A total of 3,563 students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao will attend the entrance examination for universities in the Chinese mainland, which will be held in late June, sources with the Education Ministry of China said on Monday.

About one third of the applicants will be enrolled by universities in the Chinese mainland, according to the sources.

Mainly to check the basic knowledge and learning ability of the students, the examinations will be in three forms, including multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and short answers.

Officials of the ministry said that the applicants should focus on their comprehensive ability to analyze and solve practical problems.

The exams in both simplified and traditional Chinese will be of almost equal difficulty as the one of 2003, said the sources.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2004)