Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China

The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China

Jia, Ruixue
Li, Hongbin
Cousineau, Claire

Hardcover

Business GeneralChinese HistoryGeneral Education

Publisher Price: $29.95

ISBN10: 0674295390
ISBN13: 9780674295391
Publisher: Belknap Press
Published: Sep 9 2025
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.91
Height: 0.93 Width: 5.93 Depth: 8.63
Language: English

An Economist Best Book of the Year

Combining personal narratives with decades of research, a vivid account of how the gaokao--China's high-stakes college admissions test--shapes that society and influences education debates in the United States.

Each year, more than ten million students across China pin their hopes on the gaokao, the nationwide college entrance exam. Unlike in the United States, where standardized tests are just one factor, in China college admission is determined entirely by gaokao performance. It is no wonder the test has become a national obsession.

Drawing on extensive surveys, historical research, and economic analysis, and informed by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li's own experiences of the gaokao gauntlet, The Highest Exam reveals how China's education system functions as a centralized tournament. It explains why preparation for the gaokao begins even before first grade--and why, given its importance for upward mobility, Chinese families are behaving rationally when they devote immense quantities of money and effort to acing the test. It shows how the exam system serves the needs of the Chinese Communist Party and drives much of the country's economic growth. And it examines the gaokao's far-reaching effects on China's society, as the exam's promise of meritocracy encourages citizens to focus on individual ability at the expense of considering socioeconomic inequalities.

What's more, as the book makes clear, the gaokao is now also shaping debates around education in the United States. As Chinese-American families bring the expectations of the highest exam with them, their calls for objective, transparent metrics in the education system increasingly clash with the more holistic measures of achievement used by American schools and universities.

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