National Higher Education Entrance Examination

The National Higher Education Entrance Examination (also translated as National Matriculation Examination or National College Entrance Examination or "NCEE"), commonly known as Gaokao (高考, "Higher Education Exam", Pinyin gāo kǎo, lit. "High test"), is an academic examination held annually in People's Republic of China. This examination is a prerequisite for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level. It is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school, although there has been no age restriction since 2001.

The exams last about 9 hours, depends on the Chinese provinces, over a period of 2 days. Chinese literature, Mathematics, and English language (in most provinces) are required for all students. Students choose either one of two academic areas, Humanities (文綜）or Natural Sciences (理綜).

In 2006, a record high of 9.5 million people applied for tertiary education entry in China. Of these, 8.8 million (93%) are scheduled to take the national entrance exam and 27,600 (0.28%) have been exempted from standardized exams (保送) due to exceptional or special talent. Everyone else (700,000 students) will take other standardized entrance exams, such as those designed for adult education students.