Kaoyan

Overview

Kaoyan (考研), formally the National Graduate Entrance Examination (全国硕士研究生招生考试), is mainland China's nationwide standardised examination for admission to master's degree programmes, organised under the Ministry of Education. It is a different exam from the Gaokao, which is the undergraduate entrance exam taken at the end of senior secondary school — Kaoyan is sat after completing (or in the final year of) a bachelor's degree, for entry into postgraduate study. It is held once a year, combining a written "first-round" exam (初试), set partly nationally and partly by the target university, with a university-run interview and second round (复试). For the 2026 cycle, the Ministry of Education confirmed preliminary online registration from 10 to 13 October 2025, full online registration from 16 to 27 October 2025, and the first-round exam on 20-21 December 2025.

Who can apply

A candidate must be a citizen of the People's Republic of China, be of good conduct, abide by the law, and be in the health condition the institution requires. On academic qualifications, a candidate must be one of: a final-year undergraduate who will hold a nationally recognised bachelor's degree by the time they enrol; a graduate who already holds a nationally recognised bachelor's degree (including graduates of adult higher education, self-study examinations, or online education); or a holder of a nationally recognised higher-vocational diploma with at least two years' work experience, applying on an equivalent-to-bachelor's basis where the target institution's programme allows it. Since 2014 the Ministry of Education has set no upper age limit for Kaoyan, though individual programmes (for example some military or performing-arts majors) may add their own extra requirements.

Exam pattern

The written first round (初试) has, for most candidates, three or four papers: two subjects set nationally for every candidate, plus one or two subjects set by the specific target university for the programme applied to.

A candidate applying to a discipline that does not require mathematics (most humanities and some social-science programmes) instead sits a university-set professional-basics paper in its place. Most candidates sit either three papers totalling 300 marks, or four papers totalling 500 marks, depending on their discipline and how many professional papers the target university sets.

A candidate who clears both the national and the target university's minimum score lines (see Marking and results) advances to a second round (复试) run entirely by that university: typically a further written test in the specific major, an interview, and often a test of practical, laboratory or language ability. Universities combine the first-round and second-round results, weighted in proportions each university sets itself, to reach their admission decision.

Marking and results

Papers in the first round are marked on raw scores and combined into a total. After marking, the Ministry of Education publishes national minimum score lines (国家线), set separately by discipline category, covering both single-subject thresholds and a total-score threshold; a candidate must clear every one of these lines to be considered for a second round. A target university can, and often does, set its own line for a given programme higher than the national line. For the 2026 cycle, first-round results began releasing from 28 February 2026, with national lines following within the following weeks.

Important dates

For the 2026 cycle (admission from autumn 2026): preliminary online registration ran 10-13 October 2025, full online registration ran 16-27 October 2025, and the first-round exam was held on 20-21 December 2025. First-round results began releasing on 28 February 2026, with national score lines and university second-round arrangements following in March 2026. Each institution sets its own second-round dates. Registration, exam and results dates shift by a few days each year, so confirm the current cycle's exact dates on the China Graduate Enrolment Information website (chsi.com.cn), usually announced from September.

How to apply

Registration runs entirely online through 中国研究生招生信息网 (yz.chsi.com.cn), the site the Ministry of Education runs for postgraduate admissions. A candidate first completes a preliminary registration in the October window, then confirms and finalises their application — target university, programme and exam subjects — in the main registration window later the same month. After online registration, each candidate completes an "online confirmation" step set by their own province's education examination authority, including identity verification and a photo upload; a candidate who skips or fails this confirmation cannot sit the exam. Exam-centre admission tickets are released online shortly before the exam.

After the exam

Once first-round results and national score lines are published, a candidate who clears the lines for their first-choice programme is invited to that university's second round. A candidate whose score falls below their first-choice programme's own line but still clears the relevant national line can apply through the national adjustment system (调剂) to transfer to a different programme or university that still has open places and whose line their score clears; adjustment runs through the same chsi.com.cn system, within windows the Ministry announces after the lines are published. Each target university makes its own final admission decision after running its second round, generally in March or April.

Preparation tips

Because mathematics and the professional/major papers carry the most marks (150 each, against 100 for Politics and the foreign language), most candidates put the bulk of their preparation into their discipline's specific syllabus and any university-set professional paper — which varies from one target university to another even for the same nominal subject, so past papers and syllabi should be sourced from the specific university applied to. Because the second round carries real weight in the final decision, a candidate who clears the written lines should prepare for it directly (university-specific major tests, interviews, and sometimes a language or laboratory component) rather than treating the first round as the end of the process.