Teachers show strategies to do well in English exam for high school graduation

According to Ms. Mai Huong, while taking the test, candidates need to pay attention to the following:

1. Candidates should keep a steady mind when taking the exam and do their best with what they have accumulated.

2. Students need to bring a watch (according to exam regulations) and allocate time appropriately for each type of test.

3. Do the types of exercises you are confident about first to optimize time.

4. Think carefully before filling in the answer. If you are not sure, you should mark the question and then come back to consider the answer later.

5. Candidates must not leave any answer blank.

6. Students need to spend at least 5 minutes at the end of the class to check their answers (have they filled in enough questions, have they matched the answers to each question, are there any questions that are not filled in completely or are not filled in clearly...).

7. Read the question carefully (many students are in a hurry and misread the question, finding antonyms instead of synonyms, which is a pity and results in losing points).

8. When choosing an answer, you need to be alert to distinguish between confusing answers.

9. Use the process of elimination if possible to help find the answer quickly.

10. Be confident in your work and do not be swayed by surrounding factors.

In addition, Ms. Mai Huong noted to candidates:

You need to analyze the test as soon as you receive it, identify the correct knowledge area and have a thought process for doing the test.

For example, in the error detection test, three questions focus on knowledge about verb tenses, possessive pronouns/adjectives, and two words with the same root that can easily cause confusion in meaning. Once students understand which type of question and what content they focus on, they will easily find the correct answer. From there, students will need to think about which questions to do first and which questions to do later, so as not to waste time.

Identify questions by level (recognition, understanding, application, high application)

Another piece of advice is that students should allocate their time appropriately for each question. Here are some suggestions:

– Recognition question: 30 seconds

– Comprehension questions: 50 seconds

– Application questions: 80 seconds

– High level application questions: 100 seconds

– 10 to 15 minutes for reading depending on length

Note, usually pronunciation and stress questions are at the recognition level; questions about verb tenses and articles are at the comprehension level; questions about verb phrases, idioms, synonyms, antonyms are at the application level...

Apply strategies for each type of question or exercise to optimize test time.

For example, reading comprehension 1 consists of 5 questions, including 1 title question (reading to get the main idea), 2 questions about detailed information, 1 reference question and 1 vocabulary question. To find the main idea of the reading, students need to skim, find the opening or closing sentence of each paragraph. From there, they find the main idea of the whole passage. To find detailed information, students need to scan to locate the information they are looking for.

Read the questions carefully to avoid making unfortunate mistakes:

Many students often skip the step of analyzing the question when doing the test, leading to incorrect answers. Typically, in the task of finding antonyms, many students mistook it for a task of finding synonyms and chose the wrong answer.

Another common mistake students make is to fill in the correct answer, then hesitate and choose another answer (wrong). This mistake is mainly due to lack of knowledge and not being able to identify traps in the noisy options.

“Hopefully the above suggestions will help candidates feel more confident when completing this year’s high school graduation exam. Wishing all candidates a productive exam season and high scores,” Ms. Huong shared.

This year's high school graduation exam takes place from June 26 to 29. Candidates will complete exam registration procedures on June 26.

On June 27 and 28, candidates will take compulsory exams, including: Math, Literature, Foreign Language and one of two combined exams: natural sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and social sciences (History, Geography, Civic Education for General Education or History, Geography for Continuing Education).

According to regulations in the high school graduation exam, only Literature subject is tested in essay form, the remaining subjects are tested in multiple choice form.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, this year, 1,067,391 candidates registered for the exam on the system (1,024,063 in 2023). Of which, 45,344 candidates registered for the exam independently (37,841 in 2023).

>>>2024 graduation exam schedule with detailed subjects