‘See you next year’: China’s ‘King of gaokao’ fails to get marks for dream university after sitting the entrance exam for 26th time
- He is known as the ‘King of gaokao’ for repeated sittings of the tough university entrance exam that is a huge determiner of people’s futures in mainland China
- This week 55-year-old Liang Shi learned his 26th attempt to get the marks needed to study at Sichuan University had failed
With a total 428 points out of 750, it was not high enough to gain admission to Sichuan University, one of the most prestigious of China’s first-tier universities, which requires a minimum of 605 points.
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Relief for Chinese students at end of high-stakes ‘gaokao’ college entrance exams
After the results were announced, Liang, who this year had switched from the science exam to art and human sciences instead, said he was disappointed that the scores for all his subjects fell below his target.
“I was expecting at least 200 points on my art and human sciences comprehension exam,” Liang told the South China Morning Post, “but it was only 171.”
According to China’s Ministry of Education, there were 12 million students registered to sit this year’s gaokao, the fourth year that more than 10 million students have sat the exam.
Liang, who owns a building materials company in Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital, has been sitting the gaokao irregularly since 1983.
