WITH the high-school population in decline, the number of Shanghai test takers sitting for this year's college entrance exam, the most important admission test for higher education slots, is the lowest this decade.

About 66,000 local students applied for the exam, which is scheduled next Monday through Wednesday. That's 20 percent fewer than last year, education authorities announced yesterday.

Many other regions in the country have also seen a decline, mainly because the number of high school students is ebbing nationwide, according to the Ministry of Education. Nationwide, registrants for this year's exam total 9.5 million, down 740,000 from 2009.

This doesn't mean it will be easier to be admitted to universities. Schools are trimming their admissions in accordance with the applicant decline.

Fudan University plans to decrease 100 places this year and Shanghai Jiaotong University will decrease 300 spots.

The proportion of local test takers gaining university admission will be about the same as last year, when 84 percent taking the exam made it in to university, said the Shanghai Educational Examinations Authority.

The decline in local test takers is expected to last to 2015, education authorities said.

A few test sites in four districts - the Pudong New Area and Huangpu, Xuhui and Luwan districts - have been relocated to create a quiet environment for exam takers. Officials worried that the locations were too near the World Expo site or transport hubs.

Education authorities said they will be more vigilant against cheating, though only one in every 25,000 test takers was caught cheating in the city last year, much lower than the national level.

Radio monitoring equipment and surveillance cameras, first adopted last year, will be kept and expanded this year.