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Wu Hongmei, who survived the collapse of Beichuan Middle School, is facing an uncertain future.
She is among 9,000 students who have been allowed to postpone  the crucial college entrance examination, which started yesterday for the rest of the mainland.
Education officials  will not say when the exam will be held for the six main areas that suffered heavy damage in the May 12 quake.
Hongmei, 18,  is concerned because the test will determine her university, her major and her future. 'There is a lot of pressure,' she said.
The pressure has been made worse by the absence of her family. Her home, in a rural part of Beichuan  county, has gone. Her parents are living in a refugee camp.
Authorities have sequestered the survivors from the Beichuan school and other students at a training centre on the outskirts of Mianyang, the city nearest the quake.
Although the government told the students the reason was to allow them to prepare for the exam,  the enforced isolation has made  Hongmei miss her family. Students are not allowed visitors or to leave the site.
They spend their days in the classroom and nights in tents pitched on the grounds. Surrounded by classmates eating lunch yesterday, Hongmei  said she hoped to attend university in her home province, which would allow her to be close to her family. 'I would like to be a teacher,' she said.
She does not like to speak about the classmates who died when her school collapsed. About 1,300 students and teachers are believed to have been killed, state media has said. 'I was really scared then,' she said.
Her classroom - on the upper floors of a new building - survived relatively unscathed and her teacher led her and others to safety, she said.
The parents of one student  preparing to take the college entrance exam before dying in another school collapse - Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang  town - are  upset and angry. 'It's too tragic,' said the mother of Bian Nan, who was at the top of her class. 'She wanted to study English.' A record 10.5 million students started taking the key exam yesterday, but only around 6 million will enter university.



College entrance exams postponed