Chen Jiawei from Lanhua Middle School claims the top place in Liberal Arts group with 587 points in this year's gaokao in Pingtan.

Lin Tao from Pingtan No 1 Middle School is second to none in the Science group with 640 points in this year's gaokao in Pingtan, Fujian.

Male candidates in Pingtan turned things around a little in this year's gaokao, or national college entrance exam, as the high scorers in both Liberal Arts and Science are boys.

Chen Jiawei from Lanhua Middle School claimed the top place in the Liberal Arts group with 587 points, while Lin Tao from Pingtan No 1 Middle School came first in the Science group with 640 points.

Up to 70.27 percent of gaokao winners in Fujian province in the past 12 years were girls, according to a survey report published by the China University Alumni Association recently.

The pair sat down with Pingtan.gov.cn, official website of Pingtan county, on Sunday and shared their thoughts and winning formula.

"My family and I were thrilled hearing the news that I claimed the first place in the Science group," said Lin.

"The gaokao is a competition of intelligence, strength and mental ability for everyone. The most important thing is actually to withstand the pressure and find ways to relieve it," he said.

A poised mindset is largely credited for his success in one of China's most watched exams.

"Lin Tao's academic performance has been consistently sound," said Lin's mother. "His spirits were good senior year and did not go up and down (like a few others did)."

One of the methods adopted by Lin to escape from stress is to read fiction and comic books. The parents didn't have to worry about the risk of Lin getting addicted to the books as he is a well self-disciplined child, she added.

That being said, Lin also worked hard and smartly throughout high school. He pricked up his ears in every class, made notes and asked questions whenever he got stuck, which helped to lay a solid foundation in his study.

He also looked back on his mistakes a lot and drew lessons from them.

For Chen Jiawei, the top dog in the Liberal Arts group, the gaokao is more of a redemption from a failure three years ago.

Crushed by stress, Chen screwed up his high school entrance exam in 2010 and missed out on his ideal school. Lin Jian, one of his teachers senior year, admits that he was afraid Chen would choke again, which would've been such a big pity.

Surprisingly, Chen stood up and overcame the challenge. Once he got his confidence and composure back, he was unstoppable.

Holding a strong belief that practice makes perfect, Chen, like Lin Tao, put a great deal in his past mistakes as he collected and bound them in notebooks. He was efficient in this way and didn't have to pull all-nighters like others did sometimes.

He didn't feel much pressure from the family as his father was working abroad and his mother was more concerned with his life.

Regarding his future, Chen said he hasn't nailed down a target school but will probably choose to major in economic management.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Micheal Thai