Recently, assessment rules for junior high school subjects in multiple provinces and cities across China are undergoing large-scale adjustments. Biology and Geography are no longer included in the total score for high school entrance exam admissions, with related assessment results now presented as grades. This reform has been progressively implemented in various regions.
YesterdayThe Education Bureau of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, has officially issued a notice clarifying that in subsequent high school entrance exam admissions, the raw scores for Geography and Biology will no longer be included in the total score. Final results will only be presented in different grade levels, contributing nothing to the overall exam total. This adjustment policy will be officially implemented for seventh-grade students enrolling in autumn 2025.
In fact, such adjustments are no longer isolated attempts by individual cities but are gradually becoming a clear national trend in high school entrance exam reforms. For example, Beijing began implementing a new high school entrance exam reform plan in 2025, directly reducing the original 10 exam subjects to 6. History, Geography, Chemistry, and Biology have all been converted to assessed subjects and are no longer included in the calculation of the total high school entrance exam score.
In March this year, the Department of Education of Jilin Province also officially released a notice on high school entrance exam reforms, adjusting core rules such as scored subjects and exam formats. It was clarified that starting from 2027, Biology and Geography will be adjusted to assessed subjects and will no longer be scored in the high school entrance exam. The exam format will change to open-book testing. The policy will also be implemented for first-year junior high students enrolling in 2025, with final exam results presented as grades.
Also in March this year, Xiangtan, Hunan Province, released its latest local high school entrance exam reform plan. Geography and Biology have officially been removed from the scored subjects of the exam, with assessment results now presented solely as grades. This new plan will be officially implemented for seventh-grade students enrolling in autumn 2024, who will graduate from junior high school in 2027.
In addition, 11 cities in Hunan Province, including Changsha, Zhuzhou, Hengyang, Shaoyang, Yueyang, Changde, Yiyang, Chenzhou, Yongzhou, Huaihua, and Loudi, had already clarified earlier that the final results for Geography and Biology would be presented as grades and no longer included in the total high school entrance exam score.
In addition to Jiangsu, Beijing, Jilin, and Hunan, many other cities across the country, such as Xianyang in Shaanxi, Huangshan in Anhui, and Ji'an in Jiangxi, have also successively implemented similar high school entrance exam adjustment policies.
Experts in the education sector stated that the core intention of such reforms is to effectively reduce the academic burden on junior high school students. Students will no longer need to expend significant effort striving for high scores in Geography and Biology; achieving a passing grade is sufficient.
However, this adjustment does not mean students can completely stop studying Geography and Biology. There are still clear assessment standards for grade classifications, and the final grade results will serve as a reference threshold for admission to regular high schools. Students who fail to meet the corresponding grade requirements will still face restrictions during the regular high school admission process.
Many professionals in the education industry also remind parents not to completely relax their daily study of these two subjects just because Geography and Biology are no longer included in the total high school entrance exam score. Junior high school knowledge in Geography and Biology forms the core foundation for corresponding subjects in high school. Even if only to ensure keeping up with the high school curriculum, maintaining a normal study pace and successfully passing the grade assessments is sufficient. There is absolutely no need to enroll children in expensive off-campus tutoring classes to chase high scores, which would only add unnecessary academic burden.