Advanced technology has helped to significantly reduce cheating in this year's national college entrance examination, held from June 7 to 9, sources with the Ministry of Education have said.

More than 2,600 examinees nationwide, or 2.6 out of every 10,000, were disciplined for cheating in the exam this year, the lowest rate in the past decade.

The authorities previously caught more than three candidates out of every 10,000 for cheating every year, ministry figures showed.

New technology such as wireless supervision systems, electronic monitoring devices, mobile phone detectors and wireless signal screens have been used to curb cheating in the past two years, officials said.

A monitoring system for the college entrance exam, considered a life-changing event for many high school graduates nationwide, is based on local schools' networks and connected to provincial headquarters specially set up for the exam.

All venues in 16 provinces and regions can in turn be seen and monitored on large screens at the National Education Examination Authorities in Beijing.

Inspectors can reportedly see every part of a venue in detail and track examinees' every move. They can even communicate with local exam officials.

The local exam headquarters in 31 provinces and regions are also said to be able to view most exam venues via a monitoring system. The videos of the invigilation will be kept on file for future reference.

Wireless monitoring vans that patrol near exam venues have also helped detect suspicious electronic signals and exposed exam cheats.