The November 14-15 CSCA Sitting: How China's Undergraduate Entrance Exam Entered Its Two-Day Era

Bulletin | Nov,07 2026

From November 14-15, the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA) will be held in a new format: for the first time, each sitting spans two full days, with Professional Chinese and Mathematics on the first day and Physics and Chemistry on the second. According to the organiser of the assessment, the change gives candidates more breathing room between papers and reflects how central the CSCA has become to international undergraduate admission — a required application document at a rapidly growing list of universities for anyone who wants to study in China at bachelor's level, with results that remain valid for two years.

What Exactly Is Changing in November?

Until now, a CSCA sitting was compressed into a single day, and candidates juggling several subjects faced a long, exhausting stretch of papers. The November session introduces a cleaner structure: language and mathematics on day one, the science subjects on day two, with sessions beginning in the morning or afternoon Beijing time depending on the assigned batch. Home-based online testing and computer-based testing at physical centres now run simultaneously, with identical content, duration and scoring standards, so candidates in different regions face the same exam under the same rules.

Which Subjects Must You Sit?

The subject rules have not changed, and they remain easy to misunderstand. Mathematics is compulsory for every applicant — it is the one paper nobody can skip. Physics and Chemistry depend on your target programme: universities decide which science papers their majors require, and applicants to science, engineering, agriculture and medicine should generally expect to sit at least one of the two. Professional Chinese is tied to the language of instruction rather than the subject: if you apply for a Chinese-taught bachelor's degree, you take the Professional Chinese paper in the humanities or science track; if you apply for a fully English-taught programme, the paper does not apply to you. Students who hold a valid upper-level HSK certificate may also be exempted under current rules. The science papers can be taken in either Chinese or English, so check which language your target university expects before you register. Our CSCA requirements guide for 2027 applicants summarises the current framework, and your university's own admission notice always has the final word.

How Are Results Used?

Universities receive candidates' results directly and use them as a quantitative measure of academic ability across different countries and school systems — exactly the problem the CSCA was created to solve, since a top grade in one national curriculum means little to an admissions officer in China without a common benchmark. There is no universal pass mark: each university, and each competitive programme within it, may set its own expectations, and scholarship bodies weigh the scores heavily as well — wherever in China you hope to study. Because results remain valid for two years, a strong score taken early becomes an asset you can carry through an entire application cycle, or even a retake strategy if one paper disappoints.

What Does This Mean for 2027 Applicants?

If you plan to study in China from September 2027, the November and December sittings are your early windows, and sitting early is the strategic move: scores arrive with time to spare before university deadlines, and a disappointing result leaves room to retake rather than wreck the timeline. The administrative side matters just as much as the academic side. Registration for a sitting closes well before the exam date, home-based candidates must complete the required equipment and connection checks, and every candidate should confirm subjects, language of testing and local start times converted from Beijing time before the day itself. The documents you need for a Chinese university application go well beyond the score report, so prepare the file in parallel rather than in sequence.

Plan the Sitting, Then Plan the Preparation

The two-day format removes one source of stress, but it does not lower the bar. Candidates who treat the CSCA as a general knowledge quiz consistently underperform against candidates who train with the exam's actual vocabulary, timing and question style. If your current plan is "revise my old textbooks and hope", replace it with a structured programme — SICAS's CSCA preparation training exists precisely for this — and give yourself more than one shot at the sitting that decides your 2027 study in China options.

Last updated: Nov,07 2026. Exam arrangements are subject to the official notice and your admission ticket.

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