Beijing Business Today (Reporter Wu Qiyun): On May 8, the Beijing Education Examinations Authority released the "Regulations on the Enrollment of Regular Higher Education Institutions in Beijing for 2026" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). This release officially announces the schedule for the 2026 Unified Gaokao and Academic Level Exams, as well as the criteria for determining admission control score lines.
According to the regulations, the 2026 Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination consists of the Unified Gaokao and the Academic Level Graded Exams. The Unified Gaokao comprises three compulsory subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, and Foreign Language. The Academic Level Graded Exams cover six subjects—Ideological and Political Education, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology—from which candidates must select three to take.
According to the regulations, the foreign language exam offers six options—English, Russian, Japanese, German, French, and Spanish—from which candidates may choose one. For the Unified Gaokao, the English exam separates the listening and speaking components from the written test, utilizing a computer-based format with two sessions scheduled for December 13, 2025, and March 21, 2026. Conversely, exams for other foreign languages (non-English) will utilize the National Papers, with the listening component also offered twice; these sessions are set for January 8, 2026, and June 8, 2026.
Regarding scoring, Chinese, Mathematics, and Foreign Language each have a maximum score of 150. The English Listening and Speaking exam has a maximum of 50 points, while the Listening exam for other foreign languages (non-English) has a maximum of 30 points. The highest score from the two Listening and Speaking (or Listening) exam sessions will be combined with the score from the written portion to form the final Foreign Language subject score, which is then included in the total Gaokao score. The grades for the Academic Level Graded Exams will be converted in accordance with the "Notice of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission on the Method of Including High School Academic Proficiency Exam Grades in the Total Gaokao Score" (Jing Jiao Ji [2018] No. 21), with a maximum score of 100 points for each subject.
Regarding the determination of minimum admission control score lines, the regulations specify that for the undergraduate batch, the minimum score line is established based on the aggregate score of all six subjects—Chinese, Mathematics, Foreign Language, and the three Academic Level Graded Exams. In contrast, for the junior college (vocational) batch, the minimum score line is determined solely by the aggregate score of the three core subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, and Foreign Language.
