Since its restoration in 1977, China’s college entrance exam has been the key for national talent selection. The common criticisms for gaokao include its overemphasis on rote learning and high stakes, excessive test preparation, and equity concerns. In response to these challenges, the ministry of education started implementing a new round of reforms, starting in 2014. This article analyzes these ongoing reform measures and reviews the challenges that remain.

Since its restoration in 1977, China’s college entrance exam, known as gaokao, has been the key for national talent selection. Every year, more than 10 million students take the gaokao, competing for admission to universities. However, the exam, along with some long-standing features of the Chinese education system, has been facing criticism for its emphasis on rote learning and high stakes, which arguably undermine students’ creative and critical thinking. Another common concern is that the gaokao potentially widens the gap between students from rural or underprivileged backgrounds and their peers from urban areas or wealthier families.

In response to these issues, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China issued the “Implementation Guidelines on Deepening the Reform of the Examination and Enrollment System” in September 2014, initiating a new round of gaokao reforms. This ongoing reform, having been underway for 10 years, aims to develop a comprehensive talent selection system through a series of measures, including adjusting examination subjects, reforming scoring methods, and diversifying university admission criteria. This article analyzes these measures and reviews the challenges that remain.

Gaokao Reform and Student Competency

The gaokao system is commonly criticized for its overemphasis on standardized testing, which has encouraged rote learning and limited opportunities for students to develop their independent thinking. Teachers have been forced to prioritize test results and therefore overlook students’ individual interests and capabilities. To tackle these issues, the current gaokao reform focuses on the holistic development and personalized growth of students, ensuring that students are better prepared for higher education and future careers.

The current reform intends to align students’ subject selection with their interests and future academic or career paths. In the past, high school students had only two pathways in gaokao: in addition to the three required subjects (Chinese, maths, and English), they could choose either “liberal arts” subjects (politics, history, and geography) or “sciences” subjects (physics, chemistry, and biology). The new gaokao system abolishes the arts–science division and allows students to choose freely from all subjects. Some regions now use a “three+three” model, where students take the three required subjects and choose any three additional ones. Others use a “three+one+two” model, where students take the same three required subjects, then choose one from physics or history, plus two more subjects. This approach allows students to reflect on their own learning needs and interests when making decisions, enhancing their learner autonomy while promoting well-rounded and personalized development.

Second, the reform implements a university admission framework known as “two bases + one reference,” transforming the enrollment process from one that solely relied on gaokao scores to a more balanced and diverse evaluation system. What does “two bases” mean? While the traditional gaokao score remains the primary factor in university admissions, students’ grades from the high school academic proficiency exam serve as another key criterion. Students take proficiency exams in all subjects throughout their three-year high school journey. They need to pass the proficiency exams before taking the gaokao, and their results are graded and then converted into scores in the university admission process.

The “one reference” refers to the Overall Quality Evaluation system, which assesses students’ comprehensive skills and abilities across several areas, including academic performance, social responsibility, physical and mental health, ethics and moral behavior, and artistic achievements. High schools conduct this evaluation over the three-year study period. During the college admission process, this “one reference” has become an important indicator, particularly when two candidates have similar exam scores.

This admission framework provides students with multiple opportunities for exams and evaluations, thereby reducing the pressure of a single high-stakes exam. This arrangement also encourages, if not urges, students to balance their growth across all subjects while emphasizing the development of their soft skills.

Gaokao Reform and Educational Equity

The gaokao system has faced challenges related to educational equity, particularly in terms of regional disparities. Uneven distribution of educational resources has widened the urban–rural and coastal–inland divide, with wealthier regions benefiting from more teachers, better facilities, and access to educational opportunities. The imbalance has further widened the college admission gap between these areas. As the country’s socioeconomic development has progressed, wealthy families have managed to secure the resources to enhance their children’s access to higher education. Additionally, the gaokao’s bonus point system has been criticized for favoring some groups of students with abundant resources. These issues have raised concerns about fairness in the gaokao and underlined broader social equity challenges.

In response, the current gaokao reform provides special support for the central and western regions in China. The ministry of education has continued to implement collaborative enrollment plans to increase admission rates in these areas. Many leading universities have increased their admission quotas for youth from unprivileged areas, ensuring that qualified students have access to excellent educational resources. Further, the reform was intended to improve policies for migrant children. In the past, migrant children were required to return to their hometowns to take the gaokao. The new policies now ensure that they can participate in the gaokao in their new residential areas and enjoy equal access to educational resources.

The current reform also deemphasizes the gaokao’s bonus point system. This system previously awarded additional points for students’ achievements (e.g., in sports, mathematical Olympiads, etc.) or moral accomplishments. It was argued that privileged families had better access to these opportunities, and that the criteria, especially for “moral” students, were often unclear. To promote equity, the ministry of education and the local authorities have significantly scaled back the bonus point programs and tightened regulations. Currently, bonus points are primarily reserved for certain ethnic minority students, and the ministry of education demands that these points be “more accurately calculated.”

Looking Ahead

While the current gaokao reform has brought significant progress, some issues still need to be addressed. A key challenge in fully implementing the new gaokao model is providing students with rational and well-informed guidance on learning and subject choices. Although the exam format has changed, the deeply rooted exam culture makes it difficult to integrate these measures into the teaching and learning practices. While students, parents, and teachers have gradually shifted their focus toward holistic development and personalized learning, it will still take time for these cultural and intellectual changes to take root across Chinese society. In this process, ensuring that students receive tailored guidance and support is critical. Additionally, disparities in educational resources between regions and schools may affect students’ choices and development. Uneven distribution of resources, such as teacher quality, course offerings, and facilities, could lead to unequal opportunities for subject selection and future development, further highlighting the equity issues in the gaokao reform.

While the “two bases + one reference” admission framework offers flexibility to students, it presents complications, particularly in the Overall Quality Evaluation system. Assessing students’ comprehensive abilities, from academic performance to social responsibilities and soft skills, requires well-defined standards and evaluation methods to ensure reliable and valid results across classes, schools, and regions. Further, the complexity of assessing students’ intangible qualities highlights the challenges to maintaining transparency, integrity, and consistency in this process.

With the development of information technologies, it is crucial to explore how modern technologies can optimize the management of gaokao and admission processes, improving both efficiency and transparency. Also, as China undergoes rapid socioeconomic transformation, the gaokao system must adapt to these changes to better prepare students for their future careers and the changing needs of the Chinese society.

Rui-Fang Xiang is faculty member and director of the Teaching and Research Office at Wen Lai Middle School in Shanghai, China. E-mail: [email protected].

Qi Wang is adjunct associate professor at the School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. E-mail: [email protected].