UEC is held once a year. Both the Senior and Junior examinations fall in the same period, in October, with the Senior papers spread over roughly two weeks and the Junior papers over a shorter run within it. Registration opens early in the year and closes months before the papers are sat.
Results follow at the end of the year or in the first days of the next one, checked online with the examination number and sent to schools as report slips. Exact dates move from year to year and are published by the examinations board; anything date-specific is on our noticeboard rather than in this article.
One sitting a year changes the planning
This is the practical difference from IGCSE, which has two usable series a year. With UEC there is no second attempt a few months later: a subject missed or a grade needed again waits a full year, by which time the student has usually started something else.
It also means the calendar around Senior 3 is tight — the examination, the results, and the application deadlines of universities that want those results all fall within a few months of each other. Applications to institutions that need results in hand often have to be planned around that gap rather than assumed to fit inside it.
Who may sit it
This is where UEC differs most sharply from the other systems on this site. UEC is not open to the general public as an external examination.
- Candidates are students currently enrolled in Junior 3 or Senior 3 at a Chinese independent high school, entered through their school; or
- graduates who completed the three-year course at such a school.
There is no route by which someone who never attended an independent high school registers as a private candidate, in the way a private candidate can register for IGCSE through an exam centre or for SPM through the examinations syndicate. A student who wants the certificate has to be in the system that produces it.
What that means for a family choosing a school
The decision that determines whether UEC is available is the choice of secondary school, made years earlier — not a decision that can be made in the final year. A family weighing an independent high school against a national or private school is, among other things, deciding whether this examination will be on the table at all.
Students already in an independent school should confirm with their own school which subjects they are being entered for, and by when the entry list is fixed.
统考一年只考一次。高中与初中统考落在同一时段，都在十月：高中试卷约分布在两周内，初中试卷则在其中较短的几天。报名在年初开放，并在考试前数月截止。
成绩在年末或隔年最初几天公布，凭考生编号在线查询，成绩单寄往学校。确切日期每年不同，由考试局公布；凡是有明确日期的资讯，都放在我们的公告栏，而不写进本文。
一年一次，规划方式就不同
这是与 IGCSE 最实际的差别：IGCSE 一年有两个可用考期，统考没有。某一科没考好或需要重考，就得等整整一年，而那时学生通常已经开始了别的课程。
这也让高三前后的时间表变得紧凑——考试、放榜，以及需要这份成绩的大学的申请截止，全挤在几个月内。要求先有成绩才受理的院校，申请通常必须绕着这个时间差来安排，而不能假设它塞得进去。
谁可以报考
这是统考与本站其他制度差别最大的一点：统考不对公众开放为校外考试。
- 考生必须是目前就读华文独立中学初三或高三的学生，由学校代为报名；或
- 已在独中完成三年课程的毕业生。
没有任何途径可以让从未就读过独中的人以自修生身份报考——不像 IGCSE 可以透过考试中心报名，或 SPM 可以透过考试局报名。想要这张文凭，就必须身在产出它的那个体系里。
这对选校的家庭意味着什么
决定统考“有没有得考”的，是数年前选中学的那个决定，而不是最后一年能补的选择。一个家庭在独中、国中与私立学校之间衡量时，同时也在决定这项考试是否会出现在选项里。
已在独中就读的学生，应向自己的学校确认被报考了哪些科目，以及报考名单在什么时候定案。
More in this section本部分其他文章
UEC独中统考 UEC
- What is UEC, and who runs it?什么是统考？由谁主办？
- How is UEC graded?统考如何评分？
- What are the Senior streams, and what is compulsory?高中有哪些分流？哪些科目是必修？
- Which subjects make up the UEC science stream?统考理科包含哪些科目？
- Which subjects make up the UEC commerce stream?统考商科包含哪些科目？
- What is English like in UEC, and is it enough?统考的英文是什么样的？够用吗？
- Where is UEC recognised?统考在哪里获得承认？
Next step下一步
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Tell us the exam and the subject and we will answer it directly, usually within one working day.把考试与科目告诉我们，我们会直接回答，通常在一个工作日内。