Entrance Examination Research Articles

An Application Research on continuation Writing in English College Entrance Examination from the Perspective of POA

This paper explores the application of high school English writing mode based on the theory of production-oriented approach (POA). It mainly introduces the theory and steps of the POA, and application of the high school English reading, in order to cultivate the learners' thinking mode and the ability of comprehensive language use. Through the in-depth analysis of the January 2021 Zhejiang College Entrance Examination English reading and writing test questions, this paper analyzes the practical significance of writing in high school English teaching by combining the theory of POA and specific teaching practice, with a view to improving the efficiency of the continuation writing classroom and enhancing the students' ability to learn and use.

The Pros and Cons of the Piano Accelerated Training Model for Art Students

In the Guangdong Province Music College Entrance Examination, piano, as the main and secondary examination subject, plays a pivotal role for candidates. At present, piano candidates are mainly divided into two categories: one is candidates who have learned piano since childhood and have accumulated a deep basic skill and theoretical foundation; the other is candidates who start to practice piano for personal interest or other reasons when they are about to take the college entrance examination. Piano crash course has both advantages and disadvantages for art exam students. The advantage is that crash course learning allows candidates to master certain piano skills and knowledge in a short period of time, and improve their understanding and test-taking ability. The disadvantage is that due to the lack of long-term basic practice and a large number of works training accumulation, candidates may lack depth and breadth in piano performance, and their understanding and mastery of works may not be deep enough. Therefore, among art exam students who choose piano crash course learning, it is necessary to focus on the training and accumulation of works while mastering basic knowledge and skills, as well as deeply understand the connotation of the works. Only in this way can we achieve excellent results in the art college entrance examination and continue to develop on the road of music in the future.

Perception of Indian Medical Students Towards University Exams and Proposed Licensure cum Post-Graduate Specialty (Residency) entrance examination (National Exit Test)

Perception of Indian Medical Students Towards University Exams and Proposed Licensure cum Post-Graduate Specialty (Residency) entrance examination (National Exit Test)

The Chinese Online Youth Subculture of the "Electronic Wooden Fish" A "Lying Flat" or A "Self-salvation ?"

Abstract: With the rapid development of the Internet, many products have undergone digitalization. The electronic wooden fish, for example, represents a virtual rendition of a religious instrument. In contemporary times, many Chinese youths encounter difficulties in coping with the intense competition prevalent in school entrance examinations and job markets. Also, their limited social recognition inhibits them from fully expressing their opinions in reality. Consequently, resorting to the electronic wooden fish serves as an outlet for these individuals. The youth tend to use the Internet as a means to alleviate stress, thereby giving rise to an online subculture among them. This article delves into the causes and effects of knocking on the virtual wooden fish. By collecting data from three social media platforms in China and conducting thorough analysis, it concludes by identifying three motivations behind knocking on the electronic wooden fish: seeking spiritual merits, relaxation purposes, and sharing experiences with others. These incentives can be explained through various aspects such as cultural symbolism within Chinas context, serving as a tool for decompression, and contributing to self-identity formation among users. Ultimately, this article argues that embracing the subculture surrounding Electronic wooden fish signifies Chinese youths pursuit of self-salvation, rather than lying flat.

STAGES OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE OF STATE ACCREDITATION IN THE FIELD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The article is devoted to the consideration of the features of the procedural activity carried out within the framework of state accreditation in the field of higher education. The purpose of the article is to identify problematic issues and develop proposals for improving the regulatory acts governing the relevant administrative procedure. The author’s definition of accreditation expertise is formulated as a special procedure for studying educational activities for a specific educational program, conducted by competent experts with special knowledge in the field of education, within the framework of which accreditation indicators and educational activities of the organisation are compared, which allows determining its quality. The need to exclude from the subject of accreditation expertise such indicators as the average score of the unified state examination of students accepted based on its results for training in higher education programmes, as well as the average score of entrance examinations, is substantiated, since these indicators cannot be attributed to the indicators of the quality of educational activities for a specific educational programme of higher school. The integration of the electronic educational environment of educational institutions with the Federal State Information System “the unified identification and authentication system” is proposed. The necessity of specifying individual deadlines within the stage of accreditation expertise is substantiated, which will help to ensure the right of an educational organisation to timely receive the result of the state service for accreditation of educational activities.

Comparison of the Selection Systems for Elite Art Talents in China and the UK: A Case Study on Art Entrance Examinations

Abstract: This paper compares the selection systems for elite art talents in China and the UK, using art entrance examinations as a case study. The study explores the differences, underlying reasons, problems, and reflections on the two countries selection systems, and proposes relatively detailed reform plans. The research concludes that while Chinas unified examination system is rigorous, it is overly rigid and fails to fully consider students professional interests, potentially leading to the loss of promising talents. On the other hand, the UKs selection criteria, though flexible, are highly subjective and tend to overlook the training of basic skills, potentially favoring innovation at the expense of technical ability. It is suggested that both countries should learn from each others strengths to further reform their systems. China could adopt the UKs A-Level system, gradually reform the unified examination into an elective system, and establish a national-level art recommendation letter system with endorsements from artists as core evaluators. Meanwhile, the UK could learn from Chinas nine-year compulsory education system by popularizing art education and emphasizing the cultivation of technical skills, with the reform of one technical skill subject into a compulsory examination subject.

Writing Strategies of Chinese Undergraduate English Major Students

English writing is very important for Chinese students since it is a crucial part of many tests, such as the College Entrance Examination for high school students in China, College English Tests (CET), and the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination. Some students frequently employ writing strategies such as memorizing sample phrases, sentences, or essay templates to cope with exams. Some studies confirmed that there is a certain relationship between students’ use of writing strategies and their writing performance. There are some high-performing students who usually can not only express certain content in a coherent structure but can also organize the sentences well with little to no grammatical mistakes when writing in English. The participants of this case study are undergraduate students who are high-performing writers and English majors. They completed two writing tasks, followed the think-aloud protocol, and joined the semi-structured interview. Results determined the strategies of the participants, such as meta-cognitive, cognitive, rhetorical, and affective/social strategies. Findings have important implications for teaching and learning writing.

Traveling with a desirable destination: a dialogical analysis of professional identity formation among freshman medical students.

We aimed to examine medical students' perceptions regarding their professional identity and explore their creative narratives utilizing the Dialogical-Self Theory (DST). This is a mixed-method study. First-year medical students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS, Tehran, Iran wrote a creative narrative about their perspectives on their future profession. Based on DST, qualitative-directed content analysis and summative approach were used to identify and quantify different "I-positions" to assess professional identity formation. One hundred eighty-eight first-year medical students at TUMS participated in the study in 2021-2022. In the creative narratives, the reference to "I" was more than other pronouns (he/she/they). The use of "I" positively correlated with rank in the university entrance exam (P value = 0.03). The highest application of "I" per participant belonged to the "present I-position," and the lowest to the "promoter," which has the highest rank in the formation of professional identity. Women tended to use the "present I-position" more than men (P value = 0.03). First-year medical students have accepted their self-role in forming professional identity; however, they have not found a vast perspective of it, as shown by their inability to use meta I-position and promoter I-position. Therefore, educators must provide plans within the curriculum to enhance competencies of professional identity formation. These plans can include incorporating narration writing to encourage medical students to reflect on their professional identity.

Balancing excellence and equity in predictive college admissions: insights from the University of the Philippines

ABSTRACT The University of the Philippines (UP) uses high school grades and standardized test scores for predictive admissions, balancing academic performance with affirmative action for underprivileged applicants. Using a novel UP panel dataset, I find that high school grades better predict academic performance, while entrance exam scores reflect background characteristics. Simulations suggest that reducing the weight of standardized exams boosts the qualification rates for public and private school students, but lowers it for science high schools and Metro Manila students. The findings indicate that relying more on grades could enhance both excellence and equity in college admissions.

Current Status and Challenges of Korean Medical School Admissions Policies

Medical school admission policies vary from country to country. In Korea, medical school admission policies reflect the policy choices made by the Ministry of Education. After the Korean War, universities implemented their own entrance exams, and since then, various admissions processes have been implemented with consideration of the fairness of the exam and the increase in private education expenses. The introduction of the medical graduate school system has led many universities to implement tests separate from the academic ability test. Currently, 40 medical schools have been approved by the government and are responsible for providing medical education, but there is a growing movement to open new medical schools in various regions. The excessive interest in medical school admissions in Korea is creating an unfavorable social atmosphere, where academies are even being operated for elementary school students to help them achieve an eventual goal of entering medical school. Furthermore, an irresponsible and sudden increase in the number of students admitted to medical school is causing a disruption in medical education. Medical schools need unconditional government support to strengthen their role in the community and the nation, and policy consideration is needed to ensure that universities are as autonomous as possible.

The Impact of Double Reduction Policy on College Entrance Examination Performance: Empirical Evidence

In China, the College Entrance Examination weights great in both students' and parents' hearts, which is even recognized as the rare chance to change a people's fate. At this circumstances, heavy homework, countless tests, little break time, burning night oils and even extracurricular tutoring on the weekends have become the daily routine for Chinese high school students, which have hurt their health conditions and added great burden on their mental health. To curb this long-standing issue caused by this phenomenon, a new educational policy called Double Reduction was released by the Chinese government on 2021 and nine Chinese cities are selected as the national policy pilot areas to test the effect in advance. This paper aims to verify the impact of the Double Reduction Policy in some provinces in which lie the selected policy pilot areas. Through continuous difference-indifference method, this study found no significant correlation between the Double Reduction and the College Entrance Examination performance in these areas. Policy makers should make proper actions to implement this new policy, in order to lighten the physical and mental burden of students and the financial burden of parents while take students learning effectiveness into consideration meanwhile.

Playing the game of selectivity: The normalisation of merit and invisibilisation of advantage in students’ admission into competitive schools

Students’ beliefs in schooling to achieve opportunity have been well documented in the school choice literature. How students make sense of successful entry into competitive and high-demand schools via high-stakes entrance exams is less researched. High-demand schools, including both public and private schools, can utilise entrance exams to enrol their students. This paper aims to contribute empirical and conceptual insights into school selectivity by tracing the experiences of students as they navigate exams into selective and high-fee private schools, to broaden understandings of how competitive school admissions processes can impact students. Interviews reveal that many students are motivated to achieve occupational opportunities through admission into competitive schools. Influenced by their families, all participants undergo private tutoring and exam coaching to prepare for entrance exams, from a few months to 8 years. Long-term tutoring, repetitive test-taking and applying for multiple high-demand schools both simultaneously and consecutively constitute ‘playing the game of selectivity’, an experience from which students develop conceptions of merit that normalises these processes. Such conceptions of merit include individualistic strategies that render invisible their own sense of economic advantage relative to others.

The Influence of the Imperial Examination System on the Phenomenon of Internal Competition in the College Entrance Examination in China, Japan, and South Korea

The imperial examination system, as an important means of selecting officials in ancient China, has undergone thousands of years of evolution. It has not only profoundly influenced China’s history and culture, but also had an undeniable impact on the modern college entrance examination system and the phenomenon of educational competition in China, Japan, and South Korea. The issue of internal competition in the college entrance examination has attracted widespread attention in today’s society. It not only concerns individuals’ educational pressure and quality of life but also poses challenges to the country’s education equity and talent cultivation model. In the context of globalization, the traces of the imperial examination system still affect the college entrance examination systems of these countries to some extent and have received widespread attention. This article analyzes the impact of the imperial examination system on the internal competition in the college entrance examination in China, Japan, and South Korea, and focuses on the universal influence of the imperial examination system on education internal competition worldwide. Based on this, this article proposes the following suggestions: relevant education departments need to consider the integration and innovation of different education models in the context of globalization, to achieve sustainable development of education.

The Impact and Guarantee of Policy Changes to Migrant Children on Educational Equity in Guangzhou

In 2018, Guangzhou announced that it would adjust the policy on the advancement of the high school entrance examination in other places in 2021 and relax the restrictions on the advancement of children who have migrated with their parents to Guangzhou. It is of great significance to the migrant children who are educated in Guangzhou and take the Guangzhou high school entrance examination. However, there is a lack of adequate investigation into the impact of this change on the migrant children as individuals. This study will conduct interviews with a certain number of samples based on the method of qualitative research, taking Guangzhou as the scale, to explore the subjective feelings of the migrant children about the policy changes, and analyze the impact of the policy relaxation on the academic performance of the migrant children based on their personal family background and school experience. The results show that the relaxation of the policy has a positive and encouraging effect on the academic performance which is not only beneficial to the migrant children, but also ensures a certain degree of educational equity, and also has certain reference significance for the adjustment of education policy.

Entrepreneurial Reluctance: Talent and Firm Creation in China

Abstract This paper examines the correlation between cognitive ability and firm creation. Drawing on administrative college admissions data and firm registration records in China, we investigate who had created firms by their mid-30s. We find a clear pattern of entrepreneurial reluctance: Given the same backgrounds, individuals with higher college entrance exam scores are less likely to create firms. Through an exploration of firm performance, alternative career trajectories, and variations across regions, we propose an explanation: The ability represented by exam scores is useful across occupations, yet higher-scoring individuals are attracted to waged jobs, particularly those of the state sector.

Digital vs. conventional instructor-led midwifery training in Benue State, Nigeria: a randomized non-inferiority trial

BackgroundMany health education institutions in African countries such as Nigeria face increasing enrolment of students but lack an adequate number of instructors to train them. If digital learning can be demonstrated effective in augmenting knowledge and skills, this approach could help fill this gap and improve education efficiency. A needs assessment in two Nigerian midwifery schools confirmed that digital learning would be feasible and welcomed. In this study, the Midwifery Active Digitization Empowerment Initiative (MADE-I) program was tested to determine if digital delivery of the Fundamental Interventions, Referral and Safe Transfer (FIRST) course is at least equally effective for training midwifery students compared to conventional small-group delivery.MethodsA non-inferiority randomized controlled trial design was used, enrolling 130 s-year students from 2 midwifery schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Students were randomly assigned into six cohorts. Each cohort received half of the course on a Learning Management Platform on their mobile phones, the other half through standard small-group teaching. Students’ knowledge, thinking, and technical skills were assessed using a pre-test, post-test, Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE), and daily modular quizzes. The data was analyzed using the difference-in-difference method.ResultsThe study revealed that post-intervention student knowledge and thinking skills did not significantly differ between digital learning (75.26%) and small-group learning arms of the trial (75.02%, p = 0.404). Student knowledge improved significantly compared to the pre-test in both groups (by 25.03 points in the digital arm, 26.39, in small-group). Some differences were observed between digital and small-group learning in disaggregated analysis by specific module and midwifery school. Although there was a trend toward small-group learning of technical skills being more effective than digital learning, no significant differences between groups were observed in the post-intervention OSCE. Students in both groups learned equally well regardless of age, gender, and midwifery school entrance exam score.ConclusionDigital learning is as effective as small-group learning, for midwifery trainees, in augmenting knowledge, thinking, and technical skills addressed in the FIRST course, and have lighter human resource requirements, an important consideration especially in LMIC. However, similar assessments would be needed to assess effectiveness for other digitally delivered clinical education programs.

Admission Prediction for Freshmen Students Using Low-cost Data Analytics Tool

This research paper tackles the admission prediction of enrollment for the tertiary level using the Naïve Bayes classification technique. Using data mining, the Naïve Bayes algorithm is simulated using Data Analytics Tool (DAT) and Weka data mining to provide the classifier model in evaluating if the given college freshmen applicant will continue or discontinue to be admitted to college. In line with the method, the researcher used gender, senior high school average grade, senior high school type, senior high school strand, and college entrance exam result. The training data set used for this machine learning model comprises 750 records from the different freshmen applications. As a result of the classifier model testing in Weka, the correct instances captured from the original 750 records is 86.27%, which is significantly higher and makes the classifier model reliable. In addition, a confusion matrix is performed and computed with an accuracy of 86.27%, precision of 83.13%, recall of 95.34%, and F1 score of 88.82%. Thus, the model test result is favorable to the reliability of the classifier model using Naïve Bayes technique.

Marketization of Shadow Education in Switzerland: How “Edupreneurs” Promote Preparation Programmes for a Selective School Transition

Private supplementary tutoring (PST) is a flourishing market for edupreneurs whose services relate closely to mainstream education. While international research elaborates on geographical variations in PST and edupreneurs’ marketing strategies, the PST market in Switzerland has been largely understudied. This paper contributes to fill this research gap by presenting a thematic analysis of the websites of edupreneurs offering preparation programmes for the highly selective central entrance examination (CEE) to the academically focused public school track of Gymnasium in Zurich. Conceptually, we draw on “problematization” and “commodificiation” as key terms elaborated by “geographies of marketization”. With this performative conceptualisation of the education market, we examine the marketing strategies of the edupreneurs offering CEE preparation courses. We offer two contributions to the existing research. First, the analysis elaborates that private CEE preparation courses are advertised as a market solution that compensates for an omission caused by public education. Second, we show how edupreneurs use rational and emotional arguments to convince families of the need of booking CEE preparation courses for their children. In the discussion, we engage with the findings of our local case study and argue that selective educational transitions have much wider relevance for policy and society elsewhere.

Strategies for Improving the Quality of English Teaching for Postgraduate Entrance Exams in Private Colleges Based on Outcome-Based Education (OBE)

With the deepening of educational reform in China, the teaching of English for postgraduate entrance exams in private colleges faces challenges such as unclear teaching objectives, outdated curriculum content, monotonous teaching methods, and inadequate assessment systems. As an emerging educational model, Outcome-Based Education (OBE) offers effective solutions to these problems through clear learning outcomes, innovative teaching strategies, and a comprehensive assessment system. This paper analyzes the current situation and challenges of English teaching for postgraduate entrance exams in private colleges based on the OBE concept and proposes specific strategies for improving teaching quality. The research shows that restructuring teaching objectives, optimizing teaching content and resources, innovating teaching methods, and establishing a scientific assessment system can significantly enhance teaching quality and students' competitiveness in postgraduate entrance exams. This paper aims to provide theoretical support and practical guidelines for the reform and practice of English teaching for postgraduate entrance exams in private colleges.

Chinese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners’ directed motivational currents for high‐stakes English exam preparation

AbstractA directed motivational current (DMC) is an intense motivational drive that sustains long‐term behavior toward a valued goal. The quantitative study investigated the DMCs of English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners and their predictive role on learning performance in a high‐stakes English exam preparation context. The DMC dimension scale was distributed to Chinese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners who experienced the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination, and data from 323 participants were retained for analysis. Independent T‐tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and regression analyses were performed to report findings on DMC levels, and influencing factors and impacts of DMCs. Results suggest a high DMC level during exam preparation, with female learners showing more goal‐oriented salient facilitative structure, and clear perception of progress than males, while high‐proficiency learners demonstrated greater participant ownership and “perceived behavioral control” than medium‐ and low‐proficiency learners. No differences were found between learners majoring in humanities/social sciences and those studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. The five DMC dimensions collectively predicted English performance. Following self‐determination theory, the predictive role is explained. Theoretically, DMC components and their impacts on academic outcomes were reconfirmed in the Chinese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language context; practically, educators and students are advised to use the DMC framework to enhance English performance in high‐stakes exam preparation.