his senior year of high school thinking about the difference between himself and college students, and once he figured out the difference and knew what he needed to do, a clear inner guidance became the driving force that kept him going until the entrance exam.
18:38 What are the things that you should clearly consider in the time before the entrance exam?
Zhang suggests 3 things to keep in mind before the examination. The first thing is to learn to look at your test results and eliminate randomness about the future.
The second point is that there is no need to put too many restrictions on yourself in high school.
“The third point is about how to calm yourself down if you fail in the college entrance exam, which is to get full mental preparation.
Chloe also believes that there is no need to be anxious about the future plan before the exams, and mentions that the entrance exams, no matter how important they are, are just a stage in your life.
28:45 How has your perception of university changed you entered it?
Chloe says that college is not as free as she thought it would be. At the same time, she feels that the confusion and bewilderment she experiences in college was more torturous than in high school. Unlike the simple goal she used to have in high school, she doesn’t know what to do after seeing a wider world.
For Zhang, his feeling is that he thought college could be different, but it turned out to be no different from high school. The same study pressure, the same daily schedule(except that you can stay up later and get up later in the morning), and even similar study methods are found in the university.
But he also feels that university was relatively free, and after listening to many classes in other departments, he finds out that there are so many interesting things to study in the world.
36:19 How to better explore and find one’s way in college?
Zhang thinks one needs to clarify the identity as a university student and tries to be research-oriented. At the same time, he believes one should think about what their mission is for the society, and then make their own planning of career accordingly. He suggests that if students can't find a direction in university, they should figure out what they want to contribute to the society in the future and then try new things.
Chloe agrees that trying is very important. She says that one’s direction doesn't have to be very ambitious, but finding a small area that you fit in is very impressive.
46:58 What would you like to say to yourself back then or to the students who are taking the entrance exam now?
“For students who are interested in entering academic field, if you want to evaluate yourself by the academic system, you must be down-to-earth in your studies," Zhang says .
For Chloe, in addition to hoping that students can evaluate themselves by a more multidimensional standard, she also hopes that they can be able to calm down and not be in a hurry. “Keeping your feet on the ground is important,” she says.
