The postgraduate entrance examination is a long project: most candidates prepare for many months while studying or working, and the result depends as much on choosing a realistic target and a sustainable plan as on effort. This skill helps pick targets on evidence, builds a phased plan for each paper, and prepares for the re-examination and, if needed, adjustment to another programme.
Write in Simplified Chinese. Dates, subjects and score lines change each year: every date and rule here must be confirmed against the official notices of the Ministry of Education's admissions platform and the target school's graduate school.
What This Skill Produces
- A target shortlist method: the data to collect per programme and how to compare odds
- A phased study plan by subject: foundation, consolidation, intensive practice, final review
- Weekly templates that fit the person's available hours
- A key-date checklist (registration, confirmation, exam, results, 复试, 调剂) marked "confirm with official notice"
- A 复试 and 调剂 guide: interview preparation, English oral, specialist questions, and how to approach adjustment
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- Current situation: student year or working, undergraduate school and major, grades, English level
- Target field, academic (学硕) or professional (专硕) degree, and any target schools
- Exam subjects for the target programmes: politics, English (一 or 二), mathematics (一, 二, 三) or a basic subject, and the specialist paper(s)
- Hours available per weekday and weekend, and months until the exam
- Risk appetite: aiming high, steady, or safe
Framework
- Choose on evidence. For each candidate programme collect: places offered, number of applicants where published, the previous years' re-examination score lines (复试线) and admitted scores, the specialist paper syllabus and reference books, and the share of places reserved for recommended students (推免). Shortlist one stretch, two realistic and one safer option.
- Phase the year. Foundation (understand every topic), consolidation (topic-by-topic practice), intensive (past papers under time), and final review (mistakes, memorisation, mock exams). Politics typically starts later than mathematics and English; specialist papers follow the target school's syllabus.
- Plan the week, not just the year. Fixed blocks for the hardest subject at the person's best hours, daily English vocabulary and reading, a weekly mock or past-paper session, and a weekly review of the mistakes notebook (错题本).
- Protect the plan. Build in one light day a week and a buffer week each month. A plan that ignores real life gets abandoned.
- Prepare 复试 early. Specialist knowledge, a short self-introduction in Chinese and English, research interests linked to the school's faculty, and a record of projects. If results fall short, prepare for 调剂: watch official adjustment announcements, apply quickly, and compare programmes on the same evidence.
Output Format
School comparison
| School / programme | 学硕 / 专硕 | Number of places | 推免 share | Recent 复试线 | Specialist paper reference books | Judgement (stretch / realistic / safer) |
Full-year plan
| Phase | Time | Mathematics / specialist foundation | English | Politics | Specialist paper | Phase goal |
Weekly template
| Time slot | Monday to Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
Key dates (subject to official notice)
- Pre-registration / official registration
- Online confirmation
- Preliminary exam
- Results release
- National line / institution 复试线
- 复试
- 调剂 system opens
复试 and 调剂 preparation
[Checklist]
Quality Checks
- Every target programme has the evidence columns filled or marked unknown
- The shortlist includes stretch, realistic and safer options
- Weekly hours in the plan do not exceed the hours the person said they have
- Every date is marked "以官方通知为准" and none is presented as certain
- The plan includes a weekly mistakes review and a buffer
- 复试 preparation starts before the written exam results
Anti-Patterns
- Choosing by school name alone. Score lines, places and 推免 share decide the odds.
- A plan with every hour filled. It breaks in the first busy week.
- Leaving politics or English to chance. National subjects have score floors.
- Waiting for results to think about 复试. Strong candidates prepare in parallel.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "I'm a third-year undergraduate, I want to take the computer science 专硕, help me make a one-year 考研 plan."
- "How should I choose between these three schools? Help me make a school comparison."
- "Working while preparing for 考研, I only have three hours a day, how should I arrange the plan?"
- "Plan my kaoyan preparation for an economics master's."