Throughout Ms. Wang Wei’s 34-year teaching career, the college entrance exam has never been an unfamiliar concept to her.

People often like to compare the three years of high school to a race. Grades, rankings, and progress—each of these pushes students to keep moving forward. Some seek ways to speed up, while others are fixated on making a quick turnaround; it’s as if slowing down even a little means falling behind.

Walking around the THISDL campus, physics teacher Sun Shaoying often finds himself in a “cross-disciplinary” role. One moment he might be in the lab guiding students through the derivation of complex mechanics formulas; the next, he might be working up a sweat alongside the students on the volleyball court or during a basketball game; or he might be standing on the sidelines with his DSLR camera, capturing the highlight moments of students leaping to spike the ball.

In the mainstream narrative surrounding education and personal growth, “stress” seems to be the default backdrop—as if falling behind by even a single step will lead to falling further and further behind. Yet we often forget that the core driving force behind learning has never been external pressure, but rather a person’s curiosity and dedication to knowledge itself.

On the evening she received the official results, Hu Manlin’s heart, which had been in suspense for so long, finally settled—she had been successfully admitted to the Sino-Foreign Joint Program in Art Studies at The Central Academy of Drama.

On the day the test scores were released, Li Jinyuan and her family were standing outside a print shop, preparing for the next steps in her college application process.