For those who have survived China's national college entrance examinations, or gaokao, the preparation time for the exams is a dark period that everyone remembers well. It is a nerve-wracking time when your life is fraught with endless exercises and exam papers. The only thing you do every day is get up early and study until late in the night.

However this year, things have seemingly changed a bit for exam takers born in the 1990s, adding a touch of fun upon their lives.

They invented many mischievous slogans to inspire themselves in the summer battle, and these slogans have been widely circulated online. As one of the catchy slogans on the walls of a senior high school classroom runs, "Every day, I check myself. Am I tall? Am I rich? Am I handsome? No, then go and study, damn it!" 

It's a parody of a saying by Confucius. The original version is that "Every day, I check with myself three times to see whether I am loyal to the people who I work for, whether I am honest to my friends, and whether I have reviewed what the teachers taught me."

There have been many online terms created and used by Chinese netizens these years. The online slang term gao fu shuai means an ideal man and literally translates to tall, rich, and handsome. Therefore, the students inspire themselves in a humorous and self-mocking way that they have no other choice but study if they are not gao fu shuai.

Another eye-catching slogan is that "Go to Tsinghua, to be the bro of presidents and premiers." Many Chinese national leaders are graduates of Tsinghua University.

Compared with the outdated slogans like "Study well and make progress every day," the outlandish slogans invented by the rebellious and innovative generation born in the 1990s could help them relieve pressure by making fun of the tiring gaokao.

Those slogans send a signal that social and web culture is permeating the high school campus. High schools are not ivory towers they used to be, and students are not pedantic bookworms.

In China, the gaokao is still the major way for students to get into college. The exam saw some 9 million candidates in 2013, despite a gradually waning number of applicants in recent years.

But there are emerging controversies over the significance of the gaokao. Given the a soaring unemployment rate of college graduates and expanding employment channels outside the academy, the old belief that "gaokao changes one's destiny" has been under question.

Some argue that the appearance of the mischievous slogans in fact mirrors the importance attached to the gaokao. There is still much tedious work and immense pressure around the gaokao, but at least a relaxed attitude toward the exam can be seen in the slogans, which will help reduce the weight of the exam for young and nervous students. 

Chen Yu, a civil servant based in Chongqing