By Wen Ya

While the Chinese high school graduates anxiously await their scores on the national college entrance exams (gaokao) that ended June 8, Cui Luyi is able to keep calm because she has already received five acceptance letters from US universities, based on the high marks she had received on one of the two US gaokao, known as ACT (American College Test.)

The ACT is not as significant as the all-important SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), where scores determine which colleges you are qualified to enter, but US educators assume that a good grade on the ACT signifies that a student will do equally as well on the SAT.

Among the five admissions, Cui chose to study hotel management at Johnson & Wales University, which is ranked second among the schools that concentrate on the so-called hospitality industry.

Cui, 19, graduated last year from Yali High School in Changsha, Hunan Province. She sat for China's gaokao before graduation last year, but didn't feel her score high enough, even though it qualified her for the admission to second-class universities.

She didn't want to put extra pressure on herself and take the gaokao over again this year. Besides, her parents encouraged her to study overseas. "Our child prepared for the gaokao since she was in the 10th grade. She was anxious and busy with that. So were my wife and I," said Cui Sicun, Luyi's father.

"Studying in a foreign country would be better for her independence. There're also more chances for her. At least, she would not be as tired as she was prepar-ing for the exams in China, " he said.

That was certainly true for the girl. There are seven opportunities each year for a student to take a US college entrance exams, but in China, only one chance.

In China, if a student's gaokao score isn't high enough, his choice of universities is limited and he may not be admitted anywhere. While in the US, a low-test score still leaves many chances to apply at lower-rated schools, she said. "More choices means less pressure."

Between February and April, Cui sat twice for the ACT at a test center in Changsha. Taking two kinds of gaokao gave her a totally different perspective on US and Chinese education.

China's gaokao stresses the accumulation of knowledge while ACT highlights abilities such as summarizing, analyzing, and logic, according to Cui.

Her understanding is partly right, said Zheng Ruoling, an education expert with Xiamen University in Fujian Province.

"The Chinese gaokao focuses mainly on one's score on the written test. But the American one will consider one's qualifications in a comprehensive environment in which the student may perform well in other fields," Zheng said.

"For me, the key to doing well on the ACT was English ability," Cui said.

"The Chinese gaokao gives me perseverance," she said. "Which was helpful for me to overcome all the difficulties in preparing for the ACT."