Meanwhile, the attempt to move the students by bus failed.

An announcement from the local government, at around 10 am, conveyed the message that the first exam had been canceled, but said the other three would go ahead as scheduled.

Then, shortly before 2 pm, an announcement from the provincial education authorities said the mathematics exam had also been canceled because the waters had not receded. The two canceled exams are scheduled to take place on Thursday, the authorities said around 10 pm on Tuesday.

Wang said the students had been provided with psychological counseling to alleviate their stress at the most important moment of their education to date.

To guarantee that the second day's exams would go forward, the authorities said they had prepared a backup site and would decide whether to switch to that location early on Wednesday.