This year’s Gaokao English essay asked students to do something simple but meaningful: rank sleep, socializing, and study in order of importance before entering university, and give reasons. It is a question that every young person faces, exam or no exam.

This week, we will first try answering the essay question ourselves. Then we will step back and think about how such a prompt connects with what we do here at the English Club — writing to express ideas and learning from each other. Finally, we will share our honest thoughts on what these three things really mean in university life.

Subquestions

Part A — Answer the Gaokao Prompt 

1. Rank sleep, socializing, and study in order of importance as you prepare to enter university. Explain your reasons as if you were giving a speech at an English competition.

Part B — Comparing the Essay with the Weekly Topic

2. The Gaokao essay asks you to organize ideas and give reasons within a short time. How is this similar to writing a reply for our Weekly Topic? Where do they differ?

3. Which past Weekly Topic does this Gaokao essay prompt remind you of? What is the connection between the two? Would the way you answered that Weekly Topic change how you would approach this essay question?

4. What skills from regular English Club discussions could help someone write a better exam essay? And what exam writing skills could help improve our weekly discussions?

Part C — Sleep, Socializing, and Study in Real University Life

5. Many new students believe that less sleep means more time for study. From your own experience or what you have seen, is this trade-off real, or does good sleep actually help you study better? Give examples.

6. Some people see socializing as a waste of study time; others see it as an important way to grow. Where do you draw the line between helpful socializing and harmful socializing at university?

7. If a close friend asked you to honestly rank sleep, socializing, and study — not the “correct” answer but the real one — what would you say? How might that ranking change over a semester?

Part D — Free Discussion

8. What important part of university life is missing from the three choices (sleep, socializing, study)? Where would you place it in the ranking?

9. Ranking things can help us think clearly, but it can also make complex parts of life seem too simple. Do you think asking for a strict order helps or hurts real self-understanding?

10. Looking back on your own experience (or what you expect), what one piece of advice would you give yourself about balancing rest, relationships, and study at university? Has the English Club shaped how you would express it?

1. Rank sleep, socializing, and study in order of importance as you prepare to enter university. Explain your reasons as if you were giving a speech at an English competition.

I rank them like this; sleep,  study,  socializing. 

Though both of Gaokao essay and our Weekly Topic involve opinions on a topic and personal reasons,  the former is on time pressure -- the essay should be finished within 20 minutes otherwise it would be hard to finish the whole paper.  Besides,  it demands rich vocabulary and various sentence patterns to get a high score. 

Part C — Sleep, Socializing, and Study in Real University Life

5. Many new students believe that less sleep means more time for study. From your own experience or what you have seen, is this trade-off real, or does good sleep actually help you study better? Give examples. 

In my opinion,  a good sleep helps me study better,  as I couldn't get focused if I felt sleepy. 

I would give sleep the most priority. Because we need enough sleep for study and socializing.

But for the other two things, I wanna discuss them with different scenarios, but mostly study is more important than socializing.

When I took part in Gaokao, the essay was always "If you were Li Hua, please write a letter to introduce an activity..." like that. This essay is also quite different from essays in English in Postgraduate Entrance Exam. 

As for this essay, the similarity is that a person should give his opinion about a question / topic.

And for the difference... maybe in English Club, one can do it in a relaxing atmosphere. After all, there is no scoring and ranking.

It's a pity that I cannot find a weekly topic that has deep connection with this essay. But I think most English Club need people to show their opinions and reasons, which can play a positive role in English essays like that.

In English Club discussions, people should give their opinions with clear reasons or examples, which is helpful for writing a better exam essay. Besides, one can learn some vocabulary about university life in English Club.

And vice versa.

These two opinions are right, but in different conditions.

Take me as an example: when I was in the second semester of the second year of university, I had to face 6 difficult law courses, which were so difficult that everyone should spare no effort to pass them. Then I had to get up one hour in advance (in fact I just woke up at that time but I ceased to sleep then) to review law English so that I could give more time to these 6 courses.

However, I had to take a long sleep in the afternoon, otherwise I could not concentrate on studying.

7. If a close friend asked you to honestly rank sleep, socializing, and study — not the “correct” answer but the real one — what would you say? How might that ranking change over a semester?

I would not change my answer. And over a semester, my answer would not change either.

Enjoying life itself. Sometimes these three choices should be viewed as missions instead of life itself.

And this can be set after the sleeping, and before the others. (As long as one can pass the exams)

Ordering itself is suitable for "generally speaking". In other words, there are so many "exceptions" that one cannot explicitly take orders among them. However, "generally speaking" itself can give us a guide which is usually effective in life.