China holds an annual admission exam for undergraduates each year, called the Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges. Referred to locally as Gaokao, it goes on for a couple of days, and supposedly defines the future of millions of young students because of how it grants them access to good universities or condemns them to weaker ones. For years now, much has been written about the anxiety caused by this examination, and why it may be the most stressful in the world. Nothing about it appears to have changed though.

I thought about the Gaokao a few weeks ago, as reports about the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test fiasco began to emerge. There were all kinds of allegations flying around, involving errors in the question paper, compensatory marks dispensed by examiners and outright fraud in some instances. Not enough attention was paid to how the careers of millions of aspirants were jeopardised overnight, but that is to be expected in a country where examinations and fraud are linked so often that eyebrows aren’t raised any longer.