For those who went through the American education system, China’s National College Entrance Exam or gaokao may seem like a simple Chinese equivalent of the SAT. But the gaokao is vastly more important than any standardized test in the United States. College admissions in the United States are holistically determined, involving a consideration of a wide range of variables of which standardized tests are only one. For the vast majority of students in China, gaokao performance is the main factor determining whether they will be admitted to university. This grueling test helps decide the fate of millions every year.

In The Highest Exam, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li show how the gaokao’s influence goes far beyond the education system. Jia and Li, who themselves took the gaokao, define the exam as the final showdown in a “centralized hierarchical tournament.” Every year, the gaokao is taken by over ten million high school students and repeat candidates. The student’s score doesn’t really matter; what does matter is their position relative to other students within their own province. The logic of the system is inherently zero-sum. One’s success is predicated on the failure of others.

The stakes of this zero-sum tournament are extraordinarily high. In the United States, the importance of one’s undergraduate degree begins to fade into the background as one accumulates work experience or acquires a postgraduate degree. In China, a gaokao-determined undergraduate education will follow you for life. Doors leading to the best careers are permanently slammed shut if your gaokao score is too low. As Jia and Li point out, “attending an elite college affects your economic bracket for the rest of your life.”