Four new points in university and college admissions in 2008.

To promptly provide necessary information to candidates before the university and college entrance exams, on March 17th, the Ministry of Education and Training officially released the booklet widely.Things to know about university and college admissions in 2008.

Notably, 95 institutions (38 universities and 57 colleges) did not hold entrance exams, with nearly 100,000 admission slots based on results from entrance exams at other universities and colleges or by registering to take the common exam set by the Ministry of Education and Training. This year's university and college entrance exams have four new features.

Firstly, candidates taking the D-block exam will be allowed to take two additional foreign language exams: German and Japanese, both in multiple-choice format.

Secondly, this year, the Ministry of Education and Training will issue exam questions for colleges that organize both multiple-choice and essay exams (except for aptitude tests), instead of only issuing multiple-choice questions for four subjects as in last year's exam.

Thirdly, the results of the college entrance exam based on the common exam paper are used for admission to other colleges with the same subject group.

Fourth, the exam structure consists of two parts: a common section for all candidates and a separate section based on the pilot and non-specialized high school curriculum. Candidates who attempt both separate sections will be considered disqualified, and only the common section will be graded.

Furthermore, the regulations on university and college admissions recently issued by the Ministry of Education and Training do not stipulate that candidates who mark answers incorrectly will have points deducted. The regulations also stipulate that examiners should not automatically round up exam scores.

The rounding of scores is done automatically by the computer according to the following principle: If the total score of the three subjects has a decimal point less than 0.5, it is rounded to 0.5; if the total score of the three subjects has a decimal point of 0.75, it is rounded to one point (unlike before, when the regulations stipulated rounding of scores for each individual subject).

The Ministry of Education and Training announced that candidates in the 2008 International Olympic team who have graduated from high school will be admitted directly to university. Those who have not yet graduated from high school will have their admission deferred until after graduation. For candidates who have won awards in sports, arts, or other fields, the time period for receiving priority consideration is no more than four years, counting from the date of winning the award to the date of the entrance examination...

For students who won prizes in the 2008 National High School Student Excellence Examination for 12th graders, after taking the regular university and college entrance exams using the Ministry's common exam papers, and achieving a score at or above the minimum passing mark with no subject receiving a score of 0, they will be given priority consideration by universities and colleges. Applicants for direct admission must submit their applications to the provincial Departments of Education and Training before June 18th, and universities and colleges will announce the direct admission results before June 30th.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, although the regulations for the 2008 high school graduation exam remain largely stable compared to previous years, there are some new points in the regulations. The fundamental new point in the regulations issued on March 6th is their high level of uniformity, applying to both the high school graduation exam and the supplementary high school exam. This lays the groundwork for the future implementation of a single national high school exam.

Another new point is that the regulations stipulate the responsibility of universities, academies, colleges, and vocational schools in mobilizing staff and lecturers to participate in all stages of the high school graduation exam. This team will perform two basic tasks: participating in authorized inspection teams and directly supervising in the examination rooms. During the exam, each examination room will have at least one invigilator who is a staff or lecturer from a university, college, or vocational school. This is essentially a rehearsal by the education sector and examination boards in preparation for the policy of having only one national high school graduation exam. This year, the number of inspectors mobilized has increased compared to last year. Each examination center has at least two inspectors, each inspector supervising seven examination rooms. The review and re-marking stages will also have a reasonable number of specialized inspectors.

This year, the first year the entire education sector is applying a unified graduation exam regulation, high school supplementary education students will still take separate exams (due to studying the continuing education program) and will not be taking a foreign language exam. The four multiple-choice exams will consist of many questions spread across the curriculum, without a focus on any particular subject. Students need to study the entire content of each subject and avoid relying on rote memorization or guessing the answers.

The Ministry of Education and Training also clarified the authority and responsibilities of each stage of the examination process in order to have appropriate disciplinary sanctions.

(According to People)