How Gaokao Overhaul Sparks a Core Science Revival

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Recent gaokao reform mandates physics and chemistry for most science majors, leading to more students choosing these subjects, but risks reviving old divides between the sciences and humanities. Sun Junshang’s performance in China’s national college entrance examination, or gaokao , last year suggested that he was highly qualified for his major in geoengineering. However, his experience as a freshman tells a different story. Sun struggled with a shaky grasp of chemistry, a foundational subject, during his first year in college. This wasn’t a big surprise, however, as he had not chosen chemistry as an elective subject for the gaokao the previous year. “I need to put in extra effort to grasp some basic concepts of chemistry, such as experiment methodologies,” he told Sixth Tone. Sun’s experience was common among university students a few years after China implemented the gaokao reform in 2014, which allowed high school students to decide in their first year which three e ………………………………