(Dan Tri) - The regulation on a common score scale for all university admission methods in 2025 according to the draft circular of the Ministry of Education and Training has attracted the attention of parents and students.
Top 0.8% of ability assessment is only equal to top 52.9% of graduation exam?
The draft Circular on university admission regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has 3 notable new points related to early admission.
One is that the early admission quota cannot exceed 20%. Two is that the admission methods must be converted to a common scale. Three is that the early admission benchmark after conversion must not be lower than the admission benchmark.
Regulations on the use of a common grading scale in university admissions are the most debated issue today. How to ensure fairness for all candidates if the admission methods must use the same grading scale while the original reference system is different is a "headache" for educational institutions.
Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam in Hanoi (Photo: Manh Quan).
Accordingly, if the common scale used is a 30-point scale based on the combination of 3 high school graduation exam subjects, it is easy to see that the converted scores of different admission methods do not properly assess the nature of the candidates' abilities in that exam.
For example, the Hanoi University of Science and Technology's thinking assessment test has a maximum score of 100. In 2024, only 20/20,000 candidates taking this exam scored above 90, a rate of 0.1%.
If converted to a general scale of 30, 90 thinking assessment points are only equivalent to 27 high school graduation exam points. The calculation formula is as follows: Conversion score = Thinking assessment score x 30/100.
In the 2024 high school graduation exam, the number of candidates achieving 27 points in block A00 was 13,346 out of a total of 343,813 candidates taking the exam, accounting for 3.8%.
Similarly, the Hanoi National University's competency assessment test has a maximum score of 150. In 2024, this exam had 100,633 candidates participating. The percentage of candidates scoring above 110/150 is 0.8%. If converted to a scale of 30, applying the formula Conversion score = Competency assessment score x 30/150, 110 competency assessment points are equivalent to 22 high school graduation exam points.
Last year, up to 52.9% of candidates taking the A00 exam achieved a score of 22.
A score of 90/100 for thinking assessment or 110/150 for ability assessment is a very high score for these two exams.
Candidates who achieve one of these two scores have a guaranteed chance of being admitted to all majors/training programs with the highest benchmark scores of top universities - which use these two certificates for early admission.
With 27 points in the high school graduation exam, candidates can fail the National Economics University in about 50% of majors and training programs.
It should also be added that the percentage of candidates achieving over 70/100 points in the thinking assessment in 2024 is only 9%, while this score is only equivalent to 21 points in the high school graduation exam, approximately equal to the average score in the A00 group score spectrum.
| Early admission methods | Converted score to 27 points for high school graduation exam | Percentage of candidates passing |
| SAT | 1440/1600 | 7% |
| Thinking assessment | 90/100 | 0.1% |
| Assessment of Hanoi National University's capacity | 135/150 | 0% |
| Assessment of capacity of Ho Chi Minh City National University | 1080/1200 | 0.1% |
If the regulation on using a common score scale is passed, along with the regulation that the early admission benchmark score when converted cannot be lower than the general admission benchmark score, schools will have great difficulty finding a suitable admission formula.
On the other hand, converting to a common scale will be difficult with combined admission methods, using multiple certificates and conditions.
Over the past two years, a number of universities have adopted a common scoring scale for all early admission methods, including the National Economics University.
The school converts all early admission certificates such as SAT, ACT, aptitude assessment, thinking assessment... to a 30-point scale.
Initially, the 2024 university admission plan of the National Economics University advocated considering all methods by the converted score and considering from high to low until the quota was full. However, candidates said that this method would create disparities and inequality between the admission methods.
Specifically, with the conversion method on a scale of 30, a candidate with an SAT score of 1,200 is counted as having 22 conversion points, while a candidate with an 85 ability assessment score is only counted as having 17 conversion points.
If a candidate wants to take the aptitude test and get a score equivalent to the SAT 1,200, the score he or she needs to achieve is 112.5, which is in the top 1.09% of the nation.
After receiving feedback from candidates, the National Economics University has revised the enrollment plan in the direction of dividing small quotas for each admission group.
The SAT/ACT admission group has 5% of the quota. The admission group using ability assessment and thinking assessment scores has 45% of the quota. The admission group using high school graduation exam scores combined with international English certificates has 30% of the quota.
This option is acceptable as it ensures fairness between methods.
The concept of "early admission" must be clearly defined.
Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc said that the conversion to a 3-subject graduation exam score scale is forced and baseless.
"The admission scores of the methods depend on the difficulty of the exam and the admission quota of each method. This conversion is only done fairly when there is similarity or equivalence of the exam matrix.
For example, the Hanoi National University's aptitude test is a difficult test. Up to now, no student has achieved a perfect score and the number of students who scored above 130/150 points can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Nam Anh).
Moreover, in recent years, the high school exam has only served the highest goal of graduating from high school, while other methods have served university admission. The level of differentiation is at a completely different level and cannot be converted mechanically," affirmed Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc.
The professor also assessed that the 2025 high school graduation exam that the Ministry has announced has a fairly good differentiation. However, to use "2 in 1" to combine university admission in the best way to reduce the burden on schools and for candidates to avoid having to participate in additional capacity assessment exams, further discussion is needed.
From there, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc said that only the floor score between methods should be regulated, which can be equivalent or proportional to each other by a certain coefficient k according to the difficulty and differentiation of candidates' level.
According to Professor Duc, the options as stipulated in the Draft Regulations are only applicable to admission based on high school transcripts. It is even more unwise to consider transcripts for the entire 12 years of study from primary school to high school graduation as a basis for university admission.
Notably, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc emphasized that the concept of "early admission" needs to be clearly defined in the Regulations to distinguish between admission results based on academic records and admission results based on independent exams because the admission rate, quotas and methods are different.
Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc supports the restriction of time and quota for early admission based on academic records. For many years, the results of assessment based on academic records have always been higher than high school results.
"The situation of leniency and leniency in assessment based on academic records is a reality. Therefore, control to improve input quality, demonstrating the state management role of the Ministry of Education and Training is necessary," said Professor Duc.
Regarding the regulation to ensure that the admission score for early admission after conversion is not lower than the admission score of the general planned admission round, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc said that this is only suitable for the admission method based on academic records. Equating it with other methods is unscientific and not suitable for reality.
At the same time, Professor Duc proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training should support the organization of registration for all admission rounds for all methods, ensuring fairness and equality between admission rounds.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/dung-thang-diem-chung-tuyen-sinh-dh-110-diem-dgnl-bang-22-diem-tot-nghiep-20241129114732460.htm
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