By the rules, students sit the gaokao where their household registration is. Admission rates differ widely by province. In 2013 and 2014, more than 20 percent of candidates in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai were admitted to first-tier universities. In thirteen provinces, the rate was 6 to 10 percent.
Some families move a child’s school or household registration to a province with a lower cut-off. Such students are called gaokao yimin, gaokao migrants. In 2016, the Ministries of Education and Public Security ordered strict action against them. Of 84 court judgments on gaokao cheating from 2012 to 2015 found by the Procuratorial Daily, 27 were migrant cases.