Tong Zhengguo, 65, from Tianjin spent the first weekend of 2014 participating in the national graduate entrance examination.

The confident, well-dressed woman immediately attracted people's attention after the examination on Saturday.

This is the third time Tong has taken the exam since 2012. This year, she applied for the pedagogy program at Tianjin University of Technology and Education.

"When I was little, I had a dream of becoming a scientist," Tong said. "But for many reasons I started working right after I graduated from middle school."

In 1977, when China resumed its college entrance examination, Tong wanted to take it. But her husband was working overseas, and she was busy working and taking care of their son.

In 2001, the Ministry of Education removed the age limit on the national college entrance examination, or gaokao.

Tong's dream of getting into a decent university never faded, and she decided to prepare for the gaokao in 2003. That year, she was admitted to a high school in Tianjin, and took the examination in 2006 at the age of 58. She was admitted to Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan province.

Campus life for Tong at that age was not easy, and she had to drop out due to altitude sickness. Still, Tong took the gaokao again the following two years, and was admitted to a university in Hebei province in 2008.

"I choose to study pedagogy for my master's degree because I have been working as a private tutor in recent years for both primary school and middle school students and accumulated some experience," she said.

"I really enjoyed the learning process. If I fail the examination this year, I think I will keep learning, and keep trying in the coming years. I believe that if you have a dream, it's never too late to make it happen."