MCLC: some universities drop English exam req (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Sun Saiyin <sunsaiyin at mail.tsinghua.edu.cn>
Subject: some universities drop English exam req
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The universities' so-called "independent recruitment exam" （自主招生）is to
give some qualified students a head-start in their Gaokao in June. In the
case of Tsinghua, only a fraction of students can quality for the exam,
depending mostly on their overall ranking of academic exam results from
high school. On the average, only one or two very top student from some
key schools in the country will be given the opportunity to sit for the
exam. They can't do too badly in English at school if they want to be top
students of their year to qualify. The preliminary round of the exam takes
place locally (normally in the provincial capital) and may not include
English (and this is probably what the Xinhua news is talking about).
Those who succeed in this round will be invited to Tsinghua to have an
interview, many of which are carried out in English. The lucky ones who
have passed the test of both rounds will be given a 20--60 points
advantage in their future Gaokao in which they still need to achieve
pretty high scores. In the Gaokao exams, however, every student, be they
science or arts, those who have passed the "independent exam" or not, all
have to take the English subject test, which carries the same weight as
Chinese and Maths. It's just that those who have succeeded in the
"independent recruitment exam" will be given some advantage (of up to 60
points) when they are considered for admission into Tsinghua.

The prospective students' English ability has always been emphasized by
Tsinghua, if not more so in recent years. Not that I necessarily think it
a bad idea for universities to drop English exam requirement. I just find
this news item extremely misleading and irresponsible. I do hope this is
not representative of the reporting standard of NYT.

Saiyin