Liu Hongsheng, 18, high school graduate from Changsha, Hunan province

As my three-year high school journey comes to an end, looking back fills me with many emotions. There were times of confusion and bewilderment, moments of feeling lost, but also the sheer joy of finding a way out after feeling trapped in hopelessness.

For the first two years of high school, I lacked direction. Just as my head teacher described: "Busy all day, yet achieving little". I tried to refute this deeply insulting remark, yet repeatedly stumbled on the same path. My grades were unsatisfactory, and I constantly fell into a vicious cycle of mental emptiness. Fortunately, it was still early.

Since senior year, I've focused closely on class, worked diligently, and maintained an optimistic and open-minded attitude.

High school, perhaps, is about constantly learning from mistakes so we can face similar problems calmly next time. There might be regrets, but ultimately, we withstood the test of time, found the meaning of perseverance, and gradually became adults capable of self-discipline and clear self-awareness.

At the end of June, the results came out. My gaokao score was 574 points, ranking 5,820th in the province. There are some regrets — Chinese and history exams were falling short of expectations. But upon reflection, which exam is ever without regrets? Regret is just the norm.

Teachers and family congratulated me. Indeed, after three years of effort, we are all excellent enough; most of us surpassed our former selves, and that is sufficient. Why regret a few wrong answers?

I accept this reasonable outcome, affirming my efforts more than anything. There will be more opportunities to change myself, to meet better people and to become what I aspire to be.

For humanities students, our choices in popular majors aren't vast. Considering my fondness for mathematics in high school and my strong interest in business studies, I chose business majors like accounting. This allows me to leverage my strengths and immerse myself in the discipline, perhaps better realizing my own value.

In high school, teachers often said university would be easier. This ease might mean freedom in time management. But ease is relative. Essential coursework cannot be neglected. Spare time can be used for self-improvement and participating in activities I enjoy to enrich myself.

In high school, my understanding of business studies was largely confined to textbooks and imagination. But now, about to enter university, I plan to use these four years to turn armchair strategy into real action. I will focus intensely on mathematics and data analysis — even though I was a humanities student in high school, hard skills like calculus, statistics and spreadsheet modeling must be mastered.

University will finally allow me to get hands-on. For example, participating in simulated stock market investment competitions, helping campus startup teams write business plans, or even trying my hand at small ventures. Things I could only dream of in high school, I can now test and learn from through practice.

Liu Hongsheng spoke with Zou Shuo.