<p>Well, I came from Hong Kong and I am not sure which A-level you are talking about but the one in Hong Kong is known to be the most difficult. I think Chinese entrance exam (known as gaokao) even tops that. Even if some private schools here teach advanced topics like organic chemistry, I am pretty sure they don’t ditch out difficult problems like gaokao does; otherwise, many students in those schools will be getting ugly grades. Those schools you mentioned have average SAT around 1400 but the Chinese entrance exams are so difficult that probably most students with even perfect SAT would find it very challenging. Consider this: top scores in gaokao are in the low 700s but in Shandong Province, the highest 2007 score was 675. That means nobody out of hundred thousands or whatever in that province got even close to perfect. The exam makers design the test in such a way so very few would get perfect (I am not sure if there’s such person) score.</p>
<p>I am not saying their system is more superior. In fact, there’s been reports that show that some of these top scorers know very little outside what their gakoao covers. Also, students there tend to be less well-rounded as they devote pretty much all of their time outside classes to test drills and studies whereas the US counterparts, even the top students taking the most challenging courses, often get involved in many ECs. In fact, you can’t get into top Ivies/privates without strong ECs these days. But in China, the gaokao score is the sole factor (excluding connection/legacy).</p>