Most test-takers of the national college entrance exam this year were born in 2002. And the outbreak of SARS-CoV-1 was first identified in China in November the same year. Eighteen years later, when the students are going to sit the most competitive exam in China, they are destined to have some special experiences, due to that the COVID-19 cases still cause concerns.

As the national college entrance exam has been regarded as a milestone in each Chinese student’s life, strict measures have been adopted to ensure students' safety. Apart from wearing face masks and preparing isolation rooms for those with suspicious symptoms, all students and staff should take their daily temperatures and monitor their health situations 14 days in advance. Also, temperature check areas are set up at the entrance of each exam site.  

In Beijing, the security screening of over 50,000 test-takers has to be prioritized. 

While Shexian county of East China's Anhui province will reschedule the two exams on 9th July- the Chinese and Mathematics subjects which are supposed to be held on today. Since the beginning of July, there has been a heavy and continuous rainfall hitting the area, resulting in many obstacles like floods, which impede students arriving at exam sites on time.

For 1.2 million art majors applicants, they face more pressure this year because the score of Gaokao will be more important than the past. To curb the spread of COVID-19, tests of professional skills which are usually held by academic institutions before Gaokao have been moved towards online this year. Some have scraped the exams altogether, even plan to enroll applicants only on their Gaokao performance.

According to the statistics released by China’s Ministry of Education on 19th June, around 10.71 million candidates have registered for Gaokao 2020, an increase of 400,000 from last year. And there are more than 7,000 examination sites and about 400,000 examination rooms across the country, with nearly 945,000 teaching staff participating in the largest organized collective activity nationwide since the COVID-19 outbreak.