Pass the CSCA.
Practice what the exam actually tests.
Free question bank and mock exams for the China Scholastic Competency Assessment, the entrance exam for international undergraduates in China. Its maths, physics and chemistry come from the Chinese high-school curriculum. We map every question to the official syllabus and solve every answer a second time before it is published.
The CSCA is the Chinese high-school curriculum
CSCA math, physics and chemistry are drawn almost entirely from Years 10-11 of China’s national high-school curriculum, the same material Chinese students spend years mastering. We built our bank on it and mapped every CSCA topic to it.
Same content, high-school level
Sets, functions, sequences, trigonometry, analytic geometry, vectors, complex numbers, probability. Nothing beyond the Chinese Year-11 curriculum.
Same format
48 single-choice questions in 60 minutes, mirroring the structure and difficulty of the curriculum’s own exams.
We mapped the real scope
The official syllabus is too narrow: many real questions fall outside it. We rebuilt the true syllabus from every sitting, then filtered the gaokao archives down to the 2,800+ real questions that match it.
Why practice here
Every figure comes from our analysis of real papers.
Every answer, fully explained
Every question has a step-by-step worked solution that explains the method.
Every answer re-solved
Every answer is solved again separately and compared with the original answer key. When the two disagree, a reviewer looks at the question before it is published.
Only what is tested
We sorted gaokao questions against the real scope of the CSCA and kept only those inside it, so you practise only the topics the exam covers.
Free and open
The full question bank and mock exams are free. No paywalled PDFs, no locked answer keys.
Practice by subject
Single-choice questions with worked solutions, filtered to the CSCA difficulty band.
Chinese Language
Single-choice questions with worked solutions.
Mathematics
Single-choice questions with worked solutions.
Physics
Single-choice questions with worked solutions.
Chemistry
Single-choice questions with worked solutions.
What is the CSCA?
The China Scholastic Competency Assessment (来华留学本科入学学业水平测试) is the standardized entrance exam for international students applying to undergraduate programs in China.
Who needs to take it
From the 2026/2027 academic year, applicants to bachelor’s programmes at Chinese Government Scholarship universities must take it. The first sitting was held in December 2025.
Five subjects, all multiple-choice
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, STEM Chinese and Humanities Chinese. Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry have 48 questions in 60 minutes, in Chinese or English. Each Chinese subject has 80 questions in 90 minutes.
High-school level scope
Content maps to the Chinese national curriculum, exactly what our question bank is built from.
Practise the pattern behind each wrong answer Premium
Every question links to its lookalikes: same topic, same trap, a different disguise.
Get it wrong
Each wrong answer points to a question pattern you have not mastered yet.
See its siblings
The similar-question graph surfaces up to five variations of the same pattern, drawn from real papers and our calibrated bank.
Drill until it sticks
One click queues them all. Repetition with variation is how exam patterns become reflexes.
CSCA questions, answered
What is the CSCA and who needs it?
The China Scholastic Competency Assessment is the standardised entrance exam for international students applying to undergraduate programmes in China. From the 2026/2027 intake, applicants are expected to take it before submitting applications. It applies to foreign passport holders; students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese use a separate joint-admission exam instead.
Which subjects do I need to take?
There are four subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and academic Chinese (humanities or STEM version). Which ones you need depends on how you apply. Self-funded applicants take Mathematics, and add the Chinese subject only for Chinese-taught programmes: for example, English-taught humanities and business programmes usually ask for Mathematics only, English-taught engineering adds Physics or Chemistry, and medicine usually asks for all three sciences. For Chinese Government Scholarship applicants, csca.cn lists Mathematics and the Chinese subject as required and gives no exception for English-taught programmes; some universities' subject lists for English-taught programmes leave out Chinese, so scholarship applicants should confirm with the university. Each STEM paper is 48 single-choice questions in 60 minutes, no calculator, no penalty for wrong answers.
English paper or Chinese paper, and does the English track need the Chinese subject?
The paper language is decided by your target programme's teaching language. Chinese-taught programmes require the Chinese-language paper; English-taught programmes take the English paper. Self-funded applicants to English-taught programmes take only the STEM subjects and no Chinese subject (IELTS is still required); Chinese Government Scholarship applicants also take the Chinese subject, according to csca.cn. Some universities accept either language, and cases such as a preparatory year before your degree follow your target university's rules, so confirm with your target school directly.
What score do I need?
There is no official pass mark. The CSCA score is one input in a competitive review: each university and scholarship sets its own requirement, and it can change with the applicant pool each year. Admissions also weigh GPA, language certificates, interviews and your portfolio. Your target programme’s admission page gives this year’s requirements.
How often is it held, and can I retake it?
There are six sittings between November 2026 and June 2027: November, December, January, March, April and June. Each sitting has its own registration window on csca.cn, and it can be short (7 days for November 2026), so check early. Universities set their own rules on retakes and on which score they use, so check with your target university. A retake means paying the fee again and reinstalling the latest exam software.
How hard is it, really?
It stays at Chinese high-school level (up to Year 11) and covers far less than the full curriculum. Our Exam Insights page shows exactly which topics appear and how often.
How do I register, and how much does it cost?
Register on csca.cn with your passport (name exactly as printed), upload a digital ID photo, pick your subjects and pay: ¥450 for a single subject or ¥700 total for two or more, via Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay, Visa or Mastercard. Unpaid registrations are void, and subjects and personal details cannot be changed after payment, so double-check before you pay.
Do I still need HSK or IELTS?
Yes: the CSCA does not replace language certificates. Chinese-taught programmes usually require HSK 4-5; English-taught programmes require IELTS (around 6.0) and no HSK. The CSCA Chinese subject tests academic Chinese, which is not the same thing as HSK. One known exception: applicants to Chinese-language majors holding HSK 4 may be exempt from the CSCA Chinese subject. Confirm with your target university.
How does the CSCA relate to scholarships (CSC)?
CSCA scores now feed into the review for the Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC Type A/B) and many university, provincial and Belt & Road scholarships. Bear in mind it is one input among several: GPA, language certificates, interview and portfolio all count, and a strong score does not guarantee an award.
What happens on exam day, and what software do I need?
The CSCA is mainly a home-based online exam with remote proctoring, and test centres are opening step by step in some countries. In the week before: install the latest official exam software (remove old versions; a Windows laptop or desktop is recommended, iPads do not work), print your admission ticket, and take the official practice test to try your camera, network and room setup (a 360° room scan is required). The timetable is published in Beijing time (UTC+8), so convert it to your time zone before exam day.
When do results come out?
Within 10 working days of the exam, in your account on csca.cn. This applies from the November 2026 sitting; earlier sittings took about seven working days. Results include your global percentile and are valid for two years.
Where can I take the CSCA: online or at a test centre?
Both exist: proctored online at home, or in-person at designated centres. In China these have included Tongji University (Shanghai), Central University of Finance and Economics (Beijing) and Nanjing Normal University, among others. Which centres and cities are open is announced per sitting on csca.cn.
How is CSCA Start different from a textbook or a syllabus PDF?
Everything here is built from measured real past papers: topic weights, difficulty bands and question style all come from tagging real sittings. Every question has a full worked solution and is reviewed before it is published.
What do the Easy / Intermediate / Hard labels mean?
They are our own bands, calibrated by tagging the real papers, per subject: Easy matches the fundamentals that make up the bulk of each sitting, Intermediate is standard exam level, and Hard covers the thin tail of genuinely difficult questions. Filter the bank by band to spend time where the paper spends its marks.
Does the mock exam look like the real CSCA software?
Timed mocks run in a faithful recreation of the official computer-based interface (blue header with countdown, candidate panel, question-number grid, mark-for-review and font-size controls), plus features the official software does not have: instant grading, a wrong-answer review and full worked solutions. By exam day you will have used the same interface many times.
Can I download practice material as PDF?
Yes: free PDF sample papers, no sign-up needed. 48-question papers for Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, built to the real exam format, plus 10-question sample sets for both Chinese tracks, all with full worked solutions.
CSCA policies, sittings and school requirements change often, so always confirm with csca.cn and your target university's official notices.
Help with university applications
For candidates who want help with university choice and the application after practising.