About 1,400 applicants from eight provinces competing for 180 places took the test given by South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC) on Tuesday, testing their skills in memory, insight, attentiveness and imagination, Shandong Business Daily reported Wednesday.

Candidates were asked to write numbers from one to 300 in 7 minutes, which examined their attentiveness, according to Zhu Qingshi, president of SUSTC.

"This question tested the accuracy, not the speed, and I made two mistakes," an applicant surnamed Zhou said.

"Remembering 10 disyllabic words in 40 seconds was thought to test students' memory and imagination," Yu Hancong said. "It was no use to prepare ahead of this kind of test."

Another question was to find two adjacent numbers that added up to 10 after adding in 21 groups of numbers. "I think this question tests students' attention and insight," said candidate Ma Chengkun.

For admission to SUSTC, an applicant's gaokao scores count for 60 percent, high school grades count for 10 percent, and the university's own test counts for 30 percent.

The school, established in 2009 in Shenzhen with sponsorship from the Shenzhen government, is regarded as a pioneer in college education reform.