KIyer (US)

I don't buy the argument that gaokao is only rote based and does not require critical thinking and application. That is hogwash in my opinion. When I see the people who have made it through the system - they are well ahead, on the average, to the students who, on the average come through the Western system of schooling and testing, particularly in subjects that require critical thinking - math and the sciences. English is the forte of the West and in my opinion it is an artificially created, needlessly complex language that gives the native speakers an unfair advantage. It is not critical thinking that makes people good at English - it is rote memorization and practice of mindless, needlessly convoluted details.