One of the top ranked students in the national college entrance examination in Chongqing may not be able to enter university after lying about his ethnic status.

He Chuanyang, who attended Nankai Middle School, scored 659, which was the highest in the municipality and earned him a place at the prestigious Peking University in Beijing.

He and 30 other students were found to have falsely claimed 20 additional test points because of their "ethnic minority status", the local admission office said.