"I just want to get familiar with the route and surroundings to ensure there are no problems when I escort my son here tomorrow," Guo Yusen said, adding that he has asked for three days holiday to help his son during the exam.

    A record 9.5 million people will take the annual national college entrance exams scheduled for June 7 and 8, and universities and colleges in China will enroll 2.6 million undergraduates this year, which means only one in every four test-takers will be eligible for university enrollment.

    Scores of exam takers and their parents came to the exam halls in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing on Tuesday to determine the optimal route to be taken the next day to avoid traffic jams.

    Traffic police have even distributed sketch maps of nearby parking lots to the parents to maintain order.

    Nearby hotels and rental housing have also cashed in the event as many parents are eager to find a comfortable and a nearer place for their children to have a rest at noon and at night during the break between two exams.

    Xie Xiang, senior reporter on education for China Youth Daily, has for years been releasing articles calling on parents to adopt a mild attitude towards the exam. When her own child becomes an exam taker this year, Xie, however, also rented an apartment adjacent to the exam venue, a classroom in the Beijing No. 101 Middle School.

    "As most of the children living far away from the school have moved to the vicinity, we have to do so to make my child feel more relaxed," Xie said.

    By the end of last week, all hotels in the neighbourhood of the Beijing No. 101 Middle School have been booked out by families of exam takers. Banners bearing words of "Keep Silent" are hung up high in the lobbies of hotels at the request of the parents.

    A survey shows that 76 percent of the parents of exam takers suffer from symptoms of pre-exam anxiety. They, for example, may frequently ask their children to not take on too much pressure.

    In the past month, a blog, entitled "blog for parents of third-grade senior high students" which is carried by a famous Chinese portal, Sina.com.cn, witnessed more than 1 million visits.

    Psychologists believe that the blog serves both as a platform for the parents to share experiences and a way to ease their pressure.

    Most of the parents writing the blog chose to remain unidentified, because they are afraid that it might inflict too much pressure on their children.

    The national event has even put the whole Chinese society on edge.

    Many middle schools in Beijing have handed out pamphlets advising parents what to include in their children's diet and which words should not be spoken to their children.

    Some parents in Shanghai plan to hire chefs to cook for their children for 100 to 200 yuan (around 12.5 to 25 US dollars) per day. Moreover, the weather during the exam period tops the agenda of evening news broadcasting.

    China's Ministry of Education has asked the media not to sensationalize hot topics in connection with the national exam in a bid to "avoid creating a tense atmosphere". Enditem