The results of this year’s High School Entrance Exam, also dubbed the zhongkao, were released on Monday.

According to staff from the city’s exam office, the average scores for the history and science sections were higher than that of last year, while exam-takers scored on average lower on Chinese, English and math.

Two students with the first and second highest scores, Zhou Enshen and Xu Fei, shared their study methods after hearing about their results. Both of the students come from Bao’an Middle School.

Preparation before attending classes is Zhou’s main advice. The student scored a 454 on the Zhongkao, which means he was only six points off a perfect score.

“I was a little surprised when I saw the result, especially for English as I didn’t expect that I would get full marks for the subject,” said Zhou. “I would always prepare before each class started because it was a more efficient way of learning for me.”

“After each exam, I would follow my routine to record the mistakes that I had made on a notebook and tried to summarize how to solve the problems myself so as to find the correct way to solve each question,” said Zhou.

Zhou’s study methods echoed with Xu who scored a 450 on the zhongkao. The girl said she had already finished her chemistry and physics classes during the summer before the last year of her junior middle school.

Xu also said that she would spend two to three hours each day preparing for lessons for the next day. “Now I am preparing for my high school courses, which I find helpful for me when I’m in class learning about new topics,” said Xu.

When talking about their parents’ influence on them, Xu attributed her good learning habits to her parents’ cultivation. “My parents were quite strict when I was in primary school and they helped me to always get ahead of everything when it came to study,” said Xu.

As for Zhou, he thinks that self-motivation plays a vital role. “I think high school requires students to be more self-motivated because no one will manage your studies anymore,” he said. He is also going to start studying for his high school courses during the summer holiday.

Though learning is the most important thing for Zhou, he enjoys playing computer games and reading novels. “I firmly believe that playing games now and then can be good for studying,” said Zhou.

(Zhang Qian)