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考试规则 · Exam mechanics · 5 min

What actually happens on exam day

Two mornings, two afternoons, in a room that is quieter than any exam room has any business being.

The English gaokao runs across two days, usually in early June, with core subjects in the morning and electives after lunch. Arrive at least forty-five minutes before each session.

Phones are not permitted in the exam room. Not switched off in your bag — at all. Detection is by walk-through metal detectors and hand-held wands. A simple watch is allowed; nothing with smart features.

You will be checked against an admission ticket and your national identity document at the door. Losing either means a same-morning phone call for backups. Do not rely on the centre keeping spares.

The room is silent to a degree most students have never experienced. Practice mock papers under conditions this strict.

You may not leave the room in the last thirty minutes of any session. Plan bathroom breaks. When the bell rings, you stop writing — no discretion for the last extra sentence.

After each session, walk out and, ideally, do not discuss the paper with anyone. Regret ruins the next session more reliably than any exam question can.

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