Shandong cancels gaokao English listening test

Students in Shandong province set to take the gaokao, or national college entrance examinations, this year will be spared the English listening test after it was scrapped by local education authorities.

The English section of the gaokao will still be worth 150 points for Shandong students and the difficulty level will also remain unchanged. Admission scores will be universal province-wide, marking an end to a preferential policy that allowed the cities of Ji'nan and Qingdao to determine their own admission scores.