Asia: national exam dates and examination bodies

How examinations are organised across the region

Asia's defining examination pattern is the national university-entrance test taken on a fixed date by an entire cohort. China's Gaokao is the largest, normally held in early June. South Korea's CSAT (suneung) is held on a single day in November, to the point that flight schedules are adjusted around the listening section. Japan's Common Test for University Admissions runs in mid-January and is followed by individual university examinations.

South Asia works differently, through board examinations. India has multiple boards — CBSE and CISCE nationally, plus a state board in each state — each setting its own Class 10 and Class 12 examinations, generally between February and April. Pakistan and Bangladesh run comparable board systems. Elsewhere, Singapore and several other former British territories use Cambridge-linked O-Level and A-Level structures with local adaptation.

What to watch for in the calendar

Because these examinations are national and fixed, dates are usually announced well in advance and are reliable once published — the opposite of the situation in regions where timetables slip. The complication in Asia is the sheer number of separate authorities, particularly in India, where a student's dates depend on which board their school is affiliated with rather than on which state they live in.

Several countries also run supplementary or improvement sittings for candidates who miss or wish to retake a paper, on a separate timetable. If you are looking for a retake date, check the authority's site specifically for supplementary examination notices rather than the main timetable.

Using these dates

Identify your board or authority first, then the specific stream or subject combination you are taking, then the timetable. Skipping the first step is the most common cause of a student revising against the wrong schedule.

Most of these authorities publish past papers free of charge, and in the case of KICE in Korea and the National Center in Japan, official answer explanations as well. Those are the highest-value free preparation material available for these tests.