The two-day exam, which determines who gets to go to grad school and who doesn't, began Saturday.

Examinees enter into exam rooms in Southeast University, Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan.10, 2009. [Xinhua]

About 1.25 million Chinese are competing for hundreds of thousands of openings. More than half, won't be able to continue their education.

"Half of my classmates are taking the postgraduate entrance exam," said a student surnamed Xu, who is in her last year at Anhui University, a provincial college in eastern Anhui Province.

Xu, refusing to give her full name, is taking the exam as well and planned to apply for postgraduate courses at the History Department of Shanghai-based Fudan University.

The number of registered participants in this year's exam increased by 4.1 percent from the 1.2 million last year. Some are trying to avoid the bleak employment market by extending their education.

"It is not very easy to find a job even with a master's degree, without one will be even tougher. Many employers just did not want a college graduate," Xu said. "In addition, the employment market may be better in next two years."

China began expanding its university recruitment in 1999. It is expected to hit 6.1 million this summer, 10.9 percent more than last year, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.