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Question: What are some unpopular or lesser-known facts about the Chinese National Self-Study Higher Education Examination (自学考试) course “Web Design and Production” (课程代码: 14352)?

Answer:

Here are several pieces of unpopular or easily overlooked knowledge about this specific 自考 course (14352 网页设计与网站建设) that most candidates only discover after registering or failing once:

• The syllabus is frozen in 2010–2012 technology despite the 2021 textbook update
  Even though the designated textbook is the 2021 “微课版”, the official national exam outline (考试大纲) has barely changed since around 2011. The practical exam and most theory questions still expect pre-HTML5 or very early HTML5 practices (heavy use of <table> for layout, <font> tags tolerated, framesets occasionally mentioned, almost no real Flexbox/Grid questions, and zero mention of CSS custom properties, ::before/::after in depth, or modern JS frameworks). Candidates who study only modern resources (MDN, freeCodeCamp, etc.) frequently lose points because the grading template was written 15 years ago.

• Dreamweaver is still the “official” practical exam environment in many provinces
  Even in 2025–2026, provinces like Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, and parts of Jiangsu still conduct the practical exam on computers that have Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 or CC 2015 pre-installed as the only allowed editor. Using VS Code, Sublime, or even Notepad++ can get you disqualified in those centers because the invigilator’s scoring checklist literally says “使用Dreamweaver完成” (completed using Dreamweaver). Many candidates waste time mastering modern editors and then panic on exam day.

• JavaScript questions almost never go beyond very basic DOM manipulation done inline
  Despite the outline mentioning “JavaScript basics”, >95% of JS questions (both theory and practical) are about onclick="...", onmouseover, form validation using document.formname.elementname.value, or simple alert() / confirm(). Anything using addEventListener, let/const, arrow functions, or external .js files is considered “non-standard” by the official model answers and may be deducted points.

• The passing rate for the practical exam is secretly very low (often <40% on first attempt)
  While the theory exam hovers around 55–65% nationwide, the practical exam first-attempt passing rate in many provinces is shockingly low because:
  • Candidates must finish a complete 8–12 page site in 120 minutes using only the provided assets.
  • All pages must validate as HTML 4.01 Transitional or XHTML 1.0 Transitional with zero errors in the old Dreamweaver validator (HTML5 doctype sometimes causes the validator to crash → automatic 10–20 point deduction).
  • File naming and folder structure must exactly match the specification (e.g., images/ folder in lowercase, all files lowercase with .html extension, index.html as 首页).

• Responsive design is mentioned but almost never tested in practice
  The outline added “responsive” in the late 2010s, but <5% of practical exams since then actually require media queries. When they do appear, one simple @media (max-width: 768px) rule is enough for full marks. Most examiners still consider fixed-width 980 px layouts perfectly acceptable.

• You can legally use FrontPage 2003 behaviors in some provinces
  Believe it or not, certain remote exam centers still have the old Microsoft “behaviors” (the interactive pop-up menu, hover buttons, etc.) on the scoring rubric as an acceptable way to get interactivity points.

• The “national” outline vs provincial reality gap is huge
  Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong sometimes update their practical requirements every 2–3 years and accept modern code. Gansu, Ningxia, and several inland provinces are still using grading templates from 2012 with almost no changes.

• Most failing candidates fail because of invisible details in the practical submission rules
  Common silent killers:
  • Forgetting to put candidate number in a comment on every HTML file <!-- 考生准考证号: 123456789 -->
  • Using PNG-24 instead of PNG-8 or GIF for small icons (old Dreamweaver optimization checklist)
  • Having even one unclosed tag or missing alt="" on decorative images
  • Exceeding the 800 KB total site size limit that still exists in some provinces

In short: if you want to pass 14352 on the first try in 2025–2026, study the 2021 textbook, but practice exactly like it’s 2012 and you’re using Dreamweaver CS6 on Windows XP. That’s the uncomfortable truth almost nobody talks about openly on Chinese forums (because graduates don’t want to sound outdated).

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