Have you ever imagined of preparing a big test for your whole life? I have experienced.

I still remembered the days when we were fighting for the huge College Entrance Exam. Applying for colleges was not that complicated in China. All the high school graduates who wants to attend colleges or universities need to take the Entrance Exam, and for that specific graduating class the year, there is only one chance to take the standardized test for all students in the nation in the same two days. If people failed or do not satisfied with their results, they have to stay down and wait for another Entrance Exam next year. Furthermore, except art students or pre-professional athletic students, all colleges merely considered high school graduates’ Entrance Exam scores as their certificate to enter. In other words, the score of the Entrance Exam is the only thing can prove your academic success to universities. It is really the test of life.

Under such great weight of the Entrance Exam, all 3 years of high school seem to become the total compulsion of being successful in the Entrance Exams. All students are also pumped for the great Entrance Exam, because it will be a time to decide their college choices. And in many cases, we were persuaded by schools and parents that deciding colleges is another form of deciding our lives.

However, because of standardized testing, opportunities are limited but the candidates are numerous all over the nation. Even one point of the score could be extremely important to decide where students will end up in. Some made a very lively metaphor to describe the Entrance Exam. It is like millions of students want to go across the single-plank bridge at the same time. They desire and they compete; some go further, and some fall off.

Not until I transferred from southern Asia to another continent America, I really discover the huge difference between educational systems and educational values. I realized that, there is many ways to go in life after high school and applying to colleges cannot decide people’s lives.

After all those days and nights of preparing for the exam, it is hard for me to judge the system. But when I think back, when I looked at my classmates who followed this track towards colleges, I clearly feel the things that we gave away and the things we gain.

We had a small classroom, or I should say, every class in our school had a small classroom. It was about 12 meters times 15 meters, but fairly small for a class of 60 students. Every student had a wooden desk, with a drawer under to store books and papers. But usually, students have to place several stacks of practice books and textbooks on the desk in order to settle all the things. Frequently, teachers would assign two students to form a table, and the other student would become deskmate with you for a while. The black board was placed in front of the room, with a projector screen hanging above. The place where teachers stand and teach was a little stage about one step above the classroom floor. A podium was placed in the middle of the stage.

The conditions might be poor and simple, just like our school life. Every day, after a morning exercise at about 7am, we go back and forth between teaching building and dorms and dining hall. Study and relax change our life into simple additions. However, being simple is one kind of happiness. When one can focus on a simple goal, such as succeed in one exam, the little progress along the way would be enough to make his whole day. When you are simple, happiness will just simply find you, in the moment of solving a new problem in math, moment of reading a beautiful prose which could improve you literature content, moment of getting a better score in the unit quiz. Mere focus on studies also promote steady friendships.

Our relationship among classmates were close, as you know you are not just studying in one class but striving for the same destination. So, when you fail, when you succeed, people around you will fully understand and give you support. Sometimes when the whole classroom was quiet and the only sound you could hear was the sound of pencils writing on papers, you heart feels peace and dedication. Sometime when the class shout out the pride and glory from school track meets or competitions, you realize the strength of teamwork and unity.

In general, life would never be easy for ones who want to achieve. To reach the goal, we have to give first. In those years, I just gave my passion and time to the goal of success in Entrance Exam. However, after I jumped out of that track, things that matters in life are more clear than ever. Of course, there are a lot of things to blame in the education system. But after all, they all turned out to be the subtle things I cherished.