China's national entrance exam ends on Tuesday afternoon in 14 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. High school students in 17 other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions will continue sitting the exam, due to different schedule arrangements.

Exam venues across the country have been ensuring safety and trying to curb cheating. The Ministry of Education says universities will give preference to students from quake-hit Yushu County. They'll have an admission score threshold 10 points lower than the provincial average.

Figures from the Ministry show 9.57 million high school students have registered to sit this year's exam, 650 thousand down from last year. Chinese universities plan to recruit more than 6.5 million students. That means the average admission rate is expected to rise by seven percentage points compared to last year.