Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    Though the gaokao already ended weeks ago, some students were busy taking independent exams held by their dream universities.

    Over a thousand students took the admissions exam at The Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen last week in Longgang District.

    The university announced that 1,041 students in total from Guangdong Province had passed the initial qualification review and were allowed to take the exam on June 14 and 15. The number of students to be enrolled at this university is 151 this year with 109 places for science and technology faculties and 42 for arts majors.

    The exam had two sections: a written test and face-to-face interviews. Candidates were required to write both Chinese and English essays over two hours. This year’s Chinese writing questions asked students to choose whether they would like to write the biography of a successful person or write the biography of a loser.

    The other question to be answered in Chinese was: “Should the government give money to people who invent things?”

    According to the admissions office, the questions mainly assessed students’ comprehension and writing skills. For the English writing part, candidates were required to write an article based on a cartoon depicting different types of animals asked to climb a tree.

    The face-to-face interviews had questions in both Chinese and English. Candidates were asked about social issues.

    To relax the students, the university had foreign teachers talk with the candidates before the interviews.