CET-4 and CET-6 are taken once in June and1February, and freshmen can take the exam, but general schools stipulate that sophomores can take the exam. CET-4 and CET-6 are national English tests administered by the Ministry of Education. Its purpose is to objectively and accurately measure the actual English ability of college students and provide evaluation services for college English teaching. College English test is a large-scale standardized test and a "norm reference test of standard correlation".

As the main means to judge whether the English ability of Chinese college students meets the teaching requirements, CET-4 and CET-6 must also be reformed accordingly to adapt to the new situation and make the examination better serve the implementation of the teaching requirements. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, the reform group and examination committee of CET-4 and CET-6, after repeated discussions and argumentation, have extensively listened to the opinions of front-line college English teachers and students, and formulated the National College English Test-4 and CET-6 Reform Plan (for Trial Implementation).