For many teen-agers around the world, the summer after senior year is a much-anticipated interval between the giddy final year of high school and the coming independence of college. Not in China, though. For high school seniors here, the dreaded summer after senior year means one thing, and one thing only - "Black July."

This is the month when students take the university entrance exams, and like the long-ago candidates for the imperial examinations, the exams will determine their fate - and their future.

Beginning in 2003, the examination that has been dreaded by students since its post-cultural revolution revival in 1979 will be moved to June, to take advantage of the cooler weather. But students say that even more comfortable conditions and rising university acceptance rates won't calm their jitters as they hunker down to prepare for what they call the "battle for life."

The 93,900 students who will take the three-day examinations in Shanghai on Sunday have prepared with all the strategy and rigor of a military campaign.

In the months leading up to the exams, students have been bombarded with practice exercises, practice tests, and in some cases, private tutors.

Qi Bao High School senior Hu Yanmin is typical. "I make up a schedule which involves reviewing one subject a day and studying the key points in textbooks and old exams," says the 18-year-old. "Our teachers say that at this point, we have done enough practice exercises. What's important now is to review the lessons and maintain a clear mind."

Shi Xi Middle School, a city-level key school, has devised a preparatory program for students that is downright scientific in its precision.

Says senior Shen Jiawei, "In order to adjust our biological clocks for optimal exam results, the school suggests that we take practice exams at home under similar conditions, and at the same hour that the real exam will be given."

In this, the final week before the exams, the focus turns to psychological strategies for success. "Bi Sheng" - victory is certain - is scrawled on the blackboard of a senior classroom at Shi Xi Middle School. All over Shanghai, encouragement like this is peppered throughout the classrooms of middle schools.

Despite all this good advice and preparation - or perhaps because of it - students still get exam jitters. "Last year, at 1 a.m. the day before the exam, I got a call from a girl too nervous to sleep," says Shi Xi teacher Lin Li.

Realizing that students need the security of a hot line, some teachers like Lin give out their home numbers. At Xiang Ming Middle School, however, the teachers actually stay at school so that students can ask questions and seek psychological comfort.

While the recent World Cup provided a welcome study break for many students, others found a break from the endless grind hard to come by. "Whenever I start read-ing a comic book, my mother takes it away, saying, 'I'd rather you read a novel, which may benefit the composition section in the Chinese exam," says Shi Xi senior Tang Jiaqi.

Tang's mother is not unusual in taking a keen interest in her son's studies. While the kids are hitting the books, the parents are racking their own brains to come up with "brain food" - tasty and nutritious food that will give their children the energy to keep going. They spend hard-earned wages on restorative tonics, hyped in countless TV commercials, so that their children can study longer, better and harder.

As their children are taking the exams, knots of anxious parents wait outside in the cruel summer heat, many taking time off from work to do so.

"Certainly, there is a loss of income," says Zheng Ailing, the mother of a senior. "But the entrance exams are so important."

Zheng, who lives two hours away from the school, is considering booking a hotel room nearby. She's not alone: The press has reported that in recent years hotels near the schools holding exams have had full occupancy.

Despite an increase in the number of students taking the exam, the local university accep-tance rate remains at 70 percent - 10 percent higher than it was in 1998 and more than 10 times what it was in the late 1970s - but still too low to impact the pressure on graduating seniors.

Xiang Ming Middle School Deputy Principal Liu Jisheng says that in Shanghai's increasingly competitive environment, there are mitigating factors. "Several years ago, just being a university graduate could easily land you a good job. These days, only graduates from prestigious schools have an edge. The pressure of employment has also impacted high school graduates. The competition is still very intense and the pressure felt by students and parents is very real."

(eastday.com July 4, 2002)