The CSCA Test Isn't a Barrier. It's Your Launchpad
Let's be real. The acronyms alone for studying abroad can feel like a secret code. CSC. CSCA. HSK. It's enough to make you close the tab and watch another travel vlog instead.
But what if I told you that one of those acronyms—CSCA—is actually your most powerful ally? It’s not a hazing ritual. It’s not an impossible gatekeeper. Think of it as your standardized launchpad.
The Chinese Scholarship Council Aptitude Test is the great equalizer. For universities in China, especially the top-tier ones, it’s a trusted benchmark. A stellar score on the CSCA tells them, clearly and objectively: "This student can handle our academic rigor. This student is prepared."
And here’s the magic key: it’s directly tied to the money.
The Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) is the holy grail for many international students—covering tuition, housing, and even a living stipend. For most of these scholarships, a competitive CSCA score isn't just a nice-to-have; it's mandatory.
So, this test isn't just about "getting in." It's about getting in with funding. It's the difference between dreaming about lectures at Peking University and actually attending them, with the financial freedom to fully immerse yourself.
Our new CSCA Test Complete Guide is for the curious, the overwhelmed, and the determined. We break down the "why," dissect the "what" (language, logic, China-knowledge—no surprises), and map out the "how" with a realistic prep strategy.
Stop seeing it as a wall. Start seeing it as the bridge it was designed to be. Your future in China is on the other side.
If you have a choice between going to college and working, please go to school. Save yourself the stress of working in fast food and service jobs. You will end up overworked and stressed.
If you are offered financial aid, just go to school and live a frugal life so your money lasts longer.
You can even take online classes and listen to music and study in your room. It's not that bad, I promise. As long as you check Rate My Professor, you should be able to figure out if the class is for you. You can also ask professors to send you their syllabi so you can see what all the assignments and workload are like.
By the time you finish school, you will be eligible for better jobs, higher pay, and less demanding, laborious work.
¿Qué es Clash of Clans?
Clash of Clans, también conocido como CoC, es un juego multijugador online de estrategia para dispositivos móviles creado por Supercell. La mecánica del juego consiste en que los jugadores construyen asentamientos, entrenan tropas y atacan a otros jugadores para ganar oro, elixir y elixir oscuro, el cual puede ser usado para construir defensas que protegen al jugador de los ataques de otros jugadores, y para entrenar y mejorar tropas.
Luis David
You should always watch your mouth around your elders.
They will climb inside and clean your teeth, but then they won't get out when you ask them and if you close your mouth they will get mad and stab the roof of your mouth with their pointy nails, which while are great for thoroughly cleaning teeth, also hurt very much.
Thoughts on giving critiques to comics artists.
Here's a long, long post about giving critiques.
NB: I have no formal training as a teacher, but I was a student, and I've spent decades giving artists feedback on their work.
When someone brings me a portfolio, I like to establish my limitations & clarify my perspective. My work is firmly rooted in traditional US comics storytelling (i.e., not manga or art-comics.) I can give feedback on other approaches but they should know where I’m coming from.
“We've only got a little time for this, so I'm going to spend that time focusing on things to correct. That doesn't mean you're doing everything wrong, or that there’s nothing good here, but it’ll be more helpful if I identify some problems and show you how to fix them.”
Why? Because for many young artists their entire sense of self worth is wrapped up in being good at what they do. (It was for me!) In school they were probably the best artist in their peer group. But now if they're hoping to turn pro, they’re at the bottom.
Sometimes you know what’s up when you see page 1, but try to keep an open mind. Some build their portfolios by sticking new pages at the back & don’t weed out the old stuff up front, so the work gets better as you go. When it’s like that I ask: “Show me your best 8 pages.”
I ask questions: "What's the goal? Do you want to be hired to work on someone else's project, or to get the story you're showing me here published?"
If 1, I steer towards a portfolio that'll showcase hirable skills. If 2, I look for what tweaks will make that particular story more effective.
"Do you have teachers giving you regular feedback? What are they telling you?" Sometimes a student is getting bad advice. In cases like that, I'll do my best to be extra clear WHY I'm giving them advice that's 180 degrees from what they've been hearing.
“What artists are you looking at? Is there someone you admire or try to emulate?” This often helps me understand choices they're making, and I can sometimes incorporate things those artists do into my suggestions.
I ask myself questions about what I’m seeing. First: Is there a narrative? If not, I make it 100% clear I'm not speaking as any sort of expert. I'm good at critiquing storytelling, but don't have anywhere near as much to offer illustrators or designers.
Can I follow the story? Or am I confused about what's going on? Are the characters and settings drawn consistently? If not, is the artist at least making use of tags (distinctive clothing, hair etc.) to keep the characters recognizable?
Does the artist demonstrate a good command of basic academic drawing? If not, Do I think they need it? Do I focus on "how to draw" or on "what to do when you can't draw?" Is the artist putting the viewer’s eye where it needs to be to tell the story effectively?
(At this point I’m usually doing little doodles to go with my instructions. I scribble out ugly little 5 second diagrams that I hope will clarify what I’m talking about. Or they might make me seem demented. Hard to say!)
Is the artist making choices that are creating more work than necessary? Is there a particular weakness? I once spoke to an artist with a portfolio full of great work when he was drawing animals and monsters, but his humans were amateurish in comparison. I spent that critique talking about drawing people.
A crit can be a grab bag. In addition to big-picture advice, I'll point out tangencies, violations of the 180-degree rule, wonky anatomy, weird perspective, places where the artist neglected to do important research, odd choices in how they spotted black, whatever catches my eye.
I also try to make a point of defining the terms, so that jargon like “tangency,” “180-degree rule,” and “spotting black” don't go over their heads. Find simple, concrete ways to talk about these things, & clarify why it's a problem when they aren't done correctly. Draw diagrams!
Recognize that even a perfectly phrased explanation might not sink in. Some lessons can only be learned when a student is ready, and it might take a year or two of work before they can understand what you were saying. It's good to plant seeds.
Are there other artists who are particularly good at solving the problems the student is trying to solve? I steer them towards that artist's work. And I always recommend life drawing & the use of reference to give work specificity, variety, and authority.
Despite what I said earlier about focusing on what's wrong, I try at the end to find something encouraging to say. And if I’ve really piled on the criticism, I emphasize that I only spent the time and energy to do so because I take their efforts seriously.
If I've done my job right, they'll leave my table with tools to make their work better. And maybe in a few years they'll be looking at some younger artist's work, surprised to discover just how much you can learn when you're asked to teach.