Seniors at Cixian No.1 Senior High School in the city of Handan, North China's Hebei Province, tear up papers to release pressure on May 25. (Photo: VCG)

More than 10 million high school students will sit the country's national college entrance examinations on June 7 and 8.

That number marks the highest since 2010, according to Education Minister Chen Baosheng and the Ministry of Educationwebsite. 

Last year 9.75 million people applied to take the two-day college exam, gaokao in Chinese pinyin.

"It is a glorious mission and heavy responsibility to organize the exam and enrollment well," Chen said in a video conference on May 6, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

To get an edge, Chinese students, teachers and parents try out all kinds of proven and unproven approaches: from extra hours of revision to outdoor activities that might relax the overstressed teen. 

For example, seniors at Cixian No.1 Senior High School in the city of Handan, North China's Hebei Province tried tug-of-war. They also tore up and tossed papers in the classroom. 

Slogans and banners adorn the classroom at Handan No.1 High School in Hebei. Students revise together at night. 

Some parents are more nervous than their children.

Every year during the two-day test they can be seen milling outside the examination sites, even under hot sun and in sweltering humidity.