This years Second Basic Competence Test for Junior High Students started this weekend, with just 127,000 students taking part, a record low in the history of this exam. The students were tested on English and Chinese including composition yesterday, and for many of them, enduring the summer heat seems to be a greater challenge than the test itself. Over the weekend, students that didn't perform as well as they'd hoped on the first Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Students took the exam for a second time. As the number of students applying to schools increased this year and many took advantage of the new "open admission" policy, the number of students that registered for the second exam of the year fell to an all-time low of 127,000, or 24,000 less than last year. The students sat for the English portion of the exam on Saturday morning, and many said afterwards that the degree of difficulty was about the same as the first exam. In the afternoon, the students were tested on Chinese literature and composition. As temperatures are expected to soar over the weekend, students and parents are reminded to use sunblock.