National University Entrance Exam (Plant Kingdom)

Plant Kingdom National University Entrance Exam (PKNUEE) is an acedemic examination held annually in Plant Kingdom. The date for the exam is not fixed, and it can vary from late May to early June. For this year, the exam takes place between June 1 and June 3. For getting accepted to most colleges around the country, the exam is the most important and simplest prerequisite for students. The exam is usually taken by high school students in their final year of high school, although the exam can be taken by people of any age.

The exam is divided into multiple parts. English (Reading), English (Writing), mathematics, and foreign language are mandatory for all students who take the exam. There are multiple options of languages for the foreign language test, which includes Chinese (Mandarin/Simplified), Spanish, French, Japanese, and Russian. Students also have to choose three specific subjects from ten core subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, environmental science, history (Plant Kingdom), history (world), politics & government, geography, computer science, and finance & economics) for their subject tests. The final score of the exam is determined by the sum of the score from all parts of the test, and the maximum possible score for the exam is 800.

The PKCT Era: (1980-1989)
After Republic of Plant Kingdom was established in 1978, the need for higher education rapidly increased. On September 5, 1979, the Ministry of Education announced that Plant Kingdom College Testing (PKCT) will be held annually in July. The score students got on the exam will determine what college they will get accepted to. PKCT contains two subjects: English and mathematics, and all questions are in multiple-choice. The maximum possible point at that time is 1000. On July 7, 1980, the first PKCT was held.

After the 1982 testing season, the availability of the exam was expanded to nationwide.

Rename to PKNUEE: (1990-2001)
On September 12, 1988, the Ministry of Education announced changes to PKCT for the 1990 testing season. The exam is renamed Plant Kingdom National University Entrance Exam (PKNUEE), and the same name is still being used today. One additional subject, science, is also added to the exam, bumping the maximum possible point to 1250. There are also minor adjustments to the time limit of the test.

After the 1993 Exam Question Leak, the Ministry of Education announced that there would be backup test papers for the following test seasons. At the same time, the right for provinces to make their own tests was also granted to every province.

After the 1998 test season, the date for the exam was moved to early June to minimize the risk for extreme weather events that takes place near the exam dates.

English (Reading Comprehension) Test
The English (Reading) portion of the test contains 32 multiple choice questions and 8 free-response questions, with a total of 4 passages. The time limit for the reading section is 60 minutes. All of the questions are based on passages. Each passage will have 8 multiple choice questions and 2 free-response questions, and some passages may come in pairs. The topics of passages encompass non-fiction (science, social studies, history, economics, psychology, and sociology), fiction, source analysis, and poem. Some passages may contain charts, tables, and graphs, but no math is required. Students will read and analyze each passage to answer the questions that go along. It is suggested that students should only spend 15 minutes on each passage. The scores for the reading section are reported on a scale of 0 to 150 (60% for multiple choice, 40% for free-response).

English (Writing & Essay) Test
The English (Writing) portion of the test contains 30 multiple choice questions and 2 essays. The time limit for the writing section is 120 minutes. For the multiple-choice part, some questions go with passages and some are standalone. The types of questions include mechanic corrections, sentence revision, writing analysis, vocabulary choice, and more. For the essay part, students are expected to write 2 essays. The first essay is the smaller ones, and students will respond to a prompt by writing at least two paragraphs, while the second essay requires students to write in full-length. The prompts vary from year to year, and the common topics would include literature analysis, life lessons, world & country, common opinions, and source analysis. It is recommended that students should only spend 30 minutes on multiple-choice, and 90 minutes on the two essays. The scores for the writing section are reported on a scale of 0 to 150 (30% for multiple-choice, 70% for essays).