In the 3+1+2 gaokao, history is one of the two possible first-choice subjects, the alternative being physics. Choosing it places a candidate in the history admission group, and the paper is counted at its raw score out of 100. In many provinces it is sat as a single paper of around 75 minutes, but timing and format are set locally.
The syllabus is built on the national high-school history textbooks. The compulsory part, 中外历史纲要 (Outline of Chinese and World History), runs in two volumes from ancient China to the present and from ancient civilisations to the modern world. Three elective-compulsory modules go deeper: state institutions and social governance, economy and social life, and cultural exchange and transmission.
The paper has two broad parts. The first is a set of single-answer multiple-choice questions. Almost all of them are source-based: a short quotation, a line from a historical text, a table or an image, followed by a question such as 'this reflects' or 'from this we can infer'. They test whether a candidate can place the source in its period and read what it actually says, not just recall dates.
The second part is made of non-multiple-choice questions, usually built on longer source materials. Candidates explain causes, compare developments, or assess a historical argument. Many papers also include an open-ended task that asks the student to state a view and support it with historical evidence, closer to a short essay than to a fill-in answer.
What the paper rewards: a secure timeline of Chinese and world history, careful reading of sources, and answers written in clear, textbook-standard terms. Common mistakes are choosing an option that is historically true but not supported by the source, and ignoring the time period named in the question.
For international readers comparing systems, the paper sits somewhere between a document-based question and a structured essay exam. Question numbers and mark splits vary by province and year, so past papers from the candidate's own province are the best guide to the exact format.