Gaokao, China's national college entrance examination, kicked off on Tuesday, June 7. In Changzhou, over 18,000 candidates sat for the exam.

It is the second year since the Jiangsu province adopted a new policy for Gaokao. The new policy features a “three plus one plus two� scoring system. Chinese, mathematics and English continue to be compulsory Gaokao subjects. “One� refers to either history or physics. The remaining two optional subjects can be selected from politics, geography, chemistry and biology.

There are 17 examination areas in Changzhou with a total of 623 exam rooms.