Reference questions for high school graduation exams change the way of teaching and learning

PRACTICE SKILLS, MASTER BASIC KNOWLEDGE

Regarding math, Ms. Bui Thi Oanh, Marie Curie Secondary and High School (Hanoi), said that the new exam format and the math problems are all new and strange with many words, requiring both teachers and students to change their teaching and learning methods to meet the requirements. "In fact, there are no more difficult or tricky questions in the exam, but new and strange questions that students are hesitant to see many words. In the coming time, students will need to overcome and get used to this," Ms. Oanh shared.

With the reference exam for the 2025 high school graduation exam, both teachers and students must change their teaching and learning methods to meet the requirements.

Mr. Tran Manh Tung, a teacher at a knowledge training center in Hanoi, assessed that the math exam has a clear difference compared to before. The exam is quite differentiated compared to previous years and is very challenging for students. If the exam level remains the same, the high school graduation exam scores will decrease sharply in the next few years.

With this change, Mr. Tung believes that in order to achieve high scores in math in the upcoming high school graduation exam, students need to have a firm grasp of basic knowledge, understand the nature of the problem; increase connections with other subjects, and make connections with reality. In addition, students need to practice reading skills, analyzing problems and coming up with solutions; practice calculating skills quickly and accurately; and increase practice, solving math problems, and doing problems with a variety of content.

Mr. Tran Van Toan, former Head of the Math Group at Marie Curie School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), assessed that previously, learning mainly focused on conveying formulas and quick solutions. With the new curriculum's reference questions, the appearance of many practical problems (related to motion, economics, astronomy, etc.) requires students to switch from the method of memorizing to the method of clearly understanding the nature of each concept and applying them in real-life situations.

According to Mr. Toan, teachers help students practice critical thinking skills, logical thinking, and explain and present problems clearly. Moreover, it is necessary to flexibly apply interdisciplinary knowledge because the reference questions require students to apply knowledge related to many different subjects such as mathematics, physics, geography or economics to find answers. Thus, according to Mr. Toan, students need to learn deeply and grasp the nature of knowledge instead of just memorizing.

Reference questions for literature subject of high school graduation exam 2025

AVOID MEMORY LEARNING LITERATURE

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam, a teacher at Marie Curie Secondary and High School (Hanoi), believes that the new points in the literature reference questions will have a positive impact on teaching literature, avoiding rote learning and mechanical memorization.

Ms. Pham Ha Thanh, a teacher at Le Quy Don High School - Ha Dong (Hanoi), shared that when the literature exam is given without any textbook material, the answers and marking instructions also need to consider the level of requirements compared to the familiar way of setting the exam before. "Teachers cannot impose strict assessment methods in the marking process according to the new way of setting the exam," Ms. Thanh said.

Mr. Ngo Van Dat, a teacher at Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) pointed out the change in requirements in the writing section. Previously, students would write a social argumentative paragraph and a literary argumentative essay, but now the requirements are reversed. Mr. Dat said that according to this reference topic, teachers and students need to focus on knowledge according to genre characteristics. For the literary argumentative paragraph writing section, students should pay attention to the length of the paragraph of about 200 words, master the operations of analysis, proof, and commentary to develop ideas in the paragraph reasonably. For the social argumentative essay, students should focus on grasping current issues, expressing specific views and perspectives.

Learning tips is no longer relevant

Ms. Tran Thi Hong Nhung, a teacher at Asia International School (HCMC), said that the structure of the English reference test has changed a lot compared to last year. The biggest change is the complete removal of single multiple choice questions. There are no longer questions about pronunciation, word stress, or communication situations. Grammar knowledge, which was often assessed by single multiple choice questions in the past, is now included in reading and filling in the blanks, requiring candidates to apply grammar structures and vocabulary in the context of the reading instead of rote learning and memorizing grammar structures like before.

"With the new test structure, students may be overwhelmed by the amount of reading and have difficulty if they are not well prepared. This requires teachers and students to change their teaching and learning methods right now," Ms. Nhung commented.

"Memorizing grammar and learning tips during review will no longer be appropriate. Instead, teachers need to guide students in important reading comprehension skills such as identifying information, identifying main ideas, skimming, guessing ideas, guessing the meaning of words in context, inferring relationships, summarizing, etc. In addition, students also need to avoid memorization and instead be proactive in learning, reading many different types of texts to improve their knowledge and expand their vocabulary," the teacher from Asia International School instructed.

For many years now, English has been the subject with the "bottom" results in the high school graduation exam. Will the change to making the questions more difficult make the results of this exam even worse?

Many teachers believe that English is no longer a compulsory subject, so increasing the difficulty level is appropriate because only students with strengths in English will choose this subject to take the exam. Mr. Nguyen Manh Quyen, Principal of Dai Cuong High School (Ung Hoa District, Hanoi), said: With the new exam plan, foreign languages ​​are no longer a compulsory subject, so both teachers and students feel like a burden has been lifted, because in previous years, the average foreign language test score of students was only 3-4 points. In the difficult suburban areas, only a few students have the conditions to attend extra classes and have good foreign language skills.

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam. There are many changes in the direction of exam questions in the 2025 graduation exam.

IMPROVE THINKING ABILITY AND APPLY KNOWLEDGE

In the exam subject with the new name of economic and legal education, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, teacher at Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), said that the reference questions for this subject are highly difficult. In addition to basic knowledge, students need to have practical knowledge and the ability to think, analyze, and process information and situations.

Therefore, teacher Nguyen Tien Dung believes that students must have a firm grasp of basic knowledge. For each topic, it is necessary to draw a mind map for easy understanding. Next, it is necessary to regularly read and understand examples, from which to analyze examples, analyze topics, especially pay attention to multiple choice questions based on information to answer more than one question and true-false multiple choice. It is necessary to regularly improve thinking ability, apply knowledge and skills to solve practical problems, refer to documents, information, and situations related to topics in the subject program, and actively participate in project and topic activities during the learning process.

Change teaching methods

The positive change in the way of making questions from knowledge assessment to competency assessment requires changes on the part of both teachers and learners. Teachers need to change teaching methods to comprehensively develop students' competencies, and students need to focus on practicing the skills of applying knowledge into practice.

According to Mr. Pham Le Thanh, a teacher at Nguyen Hien High School (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City), teachers need to guide students on how to apply knowledge into practice, instead of just teaching theory or difficult calculation problems, which cause difficulties and loss of interest in the subject. This may include connecting learning content with real-life situations in practice and production.

Teachers should diversify classroom activities, increase discussion, project work or group exercises to help students practice skills in applying and solving real-life problems. Create opportunities for students to participate in discussions, share opinions and work in groups to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Students need to change their learning method from just memorizing knowledge to understanding and knowing how to apply knowledge to real-life situations.

Bich Thanh

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/de-tham-khao-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-thay-doi-cach-day-va-hoc-185241020191240778.htm