This qualitative interpretivist study explores how China’s Gaokao-centred exam-oriented schooling shapes the academic experience, mobility choices and early adaptation of advantaged first-year Chinese undergraduates in the UK. Five students participated in Mandarin semi-structured interviews, with themes inductively derived from their narratives. Findings reveal early mismatches between exam-conditioned habits (cautious discussion, narrow reading, discomfort with open-ended tasks) and UK inquiry-led pedagogy, with language exacerbating (but not causing) these issues. Clear teaching expectations, structured group work, guided reading and formative feedback facilitated adaptation, leading to gains in confidence, self-directed inquiry and cross-cultural openness. Mobility decisions stemmed from lost academic agency in domestic schooling, enabled by family resources. Over the first year, student aims shifted from credential-focused to capability-focused (critical reasoning, collaboration, employability). The study identifies micro-level transition mechanisms, with future research needing longitudinal cohort follow-up and mixed methods.