Overview
Zhongkao (中考), formally the junior high school academic level examination (初中学业水平考试), is taken at the end of China's nine years of compulsory education, when students finish junior high school (初中) at around age 15. It does two jobs at once: it certifies that a student has met the required junior-high academic standard, and its score is the main basis for deciding which senior-secondary school the student is admitted to next.
Zhongkao is not one uniform national paper. Each province, autonomous region and municipality runs its own exam through its own education examination authority, setting its own subject list, scoring scale and exact dates. The facts below are drawn from several of these local authorities as examples; a student's own city or province is the only source for the rules that actually apply to them.
Who can apply
Students who have completed China's nine-year compulsory education (six years of primary school plus three years of junior high) register for Zhongkao in the final (grade-9) year of junior high, through their school, during the registration window their local education examination authority announces for that cycle. For the June 2026 exam, Shanghai opened its online registration window for current students on 19 January 2026. Candidates are typically around 15 years old. Students without local household registration, or who are transferring in from another city or province, face extra eligibility conditions that each city sets for itself, so this varies by locality.
Exam pattern
Every locality counts Chinese, Maths and a foreign language (usually English). Which of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Politics/Ethics and rule of law, History and Geography also count toward the score, whether a subject is closed-book or open-book, and the total score, all vary by province and city. Many cities also run a separate foreign-language listening-and-speaking test and separate practical/laboratory-skills tests for Physics and Chemistry, scored outside the main written papers.
| Locality | Subjects counted toward the score | Total score (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing | Chinese, Maths, Foreign language, Ethics and rule of law, Physics, PE and health | 510 |
| Shanghai | Chinese, Maths, Foreign language (with a separate listening-speaking test), Ethics and rule of law (open-book), History (open-book), PE and health, a combined paper covering Physics/Chemistry/cross-subject case analysis, plus separate Physics and Chemistry lab-skills tests | 750 |
| Guangzhou | Chinese, Maths, English (with a listening-speaking component), PE and health, Ethics and rule of law, History, Physics, Chemistry | 810 |
| Dongguan | Chinese, Maths, English (with a listening-speaking component), Ethics and rule of law, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, PE and health | 800 |
PE and health is usually a practical skills test rather than a written paper. Where a city runs a foreign-language listening-speaking test or Physics/Chemistry lab-skills tests, these are typically held weeks before the main written papers.
Syllabus
Exam content for every subject is drawn from the national compulsory-education curriculum standards, as applied through each province's own subject outline for that year's Zhongkao. Since 2019, Ministry of Education guidance has directed that junior-high academic level exam papers no longer follow a separate, fixed national "exam outline" booklet, so provinces and cities publish their own current-year subject outlines rather than students relying on one nationwide syllabus document.
Marking and results
Papers are marked and results are released by the local or provincial education examination authority through its own portal. For 2026, Beijing released scores and score-band statistics on 9 July, and other cities publish on their own dates in late June or July. Alongside raw subject scores, each authority publishes score-band ("一分一段") statistics for that year, which students use to judge where they stand before ranking (填报志愿) the senior-high schools or vocational programmes they want to be admitted to, within that city's or province's own admission batches and rules.
After the exam
Zhongkao score is the main basis for deciding which track of senior-secondary school a student is admitted to: an academic general senior high school (普通高中), which leads toward the Gaokao and university entrance, or a secondary vocational school (中等职业学校/中职), covering vocational and technical secondary programmes that lead toward technical/vocational further study or work. This split happens once, right after junior high, and is one of the most significant turning points in Chinese basic education.
National policy calls for keeping the ratio of academic-track to vocational-track places "roughly balanced" (职普比大体相当) in each province; the Ministry of Education restated this in its 2021 circular on secondary vocational school enrolment, directing provinces with a low vocational share to expand vocational capacity and admissions. In practice the split is not a fixed 50:50 everywhere: nationally, vocational schools took roughly 40% of senior-secondary-level admissions in 2022, and individual cities have since moved their own target in either direction (for example, Fuzhou widened its academic-track share from about 55:45 in 2023 toward about 70:30 by 2024). Because each city sets its own admission plan and cut-off scores for the year, how many students enter each track, and what score is needed for the academic track, differs by locality and by year.
Important dates
Zhongkao itself is typically held in June, with any separate listening-speaking or lab-skills components usually scheduled earlier in the term; exact days are set by each province or city for that year. For 2026: Shanghai's foreign-language listening-speaking and Physics/Chemistry lab-skills tests ran 16-17 May, with the main written papers on 20-21 June; Guangdong cities such as Zhongshan ran their English listening-speaking test 16-17 May; Beijing's main written papers ran 24-25 June, with scores released 9 July and senior-high admission results announced 19 July. Registration windows open earlier in the school year and are announced separately by each city.
Preparation tips
Use the current-year subject list, score weighting and open-book/closed-book rules your own city's or province's education examination authority publishes, since all of these can change year to year and differ from neighbouring cities.
Treat any separate foreign-language listening-speaking test and Physics/Chemistry lab-skills test as their own exams with their own earlier schedule, not as part of the main written papers.
Check your own city's score-band ("一分一段") release and admission-batch rules before ranking schools on your application, since cut-off scores for the academic track move every year and differ from city to city.
Where PE and health is a practical test, prepare for it on the same timeline as the written subjects, since it counts toward the same total score.
Is Zhongkao the same exam everywhere in China?
No. Zhongkao is organised at the provincial and municipal level, not nationally. Each province, autonomous region and municipality sets its own subject list, total score, open-book/closed-book rules and exact dates through its own education examination authority.
What happens if a student is placed into the vocational track instead of a general senior high school?
Zhongkao score and the student's own ranked preferences decide which senior-secondary school a student is admitted to. A student placed into a secondary vocational school (中职) follows a vocational/technical senior-secondary programme rather than the academic general senior high school track that leads toward the Gaokao. National policy calls for keeping the overall academic-to-vocational ratio roughly balanced, but the actual split and cut-off scores are set separately by each province and city, and change from year to year.
Do all cities test the same subjects?
No. Chinese, Maths and a foreign language count everywhere, but whether Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Politics/Ethics and rule of law, History and Geography count toward the score, and whether each is open-book or closed-book, varies by city and province. Many cities also run separate listening-speaking and lab-skills tests outside the main written papers.
When are Zhongkao results released?
This is set by each local education examination authority and differs by city. Results are generally released online in late June or July of the exam year; for example, Beijing released its 2026 results on 9 July.