Shanghai, Zhejiang to pilot gaokao reforms

Zhejiang province and Shanghai both announced new plans for the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, on Friday in the hope of improving the quality of education by allowing their high school students to learn a wider breadth of subjects.

Both the city and the province said the annual gaokao will no longer be the only criterion for college admission and that students will not be forced to choose a preference in majors from either liberal arts or sciences.

In the newly announced pilot programs, both regions will do away with the former gaokao system in which 12th-graders took tests on six subjects in just three days. In most regions, the gaokao can only be taken once a year.