philosophy of the round and-

No.

(mellow percussion music)

The gaokao is China's intense

two-day college entrance exam.

Students' marks on the exam are said to determine

their entire future life opportunities

and earning potential in China.

With the belief that those who Excel on the test

will have the best careers and even marriage prospects.

College entrance is especially competitive in China,

where the top universities only select

as few as 1 in 50,000 students.

- Wow!

That's pretty low.

That's like 0.002%?

The test is so important

that factories and buildings

will shut down while the exam is underway

as police cars patrol to keep streets quiet.

Ambulances are placed outside exam facilities

in case of nervous collapses.

The multiple choice questions are notoriously hard

with questions such as...

Last October,

President Xi Jinping said that

while art is based on imagination,

- It should still be down-to-earth.

There may be hundreds of ways to create art,

the best way, however,

is to trace back to the people's daily lives

and create something based off that.

- From a materialism point of view, this is because

One, art originates from the daily lives of people.

Two, art depends on innovation.

Three, the way art reflects on society

and its style is unified.

Four, art is a form of ideology that reflects people's lives

while at the same time serving the people.

- God, this is confusing.

- I don't-

I have no idea.

- It's like kind of a logic question,

but it's also a grammar question

and it's also related to current events and politics?

- Just reading this gives me anxiety

so I can understand why people have ambulances outside.

- I don't know.

I'm gonna say A.

- I'm gonna go B,

one and four.

- D.

- [Man] You're correct!

(bell ding)

- Heck yeah!

- But literally, it's saying the same thing.

The gaokao has been seen as symbolic

of the Chinese education system as a whole,

and both the exam and the system itself

have been criticized for putting

impossible pressures on teens.

Outbreaks of suicides accompany every exam season.

- Wow.

- If your whole life depends on this exam,

that's so much pressure for one person to handle,

especially if you're still growing as an adult.

- I mean if this one test determines

what happens in your life,

that is really intense.

The exam also includes a number of essays

with prompts than can be notoriously obtuse,

such as...

- Do butterfly wings have colors?

- Hold up.

- Why is this an essay question?

Who do you admire the most?

A biotechnology researcher,

- A welding engineer technician,

- Or a photographer.?

What the heck?

That's just a personality question.

- I'm so stressed.

Cheating has been a rampant problem,

including the use of spy cameras

and radio devices to transmit questions and answers.

Those who are caught cheating

may spend up to seven years in prison.

To try to prevent students from pursuing their

increasingly creative methods of cheating,

drones have been used as hall monitors.

- Whoa!

- Drones!

- People are cheating so much

that they have drones in charge?

- This reminds me of Minority Report,

like robots are surveillance.

- The containers for milk are always square boxes.

Containers for mineral water are always round bottles.

- Round wine bottles are usually placed in square boxes.

- Write a composition on the subtle philosophy

of the round and square.

Oh my God,

what?

These are so broad!

What do you even say here?

- I think just humanity has gotten

way too obsessed with tests.

There are other ways to evaluate people.

- Compared to what we have here in America,

we're pretty, pretty lucky.

- It just seems like if

you're putting so much pressure on a young kid,

about a standardized test,

something's not right.

- I hope they relax their systems at some point because

I can't imagine even going through that.

- [Male Interviewee] I'm just thinking more about

what is the sole philosophy of the round and square?

(lighthearted music)