Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Comparison of World’s Toughest Exams

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Comparison of World’s Toughest Exams

Ongoing Event

JEE Main Application Date:31 Oct' 25 - 27 Nov' 25

K Guna SahitiUpdated on 14 Dec 2024, 05:49 AM IST

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - The JEE exam is the most popular engineering entrance exam in India. Whilst, Gaokao is a national-level standardised entrance exam for most UG admissions in China. The participation rate for Gaokao is 10 times higher than JEE, owing to its unlimited attempts and inclusion of a vast number of courses. In 2024, there were around 13.4 M test takers for Gaokao. In the same year, the number of applicants for JEE stood around 1.4 M. Gaokao is known as one of the most difficult tests because of its gruelling nature. However, preparation for JEE is also quite demanding. For more such comparisons between Gaokao and JEE 2025, please go through this page.

LiveJEE Main 2026 Registration LIVE: NTA JEE form at jeemain.nta.nic.in; what's new this year?Nov 5, 2025 | 10:36 PM IST

JEE Main 2026 registration process will end on November 27, 2025. Eligible candidates can apply through the official website at jeemain.nta.nic.in.  

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This Story also Contains

  1. Gaokao Vs JEE 2025
  2. Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Exam Overview
  3. Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Rate of Acceptance
  4. Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Preparation
Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Comparison of World’s Toughest Exams
Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Comparison of World’s Toughest Exams

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025

Aspects

JEE

Gaokao

Examination for

Admission to participating engineering colleges

For all undergraduate admissions (irrespective of desired course)

When it is held

JEE Main - January and April

JEE Advanced - July

Early June

Number of students appeared in 2024

1.4 million

13.42 million

Number of days

Single day

2 to 4 days

Test duration

3 hours (JEE Main)

6 hours (JEE Advanced)

9 hours

Compulsory subjects

Physics, chemistry and maths (paper 1)

Maths, General Aptitude and Drawing/Planning (paper 2)

Mathematics, Chinese, one foreign language and course-oriented subject.

Frequency

Twice

Once

Acceptance rates

1% in IITs

0.1% in top universities

Difficulty

Long exam - extensive memorization and application skills

Emphasis on deep conceptual understanding and problem solving

Preparation time

Intense study schedules required starting from high school years

2 to 5 years ahead for IIT admission

Attempt limit

No limit

Six times in three consecutive years starting from the year of qualifying class 12th

China's Gaokao: World’s toughest exam (Explained) | Comparison of Gaokao, JEE, and SAT Comparison between Gaokao and JEE 2025


Aspirants can go through the differences and similarities between JEE and Gaokao here.

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Exam Overview

  • Duration- Gaokao and IIT JEE are known as two of the toughest exams in the world. Gaokao is held for 9 hours in the span of 2 to 4 days. Whereas, JEE main is held for 3 hours and JEE Advanced is conducted for 6 hours in a single day.

  • Number of Attempts - There is no limit to the number of attempts for Gaokao. It is held once a year. On the other hand, JEE Main is conducted twice per year and JEE Advanced is held once. Candidates can take JEE Main 6 times in three consecutive years, starting from the year of passing class 12th. Whereas, the IIT JEE Advanced attempt limit is restricted to two times in two consecutive years.

  • Number of Applicants- Every year, approximately 1.3 to 1.4 million candidates register for JEE. Since Gaokao is an entrance exam for all UG admissions and there is no attempt limit, around 13.4 million aspirants take this exam every year.

  • Difficulty level- One can not exactly compare the difficulty level of both the tests, since the focus of the exam and syllabus vary. Nonetheless, Gaokao is considered tougher due to its gruelling nature.

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Rate of Acceptance

Each year around 85% of Gaokao examinees are successful in gaining admission to UG programmes. However, the acceptance rate by Gaokao is around 0.1% for elite universities like Peking University, Xinjiang University etc. When it comes to the JEE-based admission rate, only 1% of students get admission to IIT colleges in India.

Gaokao Vs JEE 2025 - Preparation

Students are known to start their preparation for Gaokao in their early High School years. The test preparation schedules are extremely intense, equipping aspirants with the knowledge and patience to deal with the exam pressure.

JEE Main and JEE Advanced preparation starts 2 to 5 years before the actual exam. Students enrol in coaching classes for additional preparation.

JEE Main Syllabus: Subjects & Chapters
Select your preferred subject to view the chapters

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How many attempts for JEE Mains?
A:

Aspirants can take JEE Mains six times in three consecutive years starting from the year of clearing the 12th class.

Q: Is GATE harder than IIT JEE?
A:

Yes, GATE is considered harder than IIT JEE because of the level of the exam. GATE is held for admission to Master level courses.

Q: Is Gaokao tougher than UPSC?
A:

The difficulty level of the exam depends on different factors. Gaokao is a single-level entrance exam for UG admissions. Whereas, UPSC is a three-stage competitive exam. However, both are difficult in their own way. 

Q: Is Gaokao tougher than JEE Advanced?
A:

Gaokao is an exam held for nine hours and JEE Advanced is held for six hours. Gaokao is widely known to be more difficult than most exams due to its long duration and vast syllabus. The questions asked in Gaokao are application-based and require more memorization. Whereas, the JEE exam requires conceptual clarity while solving the given problems. 

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Questions related to JEE Main

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to JEE Main ?

Hello Aspirant

As you are preparing for JEEMains and you want to practice the PYQs, it is a good choice as NTA mainly follows the same pattern, and some questions are repeatedly asked. To get the most repeated question, just visit the link I'm attaching below.

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/most-repeated-questions-in-jee-mains-comprehensive-analysis

The form requires the candidates to upload the signature in JPEG format within 10-100KB format, if this condition is not fulfilled the photo will not get uploaded. Assistance from an e-mitra might be needed or you may choose to convert the sizes and the types of your documents from various converting applications available

to get details about registration and avoid getting confused follow the link below from careers360 How to fill JEE Main Application Form 2026? – Steps to Apply Online

You can look up to the syllabus released by the NTA for the 2026 examination available in pdf form at careers360 from the link given below, you will get all the deleted syllabus and the additional added syallabus in the pdf itself JEE Main 2026 Syllabus (Out): Download Paper 1, 2 PDF Here

Hello, You want to get 99 percentile in JEE Mains, for this you should prepare very well.

I am providing you the link of a book to help you in your preparation, you will get everything in it to score well in JEE Mains.

Here is your link: CLICK HERE

You can download the ebook directly by clicking on "CLICK HERE".

I hope you found this information helpful and for any study related problems you can ask in careers360 app, Have a great day!

Hello,

JEE Main ke 75% eligibility ke liye marks calculation board ke total marks (as printed on marksheet) par based hoti hai, best of 5 nahi.
Agar aapke marksheet me total 355/500 likha hai, to wahi valid mana jayega.
Isliye agar ye 75% se kam hai, to aap JEE Main de sakte ho, par NIT, IIIT, ya GFTI admission ke liye eligible nahi hoge, unless aap SC/ST category se ho (unke liye 65% required hai).

Hope you understand.