China Test Optional Initiative
Empower Students Left Behind by the Gaokao and SAT/ACT
The China Test Optional Initiative (CTOI)’s goal is to bridge the gap between the growing test-optional policy movement in international higher education with the extraordinary number of Chinese students seeking international education opportunities after taking the Gaokao or other standardized exams each year. Each year, 9 million Chinese students take the Gaokao, and tens of thousands more sit for international exams such as the SAT. Particularly for the Gaokao, students stake their futures on one single test score, and they only find out their score in mid June. Many students disenfranchised by the Gaokao must quickly make a tremendous decision: attend a second-rate institution at home, wait a year, or apply for a test-optional university abroad. If your institution is test-optional and welcome applications in the summer, please consider joining the Best Fit university group to make these students aware of all their options.
How does the China Test Optional Initiative work?
The CTOI is a web index accessible inside Mainland China without VPN. Students browse a list of test-optional universities organized by geography and indicate their interest in learning more about that school’s application process. Once they express interest in applying to a particular university, we relay that student’s inquiry and the contact information that they choose to provide to the university that they inquire about.
Who should join?
Universities or English Language Institutes affiliated to universities need to satisfy these conditions:
Does not require submission of SAT or ACT scores.
For English language assessments, is willing to accept any of the following: Duolingo, PTE, university-administered English assessments, English class grades from a student’s sending institution, or Gaokao English scores.
What services does the China Test Optional Initiative offer to member universities?
The translation of your university’s profile into simplified Chinese.
Listing your university as a member institution, which will appear on our web index of test-optional universities for one year.
Receive an inquiry list that populates with student inquiries about your university. Students report as much information as they are comfortable sharing and are invited to provide phone, email, WeChat, grade, school, location, as well as their parent’s information
A comprehensive research report released each year in March about assessing Gaokao scores across different subjects and provinces.
The average institution can expect 600-700 inquires, which generally spike in late June-July, and again late October-November.