Parents of students taking the national college entrance exams (gaokao) wait outside the exam site on Tuesday in Shexian county in Huangshan, East China's Anhui Province. Local authorities canceled the Chinese language and mathematics tests on the first day of the exams this year due to heavy rainfall. Photo: VCG

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) has approved to reschedule the gaokao exams for students from Shexian county of East China's Anhui Province on Thursday by using the gaokao exam's backup test papers as two of the exams (math and Chinese language) were cancelled on Tuesday due to heavy rain and unprecedented flooding in 50 years, the paper.cn reported.

In fact, the quality and standard of the backup exam papers are the same as that of the original exams, the authority said.

The education center of the MOE asked the local education authority in Anhui to ensure the smooth operation of the rescheduled gaokao exam and safety of student candidates and test personnel in Shexian county.

To ensure the students candidates can attend the life-changing national college entrance exam on Wednesday, local soldiers built two floating bridges stretching for more than 100 meters on Tuesday night in Shexian County to shuttle the candidates from their homes to the exam sites.

The tests of other subjects on Wednesday were sat as normal.

Due to the heavy rain, many roads in the county were waterlogged and traffic obstructed on Tuesday morning, according to a letter to student candidates issued by the government of Shexian county, adding that the flood was unlike anything seen in the last 50 years.

Some student candidates and teachers reportedly took a boat to the exam sites on Tuesday. However, only some 25 percent of the county's 2,000 students reached their exam sites on time, according to media reports, leading to the tests later being canceled and local authorities asking for a rescheduled exam.