High school graduation exam 2023 has differentiation for university admission

Before the time when students nationwide enter the 2023 high school graduation exam, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong, Head of the High School Graduation Exam Steering Committee, shares about the preparations, organization, exam questions and anti-cheating.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training: The 2023 high school graduation exam has differentiation for university admission - 1

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong inspected the organization of high school graduation exams in many localities.

High school graduation exam after 3 years of translation

- Dear Deputy Minister, in just a few hours, more than 1 million candidates nationwide will take the 2023 high school graduation exam. How have the Ministry of Education and Training and localities prepared?

In recent years, the high school graduation exam has been decentralized to the People's Committees of provinces and cities to direct the implementation and take full responsibility for the exam in the locality. Therefore, local preparation is the most important, deciding the success of the exam.

Localities will prepare facilities, select personnel, train test-taking teams, develop scenarios and plans to respond to unusual situations, and support test takers...

In the past 2 months, the Ministry of Education and Training and the National Steering Committee for the 2023 High School Graduation Exam have organized many working groups and inspection teams to work with localities on exam preparations. I have also directly participated in inspecting and surveying many localities.

I appreciate that localities are proactive, urgent, thoughtful and comprehensive in preparing for the exam.

Provinces and cities have also issued Directives on organizing high school graduation exams, issued work plans, and clearly assigned tasks.

In addition to implementing the Prime Minister's Directive and the general regulations and instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training, localities, depending on specific conditions, also have their own instructions and guidance to best prepare for the exam organization conditions.

Localities also develop scenarios and contingency plans for natural disasters, floods, epidemics, traffic, fire prevention and fighting, electricity supply, etc. to promptly respond and handle situations during the exam days.

The local education sector also directed students to complete the 12th grade program and organize early review for the high school graduation exam. From favorable to difficult areas, there are many methods and ways to support students to complete the program, review effectively and organize one or more trial exams. In particular, localities are interested in directing support for candidates with difficult circumstances, ensuring that no candidate is unable to participate in the exam due to economic or travel difficulties.

This year's high school graduation exam took place on a large scale. To ensure the participation of more than 1 million candidates, the locality mobilized up to 250,000 people to organize the exam, ensuring security and safety for the students.

I affirm that, up to this point, preparations for the 2023 high school graduation exam have been carried out in a proactive, urgent, thorough, thoughtful, and comprehensive manner; aiming for a safe, serious, fair, objective, and regulated exam.

- Are there any difficulties in preparing and organizing the 2023 high school graduation exam, Deputy Minister?

Before analyzing the difficulties, I will talk about the advantages first. Firstly, this year's exam is basically stable as in 2022. The exam regulations have been adjusted and supplemented with a number of articles to enhance security and safety factors and ensure the highest benefits for candidates, clearly assigning and taking responsibility for each party involved in organizing the exam.

Second, after 3 years of high school graduation exams being held in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with many difficulties and challenges, this is the year the exam returns to normal. Even the exam time has changed to the end of June as before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grade 12 students taking the exam this year have a full final year of in-person learning. The peace of mind for candidates, test takers, parents and the whole society has partly brought about favorable conditions for organizing this year's exam.

The direction of the Government, the coordination and support of ministries and branches, and the unified, smooth and responsible participation of localities are also advantages in organizing the exam.

Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong inspected the exam organization.

Regarding difficulties, in my opinion, the first thing that can be mentioned is that this year's high school graduation exam students have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for 2 years. Therefore, schools need to strengthen review organization to help students have the best knowledge and mindset to enter the exam.

Second, there is a subjective mentality because we think that this work has been done for many years. Subjectivity from preparing means and equipment to checking and supervising processes - this is thoroughly understood by the Ministry of Education and Training and the National Steering Committee in their instructions when working at the local level, as well as in meetings and training sessions with provinces, cities and exam staff.

Third, the use of sophisticated, high-tech equipment for cheating is also one of the difficulties in ensuring the safety and seriousness of the exam.

In addition, some localities with special terrain, extreme weather conditions, heat, power shortages, etc. will be difficulties that require contingency plans.

Increase the difficulty of the exam?

- Students' studies return to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, so will the 2023 high school graduation exam increase in difficulty?

The results of the high school graduation exam are used to consider graduation recognition, evaluate the quality of general education, and the quality of teaching and learning of teachers and students. These results are also the basis for many universities to use in university and college admissions. According to statistics, this year about 60% of universities use the results of the high school graduation exam for admissions.

With such nature, the orientation of the high school graduation exam this year will ensure the levels of recognition and understanding. Students need to have a firm grasp of the basic knowledge of the high school program, mainly grade 12.

At the same time, the test content will focus on the level of application, high application, and appropriate differentiation as the basis for universities to use as one of the admission methods.

In early March, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the reference exam questions for the 2023 high school graduation exam as a basis for schools, teachers, and students to review and prepare for the official exam.

- Exam cheating is becoming more and more sophisticated, with the increasing appearance of high-tech devices. What instructions does the Ministry of Education and Training have for localities regarding preventive measures?

Cheating on exams using high-tech devices is an issue that the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Public Security have warned about for many years. At the same time, solutions have been proposed to both warn and prevent cheating on exams using high-tech devices.

One of the important solutions is to raise awareness not only for candidates, parents, teachers but also for the whole society about preventing and combating cheating in exams using high-tech devices. I would like to emphasize that the purchase and use of these devices not only violates the exam regulations but also violates the law and will be handled according to current legal regulations.

The police force, through professional measures, has detected and handled many cases of high-tech equipment trafficking. Every year, in the propaganda and training work before the high school graduation exam, representatives of professional units of the Ministry of Public Security and the police of provinces and cities provide information and provide thorough training to the team of exam invigilators so that this force can proactively detect and identify candidates carrying and using high-tech equipment for the purpose of cheating.

To prevent cheating in exams in general and cheating with high-tech devices in particular, the role of exam supervisors is very important. When training is carried out seriously, when exam supervisors receive full information from the training, grasp the warnings, identify and perform assigned tasks with the highest responsibility, detecting and preventing high-tech devices for cheating in exams is possible.

A serious exam without cheating is also to ensure fairness for all candidates.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training: The 2023 high school graduation exam has differentiation for university admission - 5

Candidates are excited to prepare for the 2023 high school graduation exam.

- Before the 2023 high school graduation exam takes place, what did the Deputy Minister note or advise?

2023 is the fourth year that the high school graduation exam has been held and the first year that the concern about the epidemic is no longer as complicated as in previous exams. However, the students taking the exam this year are still students affected by the epidemic. The education sector has actively supported and consolidated the students' knowledge in recent times; the students themselves have also made great efforts in the learning process.

I have worked with many localities and met students at some schools during the final exam preparation days. The atmosphere and learning spirit of the students are remarkable. I hope that they will bring this spirit to the exam to achieve the best results.

For parents, in addition to taking care of and encouraging the candidates to stay calm and confident, I hope that parents will also pay attention and remind them to follow the exam regulations - only then can they avoid disadvantages in exam results for themselves.

To the team of exam supervisors in particular and all exam staff in general, I would like to reiterate the spirit of the directive "4 rights - 3 no's" that the Ministry of Education and Training has thoroughly implemented. The "4 rights" are: following the regulations and instructions for the exam; following all procedures, not omitting any procedures; following the assigned positions and responsibilities; being on time, promptly handling unusual situations; the "3 no's" are not being negligent or subjective; not arbitrarily handling unusual situations; not being overly stressed or pressured.

By implementing "4 right - 3 no" we are aiming for a serious, safe, honest, objective and fair exam.

- Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!

Source