Understand the Gaokao: 169 Flashcards on History, Scoring and the 3+1+2 System

Every June, more than 13 million Chinese students sit the Gaokao, the exam that decides almost single-handedly who enters university. For students of Chinese education, comparative-education papers or anyone curious about the world's largest exam, the Gaokao English Vocabulary deck (code GP5954, 169 cards) is a compact fact base: dates, acceptance rates, scoring systems, subject rules and the reforms that reshaped the exam between 2014 and 2025. Despite its name, this is not a word list — it is a question-and-answer deck about the exam itself, written in English.

Ten cards to set the scene

What the 169 cards cover

• History: the 1952 launch, the 1959 NMTP policy, the 1966 cancellation and recommendation system, the Down to the Countryside Movement, the 1977 resumption, the 1992 addition of CCP history.
• Scale and statistics: applicants from 9.5 million (2006) to 11.93 million (2022) and 13.35 million (2025); acceptance rates of 81.13% (2018), 92.89% (2021) and 84.97% (2023); institutions growing from 1,071 (1999) to 2,740 (2020).
• Exam structure: the three mandatory subjects (Chinese, Mathematics, Foreign Language, 150 points each), the June 7-10 timetable, 120-minute Math and 100-minute Foreign Language papers, 90-minute electives.
• Scoring reforms: 3+X, 3+3 (Shanghai and Zhejiang, 2014), 3+1+2 (eight provinces, 2019), band scores from 100 to 30 points, Zhejiang's 21 grades vs Shanghai's 11, Shandong's A to E scale, Jiangsu's old 480-point system, Zhejiang's 810-point 3+3+Y.
• Eligibility and registration: the Hukou system, migrant-children rules (Guangdong 2016), age limits for military (20) and police (22) academies, medical checks, 保送 exemptions, Juvenile Classes.
• Admissions: tiers from early admissions to vocational colleges, 4-6 choices per tier, provincial quotas, the Peking University Beijing-vs-Hubei example, Hong Kong and University of Malaya (minimum 520) pathways.
• Curriculum: compulsory and elective-compulsory volumes for every subject, plus the 2017 removals (Geometric Proof, Chemistry and Technology, Plant Tissue Culture).

Two ways to make the numbers stick

Build a timeline card first. Many answers are years: 1952, 1966, 1977, 1992, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025. Before drilling the deck, write these nine dates on a single line and attach one event to each. Every later card then slots into a slot you already know instead of floating alone.

Compare pairs, not isolated figures. The deck is full of contrasts: 1977's 5.19% vs 2021's 92.89%, 3+3 vs 3+1+2, Zhejiang's 21 bands vs Shanghai's 11, Beijing's 800 Peking University places vs Hubei's cut-off. When a card gives one half of a pair, recall the other half aloud before flipping. Pairs are remembered far better than single statistics.

Study plan

Split the deck by theme: history and statistics, then exam structure and scoring, then eligibility and admissions, then one mixed review. Keep cards that share a number (750 total, 150 per subject, 100 per elective) in the same session.

Find the Gaokao English Vocabulary deck (code GP5954) in the Flip It library at flip-it.app and start with the ten cards above.