Abstract: In 2014, the Chinese government initiated the college entrance examination reform (CEE reform). Aiming at promoting student’s transition from high school to college, the CEE reform tries to reconstruct high school students’ academic experience and strengthen competency-based education. Based on the national college student development survey data, this paper examines the impact of the CEE reform on freshmen's academic adaptation using PSM-DID method. The data analysis found that the academic performance of the freshmen from Zhejiang and Shanghai has slightly declined due to the impact of the CEE reform on their academic foundation in high schools. With the strengthening of career education in the high school, the CEE reform has significantly improved the interest-major congruence of freshmen. In addition, the impact of the CEE reform on freshmen's academic adaptation is heterogeneous. For freshmen from rural areas with weak educational resources, the decline of their academic adaptation is more significant compared to their counterparts.

Key words: college entrance examination reform, freshman’s academic adaptation, academic performance, interest-major congruence, high school-college transition