I taught at a Taiyuan satellite city state-run teacher-training college for 2 years. Taiyuan also had a teacher-training college similar to mine.
Its function was to produce junior high school teachers. It was a 2-year college. Freshers took part in a competitive exam against those from the province's other such colleges, 6 in all, to allow the best 6 students to switch to Linfen Teacher-Training University. Said 4 year educational establishment was one of a pair, the other being located in Taiyuan. Both those universities were providers of senior high school teachers.

My college had been unsuccessful in the exam for years and years despite sending a pair of students to Linfen to participate in the exam each year.
I suggested to the FAO that I could assist the two highest-scoring students during the summer vacation free. Those students prepared at college during the summer vacation instead of returning to their hometowns. The FAO told me that would be a waste of time. Laughing profusely, he said that the college's students were all the sons and daughters of farmers, and therefore had no chance, as Yuncheng, Taiyuan and Datong colleges had more promising students. However, the Dean gave me the go-ahead. That summer, things had been changed in that Linfen teachers would visit each college to invigilate at the end of the summer, and any student who wished to take part in the exam could do so. Of course, there was a fee for entry.

When the results came out, my best was 1st, my next best was 3rd, and my third-best was 5th. Another of my students was 11th. However, the rules had been changed. The top two students from each college would be accepted. That was a real kick in the teeth for two of my students. Their parents visited the Taiyuan Education Bureau to appeal, but that was useless. I was very angry at the time. Students from other colleges with scores of 73 were accepted, while my two rejected students had scored 81 and 76. Definitely smelt bad!!