Apply to a Chinese university without losing a year
The complete guide for bachelor's applicants: HSK, the CSCA exam, the Chinese Government Scholarship, your documents and the visa. Every fact is traced to an official source. Where no official answer exists, the guide says so.
- 1An 18-month timeline, worked backwards from your intake
- 2All five CSCA syllabuses broken down, and which ones you sit
- 3Sixteen questions nobody can answer yet, labelled as such
in China
Delivered by email as a PDF. Read it on your phone or print it.
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Bonus the next day: tick the box on the form and we'll also send 100 Questions About HSK & CSCA, a 15-page quick reference where every answer is marked official or not.
Three beliefs that cost people a full application cycle
They come up again and again. Each one is easy to fix if you know about it a year early.
My programme is taught in English, so I don't need the Chinese exam.False for scholarship applicants
For Chinese Government Scholarship undergraduate programmes, csca.cn lists Mathematics and Professional Chinese as compulsory, with no English-medium exemption.
I'll just take the exam online from home.Only where no test centre exists
csca.cn opens the at-home format only to countries and regions without a test centre. If there is a centre where you live, you sit it there.
I'll apply first and send the exam result later.Check your embassy notice
The 2026 embassy notices we checked require a valid CSCA score report before the deadline. Results take 7 working days, from an exam that runs only a few times a year.
The order matters more than the time
Applying to China chains together three systems that don't coordinate: the exam calendar, your embassy's scholarship deadline, and each university's admissions. What traps people is doing things in the wrong order.
- 18 moFind your real Chinese level. Shortlist 3–5 programmes.Your programme decides which CSCA subjects you sit.
- 15 moCheck your passport. Start HSK preparation.Without a valid passport you cannot register for CSCA at all.
- 12 moSit HSK once.HSK certificates are valid for two years.
- 10 moRegister for CSCA, every subject you might need, in one sitting.Once the admission ticket is generated, nothing can be changed.
- 6 moSubmit the scholarship application.Deadlines vary by embassy. The two 2026-cycle notices we checked closed on 19 December and 20 February.
- 0Arrive. Apply for a residence permit within 30 days.Missing this is a legal problem, not an administrative one.
Shortened from the full 11-step table in the guide, counting back from a September intake. Dates shift every year. The guide shows you how to find this year's dates for your country.
Eleven chapters, in the order you'll need them
Every fact carries a label
Most guides to studying in China are written by agencies that need you to feel you can't do this alone. This one shows you where each answer comes from.
Stated by the exam authority, a Chinese government notice, or a university's own admissions page.
The rule is real, but the number differs by country, university or test centre. You must check yours.
No official answer exists. Anyone who gives you one confidently is filling a gap with an assumption.
Our teaching judgement, not policy. Always marked, so you know the difference.
"Not published" is an answer, not a gap. An invented number does more damage than an honest blank.
Written for bachelor's applicants
Useful if you are
- Planning a bachelor's degree in mainland China
- Applying for the Chinese Government Scholarship
- Unsure which CSCA subjects you need, or when to sit them
- Starting 12–18 months before your intake, or wondering if you're already late
Less useful if you are
- Applying for a master's or PhD: the timeline, documents and visa chapters still apply, but CSCA is for undergraduate applicants
- Looking for someone to submit your application for you. This guide shows you how to do it yourself
Before you sign up
Is the guide really free?
Yes. You get the full 47-page PDF by email. There is nothing to pay and no card to enter.
What happens after I sign up?
The download link arrives by email within a few minutes. If you tick the box on the form, the next day you'll also get 100 Questions About HSK & CSCA, a 15-page quick reference, followed by a few short emails from our teachers over the next two weeks. Unsubscribe any time. If you don't tick it, you only get the guide.
Who writes it?
The teachers at ChinoEasy, an online Chinese school that teaches HSK and CSCA preparation. The guide is independent: it has no affiliation with CSCA, the China Scholarship Council or any embassy. For the CSCA exam, csca.cn is the only authority. Where the guide and csca.cn disagree, csca.cn is correct.
How current is it?
Each version is dated on the cover. This one is version 2.4, checked on 21 September 2026 and updated on 4 October 2026 for the HSK 3.0 launch date. Exam dates in it are marked with the date we last checked them. Scholarship rules change by country and by year, so the guide also shows you how to find this year's notice for your own country.
I didn't get the email.
Check your spam folder, and in Gmail the Promotions tab. If it still isn't there after ten minutes, write to [email protected] and we'll send it directly.
Start with the order, not the deadline
One evening with this guide is enough to know whether you're on time, and what to do first.
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