It is once again time for China's nationwide university entrance exam — the Gaokao. Beijing's top universities are a big draw for talent. But research suggests local students are more likely to be admitted than their peers from other provinces. Xu Xinchen spoke with two students studying at China's top universities to find out if being from Beijing gives students a better chance.

XU XINCHEN BEIJING "Beijing is home to China's top two universities — Tsinghua University and Peking University. Students have spent hours and hours preparing to score high enough on the country's university entrance exam — the gaokao, so they can make the cut."

YANG XINLEI STUDENT, TSINGHUA UNIVERISTY "My name is Yang Xinlei, I'm from the School of Software and I'm in grade three. I'm from Jiangsu. In Jiangsu, the pressure of enrolling into the top university like here in Tsinghua is very big. I remember before Gaokao, we studied very hard every day and had exams every week. We woke up at about six am and sleep around 10 pm."

XU XINCHEN BEIJING "Latest data show the percentage of students from Beijing being admitted into Tsinghua University is about ten times of that from your hometown. What's your take on this? "

YANG XINLEI STUDENT, TSINGHUA UNIVERISTY "I think it is relatively fair. In my grade, there are 72 students in total and there are only four students from Beijing. So you can see the most of the students are not local. But when we consider the total number of the students in Senior High, I think the enrollment rate in Beijing can be definitely higher than in other provinces and cities."

While the percentage could be higher, one Beijing student at Peking University said she and her fellow high school classmates went through a similar ordeal, if not more vigorous.

LI CHAOHUI STUDENT, PEKING UNIVERSITY "Well, I suppose what I went through in the final year was pretty much the same as most senior high students in China. In a typical day, I would study for about fifteen to sixteen hours. I would get up half past six and I would go to bed about half-past one or two o'clock in the morning."

However, Li does admit that the educational resources she has received could be something students from other regions never dreamed of.

LI CHAOHUI STUDENT, PEKING UNIVERSITY "As a beneficiary of the current educational system, I am very much aware of the resources, advantages, and opportunities I possess. I just feel really lucky, grateful and thankful. And at the same time, a little bit uneasy. But then again, educational inequality exists pretty much everywhere in the world. If you compare with some Western countries, the current educational system in China at least still enables mobility, so that's a good thing. And I think the problem behind this educational cluster of resource is regional economic inequality."

There's no easy fix to that institutional problem. In 2012, China rolled out special admission quotas to target students from regions with poor educational resources, and that is still work in progress. Both Yang and Li have met these students in their course of studies, and say the students are no less qualified for China's top two universities.