Key findings
- The gaokao is about six times larger than the SAT. China’s Ministry of Education reported 12.9 million gaokao candidates in June 2026; College Board counted 2,004,965 SAT takers in the US class of 2025.
- The gaokao is held once a year and is close to the only admissions criterion. The SAT is offered on multiple weekend and school-day dates, and more than 90% of ranked US four-year colleges did not require it for fall 2026 (FairTest).
- Scales differ: the gaokao is usually scored out of 750 (Chinese, math and a foreign language at 150 each, plus three subjects); the digital SAT runs 400 to 1600 in two sections, 98 questions in 134 minutes.
- Gaokao numbers are falling: candidates peaked at 13.42 million in 2024 and fell by 450,000 in 2026, the second decline in a row.
- Distributions: the class of 2025 SAT mean was 1029; 7% scored 1400 or higher. China publishes gaokao score-rank tables by province, not one national distribution.
The gaokao and the SAT are both college entrance exams, but they do different jobs. About 12.9 million students registered for China’s gaokao in June 2026, roughly six times the 2.0 million US students in the class of 2025 who took the SAT. The gaokao is held once a year, covers six subjects scored out of (usually) 750, and largely decides which university a student attends. The SAT is a 134-minute reading, writing and math test scored from 400 to 1600, offered several times a year, and at most US colleges it is optional. The table below puts the main numbers side by side; each section after it explains one difference with its source.
Gaokao vs SAT at a glance
| Feature | Gaokao (China) | SAT (United States) |
|---|---|---|
| Test takers | ~12.9 million registered (2026) | 2,004,965 (class of 2025) |
| Trend | 2nd straight decline (−450,000 in 2026) | Counted once per student, most recent score |
| When | Once a year, from June 7 | Several weekend dates a year plus school-day testing |
| Length | 2 to 4 days, by province | 2 hours 14 minutes (98 questions), one 10-minute break |
| Subjects | Chinese, math, foreign language, plus 3 subjects (e.g. physics or history + 2 electives) | Reading and Writing; Math |
| Maximum score | 750 in most provinces (660 Shanghai, 900 Hainan) | 1600 (two sections of 200–800) |
| Average | Not published nationally | 1029 mean (class of 2025) |
| Retakes | Wait a year; some students repeat senior year | Allowed; 68% of class of 2025 takers tested on a school day at least once |
| Role in admission | “Essentially the only criterion”; provincial quotas and cutoff lines | One factor; over 90% of ranked 4-year colleges did not require it for fall 2026 |
| Who runs it | Provinces, coordinated by the Ministry of Education | College Board (private nonprofit) |
Sources: China Ministry of Education via gov.cn (2026); China News Service via ECNS (2026); Wikipedia, “Gaokao”; College Board 2025 SAT Suite Annual Report and SAT structure page; FairTest (September 2025).
How many students take each exam?
China’s gaokao drew about 12.9 million registered candidates in 2026, the Ministry of Education announced on June 3, 2026, ahead of the June 7 start (gov.cn). That was down from 13.35 million in 2025. China News Service reported the 450,000 drop as the second straight decline, after a smaller fall of 70,000 in 2025, the first decrease in about a decade. The record was 13.42 million in 2024.
Sources: Wikipedia 'Gaokao' table (1977–2024); China Ministry of Education via gov.cn (2025, 2026); College Board 2025 annual report (SAT). Bars scaled to 14 million.
In the US, College Board’s 2025 SAT Suite annual report counts 2,004,965 students in the class of 2025 who took the SAT during high school. Each student is counted once, with the most recent score. ACT reports that almost 1.4 million class of 2025 graduates took the ACT, about 36% of the graduating class. Many US students take both, so the two counts cannot simply be added.
The comparison is not exact in another way: gaokao figures are registered candidates in one year, including students repeating the exam, while the SAT figure is a graduating class.
How each exam is built and scored
The gaokao is a multi-subject exam; the SAT is a two-section aptitude-style test. Under the “3+1+2” model now used in many provinces, three compulsory papers (Chinese, mathematics and a foreign language, almost always English) are worth 150 points each. Students then choose physics or history (100 points) and two more subjects from chemistry, biology, political science and geography, which are converted to band scores, according to the Wikipedia gaokao article. Some provinces use a “3+3” model instead, and a few use different totals.
| Gaokao component (3+1+2 model) | Points |
|---|---|
| Chinese language | 150 |
| Mathematics | 150 |
| Foreign language | 150 |
| Physics or history | 100 |
| Elective 1 (converted score) | 100 |
| Elective 2 (converted score) | 100 |
| Total | 750 |
Typical gaokao score composition. Shanghai uses 660 and Hainan 900. Source: Wikipedia, “Gaokao.”
The digital SAT has two sections, College Board’s test structure page shows: Reading and Writing (54 questions, 64 minutes) and Math (44 questions, 70 minutes), each split into two adaptive modules, for 98 questions in 2 hours 14 minutes. Each section is scored 200 to 800, for a 400 to 1600 total. You can estimate a practice-test result with our SAT score calculator.
The ACT, the other US option, reports a composite on a 1 to 36 scale; the class of 2025 average was 19.4. Our ACT score calculator converts practice answers into a composite.
What do the score distributions look like?
For the SAT, College Board publishes a full national distribution. For the gaokao, there is no single national one. The class of 2025 SAT mean was 1029 (Reading and Writing 521, Math 508) with a standard deviation of 235. The middle half of students scored between 850 (25th percentile) and 1200 (75th percentile), and 39% met both college-readiness benchmarks.
Source: College Board, 2025 SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, Total Group. Most recent score per student. The mean (1029) falls in the red band. Bars scaled to 35%.
| SAT total score band (class of 2025) | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1400–1600 | 149,767 | 7% |
| 1200–1390 | 357,574 | 18% |
| 1000–1190 | 554,819 | 28% |
| 800–990 | 609,159 | 30% |
| 600–790 | 281,174 | 14% |
| 400–590 | 52,472 | 3% |
Source: College Board, 2025 SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, Total Group.
Gaokao results are reported province by province. Because papers, subject combinations and even maximum scores differ between provinces, each province publishes its own table converting scores to ranks, and universities set admission lines per province. We could not verify a national gaokao mean or distribution, so this page does not show one. For context on what SAT numbers mean for US applicants, see what counts as a good SAT score and our SAT and ACT averages by state.
Why a raw gaokao score can’t be converted to an SAT score
Equal percentages of the maximum do not mean equal performance. It is tempting to compare 600 out of 750 with 1280 out of 1600, since both are 80% of the top score. But the two tests measure different content on different scales, and “80% of the maximum” lands at different points in each distribution.
Worked example. On the SAT, College Board’s 2025 report puts the 75th percentile at 1200, so 1280 (80% of 1600) is above three-quarters of the class of 2025. On the gaokao, the meaning of 600 depends entirely on the province and subject track: the student checks the province’s score-rank table, finds a rank, and compares that rank with how many students each university admitted from the province last year. The same 600 could be a strong rank in one province and an ordinary one in another. The only sound comparison is rank within each system, and gaokao ranks are provincial.
How often can you take each exam?
Gaokao: once a year. SAT: many times. The gaokao is held annually starting June 7. A student who wants a better result waits a year; some repeat their final high school year to do so.
The SAT is offered on weekend dates through the school year (College Board’s dates page lists six from October 2026 to June 2027) and through SAT School Day, which states and districts run on weekdays. In the class of 2025, 1,361,927 students (68%) took the SAT on a school day at least once, and 284,304 (14%) took it on both a school day and a weekend. On the ACT side, 34% of class of 2025 graduates tested two or more times and raised their superscore by an average of 2.4 points, ACT reports.
| Retake fact | Gaokao | SAT / ACT |
|---|---|---|
| Sittings per year | 1 | Multiple weekend dates plus school day |
| Cost of a weak result | Usually a year’s delay | Another test date a few weeks or months later |
| Best-score policies | Single sitting counts | Many colleges superscore; ACT reports +2.4 average superscore gain for retesters |
Sources: Wikipedia, “Gaokao”; College Board; ACT, Class of 2025 report.
How much does the score matter for admission?
For the gaokao, almost everything; for the SAT, it depends on the college. Wikipedia’s summary of the system describes the gaokao as essentially the only criterion for university admission. Students submit ranked lists of universities in tiers, universities have fixed admission quotas for each province, and cutoff lines apply. Arts, sports, military and police programs add their own screening.
In the US, most colleges review applications holistically, and many do not require a test at all. FairTest reported in September 2025 that more than 90% of ranked US four-year colleges (2,088 of 2,248) would not require SAT or ACT scores for fall 2026. A growing group of selective schools has reinstated requirements, which we track in our study of colleges requiring the SAT or ACT again. Even where a test is required, grades carry heavy weight, which is why a student’s high school GPA and course choices matter as much as one test date.
High scores also open doors outside admission in the US: juniors use the PSAT/NMSQT to enter the National Merit program, whose state cutoffs we list separately.
How many gaokao takers get into college?
Most do, if “college” includes vocational institutions. Wikipedia’s gaokao article, citing official figures, lists the share of examinees admitted to tertiary education rising from 5.19% in 1977 to 85.04% in 2022, and 79.65% in 2024, when 10.69 million of 13.42 million examinees were accepted.
Source: Wikipedia 'Gaokao' (examinees vs accepted). 'Accepted' covers all tertiary admission, including vocational colleges. Bars scaled to 100%.
These rates count admission to any level of higher education, from top research universities to vocational colleges. Competition is concentrated at the top: the pressure students describe comes from the race for a small number of elite places, not from a low overall admission rate. There is no comparable US figure, because US students apply to individual colleges rather than through one national exam.
What each system rewards
Each exam’s design rewards different things, and both are measured on their own terms here. The gaokao’s structure rewards sustained preparation across six subjects, accuracy on the day, and command of the Chinese language, which carries as many points as math. Because one annual sitting largely determines placement, consistency under pressure is part of what the exam measures.
The SAT’s structure rewards reading comprehension, grammar and quantitative reasoning in a short, adaptive format. Because it can be retaken and is often optional, it rewards planning: choosing when to test, whether to submit, and how to combine a score with grades, essays and activities.
Study time reflects these designs. In OECD PISA 2012, 15-year-olds in Shanghai reported 13.85 hours of homework a week against 6.09 in the US, though Shanghai is one city, not all of China, and the data are old; see our homework hours by country study and the wider homework statistics. For US students, evidence-based study habits matter more than raw hours; our guide to study methods ranked by evidence covers what works.
Limitations
- Gaokao details vary by province. Scoring models, total points and exam length differ; the 750-point 3+1+2 model is common but not universal.
- Secondary source for gaokao structure and admission rates. Exam structure and the acceptance-rate table come from Wikipedia’s summary of official figures; the 2025 and 2026 candidate counts come from the Ministry of Education via gov.cn.
- Different populations. Gaokao candidates are one year’s registrants (including repeaters); SAT takers are a graduating class counted once.
- No national gaokao distribution. We did not find a verified national score distribution, so none is shown.
- Old homework data. PISA 2012 is the latest comparable hours figure we found.
- Left out: claims about specific study hours under China’s 2021 “Double Reduction” rules and a PISA 2025 ranking claim could not be verified and are not used.
Cite this page
Sources
- State Council of the PRC (Ministry of Education announcement), “12.9 million students to sit gaokao” (June 3, 2026). english.www.gov.cn
- China News Service via ECNS, gaokao applicant decline (June 9, 2026). ecns.cn
- Wikipedia, “Gaokao” (structure, scoring models, admission process, examinee and acceptance table). en.wikipedia.org
- College Board, 2025 SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, Total Group. reports.collegeboard.org
- College Board, “What’s on the SAT: Structure.” satsuite.collegeboard.org
- College Board, SAT dates and deadlines. satsuite.collegeboard.org
- ACT, “The ACT Profile Report: Graduating Class 2025.” act.org
- FairTest press release, fall 2026 test-optional count (September 4, 2025). fairtest.org
Checked October 15, 2026. Spot an error? Tell us.
Frequently asked questions
What is the gaokao?
Is the gaokao harder than the SAT?
How many students take the gaokao compared with the SAT?
What is a good gaokao score?
Can you retake the gaokao?
How long is the gaokao compared with the SAT?
Watch: video explainers
A first-person look at gaokao preparation culture in China, useful context for the numbers on this page.
A full digital SAT Math section worked through, showing what the US test actually asks.
Videos are hosted by YouTube and load only when you press play (privacy-enhanced mode). We are not affiliated with these channels.