National Higher Education Entrance Examination

National Higher Education Entrance Examination
Simplified Chinese 普通高等学校招生全国统一考试
Higher education exam
Chinese 高考
A 2013 banner at Chongqing Nankai Secondary School announcing it as an examination venue for the 2013 National Higher Education Entrance Examination
Supporters outside Beijing Bayi Middle School during the 2016 National Higher Education Entrance Examination

The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as Gaokao (高考, "Higher Education Exam", Pinyin gāo kǎo, lit. "High exam"), is an academic examination held annually in the People's Republic of China (except Hong Kong and Macau, which have their own education systems). This examination is a prerequisite for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level. It is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school, although there has been no age restriction since 2001.

The exams last about nine hours over a period of two days, depending on the province. Chinese and mathematics are included in all tests. An English test was formerly required of all students, but now Japanese, Russian or French may be taken instead. In addition, students must choose between two concentrations in most regions, either the social-science-oriented area (文科倾向) or the natural-science-oriented area (理科倾向). Students who choose social sciences receive further testing in history, politics and geography (文科综合), while those who choose natural sciences are tested in physics, chemistry and biology (理科综合).

In 2006, a record high of 9.5 million people applied for tertiary education entry in China. Of these, 8.8 million (93%) took the national entrance exam and 27,600 (0.28%) were exempted (保送) due to exceptional or special talent. Everyone else (700,000 students) took other standardized entrance exams, such as those designed for adult education students.

The overall mark received by the student is generally a weighted sum of their subject marks. The maximum possible mark varies widely from year to year and also varies from province to province.

The modern College Entrance Examination takes place from 7 to 9 June every year.[1]

History

A banner on the HUST campus in Wuhan congratulates top exam score achievers from the university-affiliated high school

The National Higher Education Entrance Examination, commonly known as the gaokao (高考) was created in 1952.

The unified national tertiary entrance examination in 1952 marked the start of reform of National Matriculation Tests Policies (NMTP) in the newly established PRC. With the implementation of the first Five Year Plan in 1953, the NMTP was further enhanced. After repeated discussions and experiments, the NMTP was eventually set as a fundamental policy system in 1959. From 1958, the tertiary entrance examination system was affected by the Great Leap Forward Movement. Soon, unified recruitment was replaced by separate recruitment by individual or allied tertiary education institutions. Meanwhile, political censorship on candidate students was enhanced. Since 1962, criticism of the NMTP system had become even harsher, because it hurt benefits of the working class. On July 1966, the NMTP was officially canceled and substituted by a new admission policy of recommending workers, farmers and soldiers to college.[2] During the next ten years, the Down to the Countryside Movement, initiated by Mao Zedong, forced both senior and junior secondary school graduates, the so-called "intellectual youths", to go to the country and work as farmers in the villages. Against the backdrop of world revolution, millions of such young people, some full of religious-like fervor, joined the ranks of farmers, working and living alongside them. However, they were soon disillusioned by the reality of hard conditions in the countryside.

In the early 1970s, Mao Zedong realized that internal political struggle had taken too big a toll on him as well as the nation and decided to resume the operation of universities. However, the students were selected based on political and family backgrounds rather than academic achievements. This practice continued until the death of Mao in September 1976. In late 1977, Deng Xiaoping, then under Hua Guofeng, the heir apparent of Mao, officially resumed the traditional examination based on academics, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, which has continued to the present day.

The first such examination after the Cultural Revolution took place in late 1977 and was a history-making event. There was no limit on the age or official educational background of examinees. Consequently, most of the hopefuls who had accumulated during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution and many others who simply wanted to try their luck emerged from society for the examination. The youngest were in their early teens and the oldest were in their late thirties. The questions in the examinations were designed by the individual provinces. The total number of candidate students for the national college entrance exam in 1977 was as many as 5.7 million. Although the Ministry of Education eventually expanded enrollment, adding 63,000 more to the admission quota, the admission ratio of 4.8% was the lowest in the history of the PRC, with only 272,971 students being admitted.[3]

Starting from 1978, the examination was uniformly designed by the Ministry of Education and all the students across the country took exactly the same examination.

However, reforms on the content and form of the exam have never stopped, among which the permission for individual provinces to customize their own exams has been the most salient. The Ministry of Education allowed the College Enrollment Office of Shanghai to employ an independent exam in 1985, which was the beginning of provincial proposition. In the same year, Guangdong was also permitted to adopt independent proposition. Starting from 2003, Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang were allowed to adopt independent propositions. Till now, there have been 16 provinces and municipalities adopting customized exams.

Although today's admission rate is much higher than in 1977, 1978 and before the 1990s, it is still fairly low compared to the availability of higher education in the Western world. Consequently, the examination is highly competitive, and the prospective examinees and their parents experience enormous pressure. For the majority, it is a watershed that divides two dramatically different lives.

In 1970, less than 1% of Chinese people had attended higher education; however, university admissions places are less than 1/1000 of the whole population of China. In the 1970s, 70% of students who were recommended to go to university had political backgrounds reflecting the political nature of university selection at the time. At the same time, the undergraduate course system narrowed down the time from 4 years to 3 years. According to incomplete statistics, from 1966 to 1977, institutions of higher learning recruited 940,000 people who belonged to the worker-peasant-soldier group.

For most provinces, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination is held once a year (in recent years some of the provinces in China hold examinations twice a year and the extra one is called the Spring Entrance Examination). The previous schedule (before 2003) of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination was in July every year. It now takes place in June every year. Partial Provincial administrative units determine the schedule of the exams on the 7th and 8 June.

2017 Gaokao

9.40 million students attended Gaokao in 2017, 7 million of whom were admitted by colleges and/or universities.[4] The percentage of first-class admission (Yi Ben, deemed as good universities in China) varied from 9.48% to 30.5%[5],with the lowest admission rates in Henan province and Shanxi province, at less than 10%.

the changes of the exam scope in 2017 (in most areas)

Chinese

All the exam contents are set into compulsory examination scope.

Mathematics

Elective Course 4-1 (Selection of Geometric Proof) is removed from the elective examination scope.

English

No changes.

Physics

Elective Course 3-5 is changed from the elective examination scope into the compulsory examination scope.

Chemistry

Elective Course 2 (Chemistry and Technology) is removed from the elective examination scope.

Biology

Some exam contents in the elective examination scope are changed.

Politics

No changes.

History

Elective Course 2 (Democratic Thought and Practice in Modern Society) is removed from the elective examination scope.

Geography

Elective Course 5 (Natural Disasters and Prevention) is removed from the elective examination scope.

2018 Gaokao

9.75 million students attended Gaokao on June 7th and 8th.[4] A citizen from zhihu, Chinese quora, reported that Guangdong donghua school had leaked some questions a day before Gaokao. The article was subsequently deleted by zhihu.[6]

Procedure

The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is not uniform across the country, but administered uniformly within each province of China or each direct-controlled municipality. The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is graded variously across the country. It is arranged at the end of the spring semester and secondary school graduates across the country take the examination simultaneously over a three-day period. Prior to 2003, the examination was held in July, but has since been moved to the month of June. This move was made in consideration of the adverse effects of hot weather on students living in southern China and possible flooding during the rainy season in July.

In different places and across different time in history, students were required to apply for their intended university or college prior to the exam, after the exam, or more recently, after they learned of their scores, by filling a list of ordered preferences. The application list is classified into several tiers (including at least early admissions, key universities, regular universities, vocational colleges), each of which can contain around 4-6 intended choices in institution and program, though typically an institution or program would only admit students who apply to it as their first choice in each tier. In some places, students are allowed to apply for different tiers at different times. For example, in Shanghai, students apply for early admission, key universities and regular universities prior to the exam, but can apply for other colleges after they learned of their scores.

The exam is administered for two or three days. Three subjects are mandatory everywhere: Chinese, Mathematics, and a foreign language—usually English, but this may also be substituted by Russian, Japanese, German, French or Spanish. The other six standard subjects are three sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and three humanities: History, Geography, and Political Education.[7] Applicants to science/engineering or art/humanities programs typically take one to three from the respective category. Since the 2000s, an integrated test, science integrated test, humanities integrated test or wider integrated test has been introduced in some places. This integrated test may or may not be considered during admission. In addition, some special regional subjects are required or optional in some places. Currently, the actual requirement varies from province to province.

However, the general requirements are as follows:

  1. Abide by the Constitution and laws of the People's Republic of China.
  2. Have a high school diploma or equivalent.
  3. Be in good health.
  4. Have read carefully and are willing to abide by the rules of the Register and other regulations and policies of the Institutions of Higher Learning and the Office of Admissions Committee about the enrollment management.
  5. If foreign immigrants who settle down in China conform to the enlists condition of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, they can then apply for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination with the foreign immigrants’ resident certificate, which are sent by the Provincial Public Security Department at the location that is assigned.
  6. If willing to apply for the Military Academy: students who are going to graduate this year and have studied in high school for the first time can not be older than 20 years of age and unmarried; willing to apply for the Police Academy, and students who are going to graduate this year and have studied in high school for the first time can not be older than 22 years of age and unmarried; willing to apply for the foreign language major in Police Academy, and students who are going to graduate this year and have studied in high school for the first time can not be older than 20 years of age and unmarried.
  7. If students from Juvenile Classes want to take the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, their schools need to pre-select, send certification of approval, inform the exact required courses, and clarify the offices of Admissions Committee where they will take the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. After doing so, the students can then give the application. After the Office of Admissions Committee reviews and approves, the students can apply for and attend the National Higher Education Entrance Examination at the right location. Students who apply for Shao Nian Ban must be part of the small percentage of the population. They must have very high IQ, their grades must be excellent, and they must study at a secondary or high school under the age of 15 (not including those who are going to graduate this year and has studied in high school for the first time).

The following groups are prohibited from taking the exam:

  1. Students who are currently studying higher education.
  2. Students at high school who are not supposed to graduate from high school at the present year, but pretend to be graduates in order to attend the National Higher Education Entrance Examination.
  3. Students whose files are incomplete, such as no school status. In practice, this prohibition serves to exclude millions of children whose parents violated the one-child policy.
  4. One who is serving a prison sentence or is being prosecuted for violating Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.

Applicants to some specialist programs are also screened by additional criteria: some art departments (e.g. audition), military and police schools (political screening and physical exam), and some sports programs (tryout).

Scores obtained in the examinations can be used in applying universities outside mainland China. Among all the places, the counterpart Hong Kong is on their top list. In 2007, 7 students with overall highest score in their provinces entered Hong Kong's universities rather than the two major universities in mainland China. In 2010, over 1,200 students entered the 12 local institutions which provide tertiary education courses through this examination. In addition, City University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong directly participate in the application procedure like other mainland universities.

The examination is essentially the only criterion for tertiary education admissions. A poor performance on the test almost always means giving up on that goal. Students hoping to attend university will spend most of their waking moments studying prior to the exam. If they fail in their first attempt, some of them repeat the last year of high school life and make another attempt the following year.

Subjects

The subjects tested in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination have changed over time. Traditionally, students would undertake either a set of "arts" subjects or a set of "science" subjects, with some shared compulsory subjects. The subjects taken in the Examination affected the degree or career paths open to the student. In recent years, different provinces have included different subjects in the Examination, or implemented flexible systems for selecting the subjects to be tested, resulting in a number of different systems.

"3+X" system (Ready to disable)

As a pilot examination system used in order to promote education system reform, this examination system has been implemented in most parts of the country, including Beijing City, Tianjin City, Hebei Province, Liaoning Province, Jilin Province, Heilongjiang Province, Anhui Province, Fujian Province, Guangdong Province, Jiangxi Province, Henan Province, Shandong Province, Hubei Province, Shaanxi Province, Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, Yunnan Province, Shanxi Province, Chongqing City, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Tibet. In the context of the reform of the National College Entrance Examination, this program will be suspended in Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and Hainan provinces from 2020, and will be suspended in most provinces and cities in China from 2021. It will cease across Mainland China by 2022.

  • "3" refers to compulsory subjects, including "Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language (mostly English, and Japanese, Korean or Russian are also accepted; choices differ in different regions)", each of which accounts for 150/750 in total score.
  • "X" means that students can choose, according to their own interests, one subject from either Social Sciences (including Political Sciences, History and Geography), or Natural Sciences (including Physics, Chemistry and Biology), which accounts for 300/750 in total score.
  • If a student chooses Natural Sciences, then he or she will take a relatively harder mathematics test as well, including probability theory, conic sections and calculus.
  • For candidates of minor ethnic groups in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Jilin, their Literature score consists of an easier Chinese Literature test and an optional subject on Tibetan, Mongolian, Uyghur and Korean Literature, each counting for 75 points.
Compulsory Subjects Score Time Elective Subjects Score Time
Social Sciences Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language (mostly English) 450/750, 150 each 150 minutes for Chinese (9:00 to 11:30 on June 7th), 120 minutes for Mathematics (15:00 to 17:00 on June 7th) and the foreign language (15:00 to 17:00 on June 8th) Political Sciences, History and Geography 300/750, 100+100+100 150 minutes (9:00 to 11:30 on June 8th)
Natural Sciences Chinese, Mathematics (including complex Hyperbolas and Calculus) and a foreign language (mostly English) 450/750, 150 each 150 minutes for Chinese (9:00 to 11:30 on June 7th), 120 minutes for Mathematics (15:00 to 17:00 on June 7th) and the foreign language (15:00 to 17:00 on June 8th) Physics, Chemistry and Biology 300/750, 110+100+90 150 minutes (9:00 to 11:30 on June 8th)

"3+2" system

  • "3" refers to three compulsory subjects, including "Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language". "2" refers to selecting two subjects either from Politics, History or Geography for arts students, or from Biology, Chemistry or Physics for science students.
  • This system used to be employed in Jiangsu Province, but has been replaced by another system in 2020.

"4+X" system

This system was used after the New Curriculum Reform being employed in Guangdong province, and now it has been abandoned.

  • "X" means that according to their own interests, candidates can choose one or two subjects either from arts subjects, including Politics, History and Geography (Politics and Geography cannot be chosen simultaneously), or from science subjects, including Biology, Physics and Chemistry (Physics and Biology cannot be chosen simultaneously).
  • Chinese and a foreign language are compulsory. Two separate Mathematics tests are designed respectively for arts students and science students.
  • In addition to three compulsory subjects and X subject, arts students have to take comprehensive tests of arts, and science students have to take comprehensive tests of science.

"3+1+X" system

This system has been implemented in Shanghai since the employment of comprehensive courses, now abandoned.

  • "3" refers to three compulsory subjects "Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language", with 150 scores for each subject.
  • "1" refers to one subject that candidates choose according to their own interests and specialty from "Politics, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry and Biology". This subject accounts 150 scores when admitted by universities and colleges at undergraduate level. The score is not included in the total score when admitted by vocational and technical colleges. Therefore, candidates can give up this subject when applying for colleges at vocational and technical level.
  • "X" refers to comprehensive ability test, which is categorized into arts tests and science tests. Arts students can either choose one subject from Politics, History and Geography, or take an arts comprehensive test when giving up "1' subject. Science students can either choose one subject from Physics, Chemistry and Biology, or take a science comprehensive test when giving up "1" subject. Regardless of arts and science categories, all the comprehensive ability tests cover knowledge of six subjects,including Politics, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In the first volume of the arts test, number of questions related to arts subjects exceeds science questions, and vice versa; the second volume of the two tests are the same.

"3+2+X" system(Ready to disable)

This is a pilot college entrance examination system implemented by the Jiangsu Province in 2003 after examining other testing systems,but replaced by "3+2" system in 2008.Subject tests will take turns into the embrace of National Standard.A new policy is expected to substitute the old one in 2021.

  • "3" refers to three compulsory subjects "Chinese, mathematics and a foreign language", which are recorded in the total score.
  • "2" refers to choosing two subjects from the following six areas "politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology", which are not recorded in total score but a class like A+, A, etc. will be recorded.
  • "X" refers to a comprehensive science or liberal arts exam, which is not recorded in the total score, only for university admission reference.

"3+X+1" system

This is part of the curriculum reform in China.

  • "3" refers to Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language, which are compulsory testing subjects for each candidate.
  • "X" means choosing one of the two comprehensive tests in either sciences or liberal arts, according to the student's interest.
  • "1" refers to a basic proficiency test on skills that high school graduates needs and should have in order to adapt to social life. This college entrance examination system was implemented for the first time in Shandong in 2007.
  • The examination system in Shandong Province reverted to the "3+X" system as of the most recent testing in June 2014.

Reform of the National College Entrance Examination

"3+3" system

  • This system has been implemented in Shanghai and Zhejiang since the employment of comprehensive courses since September 2014.
  • All students participating in the National College Entrance Examination must take Chinese, mathematics, and a foreign language (a choice of one from English, Japanese and Russian; German, French and Spanish will be added from 2021). They also take three subjects of their choice from physics, chemistry, biology, geography, politics and history.
  • Since 2017, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hainan have begun to use this program. Since 2018, about 15 Chinese provinces have started to use this program. Since 2019, China has started to use this program.
  • In the calculation of the scores of the other three subjects, the plans of different provinces and cities in China are different. These subjects accounts 70 scores (in Shanghai) or 100 scores (in Zhejiang) each, according to the class like A+, A, B+, ..., D, E, etc(Divided into 21 grades in Zhejiang, 11 in Shanghai, 3 points between every two grades). According to the published news, Beijing and Tianjin indicated that their plan is similar to the Zhejiang plan, and Anhui's request for comment is similar to Zhejiang, too[8]; Jiangxi's is same as Shanghai. Shandong is divided into eight grades of A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D, and E. According to the original scores and equal conversion rules of the candidates, they are converted to 91-100, 81-90, 71-80, 61-70, 51-60, 41-50, 31-40, 21-30 eight score intervals, get the grades of candidates[9][10].
  • Another point to be concerned is that candidates who want to take the college entrance examination must first take the Qualifying Exam of the Academic Proficiency Examination for Senior High School Students(普通高中学业水平考试). The results are shown as “qualified” and “unqualified”. Can take part in the National College Entrance Examination after passing the Qualificating Exam.

Criticisms

Independent proposition

Regional imbalance of social and economic development has resulted in disparity in education levels across China, which gives rise to provincial proposition. However, provincial governments have to increase budget on education in order to offset the declining credibility of the exam caused by lack of experienced proposition experts and management personnel, which will, more or less, cause a repetitive investment in Human Resources, finance or material. For example,exam in Jiangsu is totally a different from others.It only counts the scores of the three major subjects,which means the total cents are decreased largely.To compete in a narrow range of score,students must focus on the study of The Three.The other two subjects are not recorded in total score but a class will be recorded,and universities has a requirement of a exact class.Different from the folk,the assessment is according to the percentage of students' examination results.Moreover,independent proposition covers regional discrimination generated by huge disparity of cut off scores between different provinces.

Academic segregation

Chinese students are required to choose either Social Sciences (political science, geography, and history) or Natural Sciences (physics, chemistry, and biology). This happens particularly at the end of the first year of high school, when students are mostly 15-16 years old. Once they make their decisions, they start preparing for the subject tests, and no longer take classes for the other three subjects. This decision will determine which college entrance test they will take at the age of 18, as well as influence their college majors and future career path.

Regional discrimination

A university usually sets a fixed admission quota for each province, with a higher number of students coming from its home province. As the advanced educational resources (number and quality of universities) are distributed unevenly across China, it is argued that people are being discriminated against during the admission process based on their geographic region. For example, compared to Beijing, Jiangxi province has fewer universities per capita. Therefore, Jiangxi usually receives fewer admission quotas compared with Beijing, which makes a significantly higher position among applicants necessary for a Jiangxi candidate to be admitted by the same university than his Beijing counterpart. The unequal admission schemes for different provinces and regions might intensify competition among examinees from provinces with fewer advanced education resources. For example, Beijing University planned to admit 1800 science students from Beijing (with 80,000 candidates in total), but only 38 from Shandong (with 660,000 candidates in total). This is not similar to the practice of regional universities in other countries which receive subsidies from regional governments in addition to or in place of those received from central governments, as universities in China largely depend on state budget rather than local budget. However, this regionally preferential policy does provide subsidies to minority students from under-developed regions that enjoy limited educational resources, such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

The regional discrimination can be proved by the disparities between ratios of a province's enrollment of students to the total number of candidate students of the province. In 2010, acceptance rate for students from Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong and Henan who applied for universities of the first-ranking category were 20.1%, 18%, 7.1% and 3.5% respectively. High acceptance rates are likely to appear in the most and least developed cities and provinces, such as Beijing, Shanghai or Qinghai. In contrast, acceptance rates remain relatively equal among provinces of the average developmental level.

In recent years, varied admission standards have led some families to relocate for the sole purpose of advancing their children's chances of entering university.[11]

In addition, regional discrimination is not only restricted to the ratio for admission. This is best illustrated with an example of the Hubei Province, where students' exam scores have been higher than other provinces for a long time. A score for a Hubei student to just reach the admission cut-off line for a key university may be enough for a student from another province to be admitted by a much better university, and even enough for a Beijing student to be admitted by top universities like Tsinghua University and Peking University.

Some local students in Hong Kong complained that it was unfair that the increasing intake of Mainland students who have performed at a high level in this examination increases the admission grades of universities, making it harder for local students to get admission. In 2010, more than 5,000 out of the 17,000 students who achieved the minimum university entry requirement were not offered places in any degree courses in the UGC-funded universities.

Special concessions

There are special concessions for members of ethnic minorities, foreign nationals, persons with family origin in Taiwan, and children of military casualties. Students can also receive bonus marks by achieving high results in academic Olympiads, other science and technology competitions, sporting competitions, as well as "political or moral" distinction. In 2018 NPC, the government admitted to cancel all bonus scores from competitions.

Psychological pressure

Because Gaokao is one of the most influential examinations in China and the fact that students can only take the test once a year, both teachers and students undergo tremendous pressure in preparing for and taking the exam. For teachers, because the society focuses on the rate of admission into universities, teachers have to pay more attention to each student's ability to take the exam. Because of this, teachers would like to give students more and more practice for exams. This teaching methodology, colloquially referred to as "cramming", involves students memorizing large volumes of information fed to them by teachers and undertaking many practice exercises in order to optimize exam writing ability. One of the disadvantages of this method is the lack of focus on teaching critical thinking and ignoring students' emotions, values and personalities. Many examinees suffer from severe nervousness during the test. In some cases, examinees may faint in the examination room.[12]

Further and deeper stemming criticisms have been leveled that the testing system is the "most pressure packed examination in the world."[13] Behaviors surrounding the testing period have been extreme under some reports, with doctors in Tianjin purportedly prescribing birth control pills to female students whose parents wanted to ensure the girls were not menstruating at the time of examination.[13] Testing pressure, for some critics, has been linked to faintings, increased drop out rates, and even increasing rates of teenage clinical depression and suicide in China.

Impact

The Gaokao tends to rule the lives of most Chinese teenagers and their parents. In Zhengzhou (Henan), the local bus company parked a 985 number bus outside a Gaokao center for parents to wait in, the number reflecting a popular enrollment program number for university entrances.[1]

Examination scope (in most areas)

Chinese

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Compulsory Course 3
  • Compulsory Course 4
  • Compulsory Course 5
  • Elective Course (Appreciation of Ancient Chinese Poetry and Prose)
  • other Elective Courses (such as Study of Chinese Cultural Classics, Appreciation of Chinese Novels) [14]
  • 50 ancient poems and articles in junior high school

Mathematics

compulsory examination scope:[15]

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Compulsory Course 3
  • Compulsory Course 4
  • Compulsory Course 5
  • Elective Course 1-1 (for Social Sciences)
  • Elective Course 1-2 (for Social Sciences)
  • Elective Course 2-1 (for Natural Sciences)
  • Elective Course 2-2 (for Natural Sciences)
  • Elective Course 2-3 (for Natural Sciences)

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected) :

  • Elective Course 4-4 (Coordinate System and Parameter Equation)
  • Elective Course 4-5 (Selection of Inequalities)

English

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Compulsory Course 3
  • Compulsory Course 4
  • Compulsory Course 5
  • Elective Course 6
  • Elective Course 7
  • Elective Course 8
  • Elective Course 9
  • Elective Course 10
  • Elective Course 11[16]

Physics

compulsory examination scope:[17]

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Elective Course 3-1
  • Elective Course 3-2
  • Elective Course 3-5

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected for Natural Sciences) :

  • Elective Course 3-3
  • Elective Course 3-4

Chemistry

compulsory examination scope:[18]

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Elective Course 4 (Chemical Reaction Principle)
  • Elective Course 1 (Chemistry and life)(For Social Sciences in some areas only)
  • Elective Course 2 (Chemistry and technology)(For Social Sciences in some areas only)
  • Elective Course 6 (Experimental Chemistry)(For Social Sciences in some areas only)

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected for Natural Sciences) :

  • Elective Course 3 (Material Structure and Properties)
  • Elective Course 5 (Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry)

Biology

compulsory examination scope:

  • Compulsory Course 1 (Molecules and Cells)
  • Compulsory Course 2 (Heredity and Evolution)
  • Compulsory Course 3 (Homeostasis and Environment)

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected for Natural Sciences) :

  • Elective Course 1 (Biotechnology Practice)
  • Elective Course 3 (Modern Biotechnology Topics)

Politics

compulsory examination scope:

  • Compulsory Course 1 (Economic Life)
  • Compulsory Course 2 (Political Life)
  • Compulsory Course 3 (Cultural Life)
  • Compulsory Course 4 (Life and Philosophy)
  • Politics of current affairs (from April last year to March)

History

compulsory examination scope:

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Compulsory Course 3

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected for Social Sciences) :

  • Elective Course 1 (Review of Major Reforms in History)
  • Elective Course 3 (War and Peace in Twentieth Century)
  • Elective Course 4 (Commentary on Historical Figures at Home and Abroad)

Geography

compulsory examination scope:

  • Compulsory Course 1
  • Compulsory Course 2
  • Compulsory Course 3
  • Geography in junior high school

elective examination scope (at least one course must be elected for Social Sciences) :

  • Elective Course 3 (Tourism Geography)
  • Elective Course 6 (Environmental Protection)

the types of the exam questions (in most areas, in 2018)

Chinese

I.modern article reading (36 scores)

(I) discussion text reading (3 questions, 9 scores)

question 1 to 3 (3 scores for each) : single choice questions with four options

(II) literary text reading (3 questions, 15 scores)

question 4 (3 scores) : single choice question with four options

question 5 (6 scores) : non choice question

question 6 (6 scores) : non choice question

(III) practical text reading (3 questions, 12 scores)

question 7 and 8 (3 scores for each question) : single choice questions with four options

question 9 (6 scores) : non choice question

II.ancient poetry and article reading (34 scores)

(I) classical Chinese reading (4 questions, 19 scores)

question 10 to 12 (3 scores for each question) : single choice questions with four options

question 13 (10 scores) : translate 2 sentences

(II) ancient poetry reading (2 questions, 9 scores)

question 14 (3 scores) : single choice question with four options

question 15 (6 scores) : non choice question

(III) write famous sentences from memory (1 question, 6 scores)

question 16 (6 scores) : sentences from 64 poems and articles (14 in senior high school and 50 in junior high school)

III.language use (20 scores)

question 17 to 19 (3 scores for each question) : single choice questions with four options

question 20 (5 scores) : non choice question

question 21 (6 scores) : non choice question

IV.writing (60 scores)

question 22 (60 scores) : at least 800 characters

Mathematics

I.choice questions (12 questions, 5 scores for each, 60 scores in total)

question 1 to 12 : single choice questions with four options

II.fill-in-the-blanks questions (4 questions, 5 scores for each, 20 scores in total)

question 13 to 16

III.answer questions (70 scores in total)

(I) compulsory questions (60 scores in total)

question 17 to 21 (12 scores for each)

(II) elective questions (10 scores in total, one of the questions must be elected)

question 22 (10 scores) : Elective Course 4-4 (Coordinate System and Parameter Equation)

question 23 (10 scores) : Elective Course 4-5 (Selection of Inequalities)

English

I.listening (30 scores)[19]

(I) (5 questions, 1.5 scores for each, 7.5 scores in total)

question 1 to 5 : single choice questions with three options

(II) (15 questions, 1.5 scores for each, 22.5 scores in total)

question 6 to 20 : single choice questions with three options

II.reading comprehension (40 scores)

(I) choice questions (4 articles, 15 questions, 2 scores for each, 30 scores in total)

question 21 to 35 : single choice questions with four options

(II) choose five from seven sentences (5 questions, 2 scores for each, 10 scores in total)

question 36 to 40 : five blanks in an article

III.application of linguistic knowledge (45 scores)

(I) cloze (20 questions, 1.5 scores for each, 30 scores in total)

question 41 to 60 : single choice questions with four options

(II) fill in the blanks (10 questions, 1.5 scores for each, 15 scores in total)

question 61 to 70 : ten blanks in an article, which need to be filled with a word or the correct form of the word in the parentheses

IV.writing (35 scores)

(I) error correction (10 questions, 1 score for each, 10 scores in total)

Ten errors in an article need to be corrected by adding, deleting or modifying a word. Each sentence has at most two errors.

(II) written expression (25 scores) : about 100 words

Natural Sciences

I.choice questions (13 questions, 6 scores for each, 78 scores in total)

question 1 to 6 : single choice questions with four options of Biology

question 7 to 13 : single choice questions with four options of Chemistry

II.choice questions (8 questions, 6 scores for each, 48 scores in total)

question 14 to 21 : choice questions with four options of Physics, including single choice questions and multiple choice questions[20]

III.non choice questions (174 scores in total)

(I) compulsory questions (129 scores in total)

question 22 to 25 : questions of Physics

question 26 to 28 : questions of Chemistry

question 29 to 32 : questions of Biology

(II) elective questions (45 scores in total, one of the questions in each subject must be elected)

question 33 (15 scores) : Elective Course 3-3 of Physics

question 34 (15 scores) : Elective Course 3-4 of Physics

question 35 (15 scores) : Elective Course 3 (Material Structure and Properties) of Chemistry

question 36 (15 scores) : Elective Course 5 (Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry) of Chemistry

question 37 (15 scores) : Elective Course 1 (Biotechnology Practice) of Biology

question 38 (15 scores) : Elective Course 3 (Modern Biotechnology Topics) of Biology

Social Sciences

I.choice questions (35 questions, 4 scores for each, 140 scores in total)

question 1 to 11 : single choice questions with four options of Geography

question 12 to 23 : single choice questions with four options of Politics

question 24 to 35 : single choice questions with four options of History

II.non choice questions (160 scores in total)

(I) compulsory questions (135 scores in total)

question 36 to 37 : questions of Geography

question 38 to 40 : questions of Politics

question 41 to 42 : questions of History

(II) elective questions (25 scores in total, one of the questions in each subject must be elected)

question 43 (10 scores) : Elective Course 3 (Tourism Geography) of Geography

question 44 (10 scores) : Elective Course 6 (Environmental Protection) of Geography

question 45 (15 scores) : Elective Course 1 (Review of Major Reforms in History) of History

question 46 (15 scores) : Elective Course 3 (War and Peace in Twentieth Century) of History

question 47 (15 scores) : Elective Course 4 (Commentary on Historical Figures at Home and Abroad) of History

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Chi, ma (8 June 2017). "Scenes from the most important test in China". China Daily. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Guodong Wei, “On the Reform of China’s NCEE since 1977” (PhD diss., Hebei University, 2008).
  3. ↑ Wei, “On the Reform of China’s NCEE since 1977.”
  4. 1 2 "中国教育网". 中国教育在线(Chinese simplified). 2018-06-06. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  5. ↑ "全国31省市一本录取率排名，哪个省份高考最难？". Sohu (Chinese simplified). 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  6. ↑ "Google Photos". Google photos screenshot from zhihu. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  7. ↑ This subject is partly a civics or introductory legal studies class, and partly ideology from the Communist Party of China.
  8. ↑ "安徽省普通高中学业水平考试实施办法(征求意见稿)__万家热线-安徽门户网站". edu.365jia.cn. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  9. ↑ "山东省教育招生考试院". www.sdzk.gov.cn. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  10. ↑ "​山东高考综合改革的等级计分规则_山东教育社". www.sdjys.org. Retrieved 2018-08-30. zero width space character in |title= at position 1 (help)
  11. ↑ "Migrating college candidates could be left out in cold, News Guangdong, 2005".
  12. ↑ Xu, Xiuhua. "基础教育弊端日益显现 中国课程改革势在必行". People Website.
  13. 1 2 Siegel, Ben (June 12, 2007). "Stressful Times for Chinese Students". TIME magazine.
  14. ↑ These courses are not contained in the exam scope, but students in some schools take these courses because Chinese does not have an exact exam scope.
  15. ↑ Most contents in Elective Course series 1 are also contained in Elective Course series 2, but some contents in Elective Course series 2 is not contained in Elective Course series 1. This makes Mathematics exam easier for Social Sciences than Natural Sciences.
  16. ↑ Elective Courses 9, 10 and 11 are not contained in the exam scope, but students in some schools take these courses because English does not have an exact exam scope.
  17. ↑ Elective Course 3-1, Elective Course 3-2 and Elective Course 3-5 are regarded as compulsory courses for Natural Sciences.
  18. ↑ Elective Course 4 (Chemical Reaction Principle) is regarded as a compulsory course for Natural Sciences.
  19. ↑ In some areas where listening scores is not reckoned in, the scores of the other questions multiply 1.25.
  20. ↑ Students who choose all the right options get 6 scores. Students who choose part of the right options get 3 scores. Students who choose any wrong options get no score.

Further reading

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