Not all topics can wield the same power on social media as China's college entrance examination, known as gaokao.

A student studies at a middle school in Handan, Hebei province, May 12, 2014. China's annual national college entrance exam, also known as gaokao, will be held in early June.[Photo by Hao Qunying/Asianews]

Every year millions of students take the SAT-style test. Unlike their American peers who still have six chances to make up for a bungled first attempt, Chinese students don't get a re-sit easily – once they flop they have to wait a year to make another attempt. Held in early June, it is the most talked about exam in China.

Now the exam has become one of the hottest hashtags on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service, after Vice Premier Liu Yandong announced some policy changes during a panel discussion with delegates from Hubei province on Sunday.

China will scrap 75 percent of preferential policies that allow bonus points to be added to the total score in the exam, said Liu. She also said favored policies for students with certain special backgrounds, for example, ethnic minorities and families of martyrs would remain.

The bonus points system has been gradually abolished in recent years. From 2015 students were not given extra points for athletic or artistic merits.

Controversy has long clouded preferential policies, which, despite good intentions, are believed to be open for abuse and lead to behind-the-scenes manipulation and corruption.

The announcement came as Chinese legislators and political advisors meet in Beijing for an annual session of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference respectively, known as the "two sessions." Education has long been a popular topic during the roughly two week-long sessions.

The hashtag had reached 259,000 readers as of 3 pm on Monday and caused discussions over whether the remaining policies tilted to certain groups are fair.

For an exam as competitive as gaokao, trivial gaps in scores can make a big difference. Some people argue that the extra points given to students of ethnic minority hurt their majority Han competitors. China has always advocated equality among different ethnic groups, as they tweet, but differentiated exam policies are showing the exact opposite.

Those in favor of the policy, however, believe that minor ethnic groups should be taken care of as many live in isolated and poverty-stricken areas where education is an option they turn to only after they have their ends meet.

Arguments over bonus points are merely the tip of the iceberg among discussions for the most important exam in Chinese people's lives. The exam can easily touch a nerve as it's not only a ticket to higher education. It's not only about the student who takes it, but also about a family. For those of humble backgrounds, it bears the hope of moving up in the social strata. It's more than an exam.

It's said that some people, if not all, have been prepared for the life-changing exam since birth. For 18 years until they graduate from high school, they live for gaokao.

This may be a little overstated, but gaokao does affect Chinese people's life in a way no other exam can. Most people relate to it in their own way. Some may still keep fresh memories of burying their head in piles of books in pre-exam cramming, while parents watch every policy change closely for their test-taking children.

Therefore when a gaokao-related topic is raised on Weibo, everyone seemingly has something to say, especially when they notice any dysfunction of the exam as an apparatus for social mobility.

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