AL vs Gaokao -- the Difference between British and Chinese High School Curriculum

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This is the end of my senior one(Grade 10). This year I studied in a famous normal senior high school, in which many of the students are preparing for Gaokao – the entrance examination of the university in China. Besides, I also prepared a lot for the A Level test. Though I cannot find a proper teacher in my city, I tried to study by myself. Here I got some ideas about the difference between British and Chinese Education System.

To begin with, I would like to compare the textbooks or sessions in the two countries.

①Length of study: three years for Gaokao and two years for A level.

②Subjects: Gaokao includes Chinese, mathematics, English, physics or history, and two subjects of biology, politics, geography, and chemistry, while A-level learners choose 3-4 subjects from more than 70 subjects.

③Sessions: Gaokao students study all 9 subjects in the first year of high school, and choose the subjects of the high school entrance examination in the second year. A level learners study the AS course in the first year of high school, and the A2 course in the second year of high school.

④Allocation of knowledge in different levels: Gaokao textbooks are divided by topics of the knowledge, while A level textbooks always have all the knowledge in them, but the difficulty increases with the order of the textbooks.

Secondly, their ways of testing have some part in common, while there are also some different parts. As for natural science subjects, AL focus more in the interpretation of daily phenomena, while Gaokao mainly pay attention to the analysis and calculation of ideal models. Regarding social science subjects, both of them contain multiple choice questions about the key points in the textbook. However, social science subjects in Gaokao only have got simple answer questions or short essays, whilst the ones in AL have a lot of long essay-writing questions.

Last but not least, I concluded various ways of exercising according to the two system. For natural science subjects, AL learners should pay more attention to applying the knowledge from their textbooks in daily life; and of course they should also understand the sample questions in the book too. Gaokao learners need to do a lot of exercises to make sure they would not make any mistakes while analysising and calculating, and it’s better for them to summarize the types of different questions. As for the social science subjects, regardless of in which education system, students are required to accumulate a lot of reading. AL lerners are also required to improve their critical thinking skills.

PS:

I’ve got a satisfactory score in the final exam- thanks to the special learning method which I learnt from Feynman! I would like to share the method here since it’s always so helpful.

  • Step 1: Determine learning goals and learn by myself.
  • Step 2: Teaching. My friend Amy and I taught each other the subjects we were good at, trying to make each other understood.
  • Step 3: Review. Reflect on the problems encountered in step 2, such as where it got stuck and where the other party did not really understand. Record these issues.
  • Step 4: Simplify. I will reorganize and understand the problems encountered, learn as much background and relevant knowledge as possible, and then re-express it in a simplified way as much as possible, trying to grasp the key points and see through the essence. Then, return to step 2.

I am so addicted to this way of learning and reviewing that sometimes I even try it by teaching no one but me myself!

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