'Out of control'

Feng has set herself a strict daily timetable from 6:30 am, when she gets up, to 10:30 pm, when it's time for bed. She adheres to this schedule, apart from the days when she has an excessive amount of homework.

She said that to avoid being disturbed, she puts her phone to one side when studying and has also downloaded an app to limit the amount of leisure time she spends on her smart phone to just 30 minutes after lunch and dinner.

"When I was at home on my own during the lockdown, I felt as if everything was out of control. I feared that if the resumption of classes was delayed but the gaokao was not, the amount of study time would be squeezed," Feng said.

She added that her mother had offered to stop going to work to be with her at home－a suggestion that Feng declined to accept.

"I was also afraid that if I failed to make good use of my learning time, I could be left behind after months of self-study at home," she said.

In February, it was announced that the start of the spring semester would be postponed.

More than 10 million final-year senior high school students nationwide shifted to studying online and through television programs. This meant that in some remote mountainous areas students had to walk long distances to reach locations with a good internet connection.

To mark the start of online learning, He Qinheng, who lives in Deyang, Sichuan province, and attends Deyang No 2 Middle School, raised the national flag at home at 8 am, which he still does each day.

"I also wore school uniform every day to create an atmosphere of learning, as we were all at home on our own without the company of classmates," he said.

Before going to bed at 10:30 pm, he exercises for an hour, which includes 60 pushups, 100 situps, 30 deep squats and rope-skipping for 15 minutes.

"Good health is the basis for intensive study and helps relieve stress and ensure a good night's sleep. The coronavirus has further reminded us of the importance of health," said He, who wants to enroll at a medical school in a first-tier city.

Feng said students were reassured at the end of March, when it was announced that the gaokao would be postponed for four weeks. "It somehow compensated us for the time we had wasted on feeling anxious during the previous months," she said.

In April, students taking the gaokao were the first to return to school in most areas of the country when classes resumed based on local developments in curbing the spread of the virus. On April 27, final-year students in Beijing and Shanghai returned to school after the prolonged winter holiday.

Feng said, "We finally felt that we had stopped fumbling in the dark and had a new sense of security and togetherness, with a common, clear goal and study schedule."

Yao Jun, head teacher for final-year students at Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University, said that even though the gaokao is drawing closer, the students have been livelier this month than when they initially returned to school.