Which sessions are held each year
According to the official website, the CSCA is usually held in January, March, April, June, November and December — six sessions a year. Before you register, read the specific notice for the session you plan to take.
Each exam takes place over two days:
- Day 1: Professional Chinese and Mathematics
- Day 2: Physics and Chemistry
The exact exam times depend on the arrangements for each session. The times listed on the official website are in Beijing time (UTC+8); if you are not in China, remember to convert them to your local time so you do not get the date wrong.
Registration deadlines are not the same for every session. You need to log in to the registration system to check, or watch for official announcements. Once you have decided which session to take, the first thing to do is note down that session's registration deadline.
How many times can you take it
There is no limit on the number of CSCA attempts, and you can register more than once. This is fairly friendly for candidates: if you do not perform well once, you still have another chance.
There are a few points to note about scores:
- Scores are valid for two years.
- When applying, you can usually submit your best valid score, subject to the policy of your target institution.
- Scores are usually released within 7 working days after the exam.
So when choosing a session, factor in the score release time as well. Seven working days is only the "usual" situation, so do not treat it as an absolute guarantee, and try not to schedule your exam in the last few days before a deadline.
How to choose a session
When choosing a session, do not look at which one is "lucky"; look at your application timetable. You can follow this order:
- First check the application deadline of your target institution. These differ by institution, so refer to the institution's admissions guide.
- Work backwards from the deadline: score release takes time (usually within 7 working days), information cannot be changed after the admission ticket is generated, and registration itself also has a deadline.
- Try to keep your first exam well before the deadline. If you do not do well, you will still have time to take it again.
- The March and April sessions, and the November and December sessions, are close together, leaving little time in between to improve your score. If you want to prepare fully before taking a second exam, you can skip one session and choose June or a later one.
If your application is still more than a year away, you have plenty of choice: you can take one exam first to get familiar with the process, then arrange a second as needed. If there are only a few months left before the deadline, your priority should be making sure your scores arrive in time for your application, rather than pursuing the ideal exam date.
How many times should you take the exam?
There is no standard answer, but several practical considerations are worth weighing.
You can treat the first sitting as a chance to learn the question types and pacing, but you should still prepare seriously: you pay the registration fee each time, and the exam itself costs time and energy.
Before a second sitting, it is best to identify where you fell short the first time. In the period between the two exams, practice specifically on your previous weaknesses; if you repeat the same preparation and simply sit the exam again, raising your score is difficult. Rather than registering for two sessions back to back, leave a gap in between to strengthen the weaker areas.
For most candidates, a safer approach is this: take the first exam as early as possible and prepare for it seriously, then use your score and your weak areas to decide whether a second sitting is needed. If it is, confirm before registering that both the registration deadline and the score release date for that session still fit your schedule.
Timing in the official notices
An official CSC notice states that, starting from the 2026/2027 academic year, undergraduate applicants to China must take the CSCA before applying; the first group affected will be undergraduate applicants at Chinese Government Scholarship institutions; and from 2028, all undergraduate applicants are planned to be required to take the exam, with a minimum standard set.
This means that for more and more undergraduate applicants, the CSCA will be something to "prepare in advance" rather than something to deal with at the last minute. Taking it earlier, and knowing your level earlier, is easier than rushing before a deadline.
Next step
However much time you have before the exam, you can start with a 15-minute math diagnostic on CSCA.PRO to see how far you are from your target, and then decide which session to register for — and whether to add a second.