The importance of education and the key role of exams have been a feature in Chinese life for 2,000 years. Passing rigorous exams based on classical texts was necessary to gain entry to the Confucian bureaucracy that ran the country in imperial times.

Ma Long, whose first choice is to study computer engineering at the Beijing University of Technology, shifted uncomfortably on his feet while waiting outside Beijing Middle School No. 119, tucked behind towering office buildings. He refused to answer a question posed in English, the subject of his afternoon test.

Ren Peijie, a bespectacled 20-year-old, seemed less caught up in the excitement and had a pragmatic approach to the exam.

"You go to school so when you get out you can get a job and make a living. You don't go to school just to go to school," he said.

His parents stayed at home. "We're Christian so they asked Jesus to help me," he explained.

Ma Long's mom, Wang Chunlan, spent two days sitting outside the test site, trying to stay cool in 36 degree Celsius (97 degree Fahrenheit) heat, waiting with dozens of other parents to comfort or encourage their teens during the lunch break.

At some test sites, volunteers handed out fans printed with the message, "Dreams Come True."

Wang said lately she has been cooking foods for her son that are considered particularly good for worn-out students, with plenty of vegetables and less grease.

"Oily foods, it's bad for the brain, it makes the brain slow down," she said, adding heavy food can also cause nausea.

Wang's efforts are mild compared to some families.

On Friday morning before Day Two of the test, one mother rubbed traditional herbal medicine on her son's temples. State media reported concerned parents in Shanghai trying to buy prescription Ritalin for their children, believing the stimulant would boost concentration.

Other families hire special nannies with backgrounds in education or teen psychology before the test to help their children in their preparations, ease jitters and cook healthy brain-friendly meals.

Hotels near testing sites are full during testing time, booked by parents who want their children to sleep as late as possible on testing days and nap during the 3{-hour lunch break.

The reach of the test extends far beyond the students and their families, as officials across China make every effort to accommodate the stressed-out teens.

In many cities, police were on high alert for any traffic jams that could make students late. On Thursday, at least three students in Beijing were ferried to their test on the back of police motorcycles, China Central Television reported.

Though construction in China's booming cities normally runs 24 hours, some sites have been required to stop work at night because the sounds of pounding hammers and buzzing saws could keep the students from getting proper rest.

And in Chengdu, a city in western Sichuan province, parents lobbied successfully to change the flight path of planes taking off and landing at one airport, saying the noise would distract those at a nearby test site, CCTV reported.

On Friday evening, hundreds of parents lined the street leading to the front gates of Beijing Middle School No. 119, edging closer and closer as the 5 p.m. finish time neared.

Li Yukun gripped a bouquet of a dozen pink roses, a gift for her 18-year-old daughter who has been going to tutoring every weekend since she started middle school.

"These 12 years have been so hard. These roses are to show her that I care, it's been so hard for her, not one day of rest," the mother said.

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