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

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

    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.

    Live | Apr 21, 2026 | 5:30 PM IST

    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.

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    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 ?

    Dear Student,

    With 56 marks in JEE Mains 2026 April 5, the chances of result in a lower percentile than 80. But with normalisation you can expect a good percentile if your specific shift was very hard.

    For your reference, check: JEE Mains 2026 April 5 Marks vs Percentile: Shift-Wise

    Dear Student,

    Normalization can boost your score and percentile if your specific shift was very hard.

    You can check your percentile and rank here: JEE Mains 2026 April 5 Marks vs Percentile: Shift-Wise Expected Score Analysis