Hanoi accepts two answers for printed math exam

The Hanoi Department of Education and Training will have two answers for the math exam printed in blur, and students who make mistakes will still get points.

On June 11, after Hanoi students finished the general math exam, many people discovered a difference in print quality between the exam papers. In point 1 of question III, the question asked candidates to solve a system of equations, finding two unknowns x and y. The first equation was in the form 2/(x-3). However, in some exam papers, the dash of the equation was blurred and not continuous, causing many students to mistake it for a negative sign, so they did it wrong.

The correct answer to the problem is (x,y) = (7/2, 1). If the calculation is mistakenly negative, the solution is (83/26, -19/5).

Mr. Ha Xuan Nham, Head of Secondary Education Department, Hanoi Department of Education and Training, confirmed on the afternoon of June 12 that during the printing process of more than 100,000 copies of the Math exam, some copies were blurred as reported.

"From the verification results, in the spirit of ensuring maximum benefits for candidates, the exam board has added the answer for this question, which means accepting the results of students who mistakenly added a minus sign," said Mr. Nham.

To explain more clearly, Mr. Nham said that if students mistakenly see the negative sign, convert the steps correctly and get the solution, they will still get the maximum score of 1 point for this question. According to the Department's statistics, 36 parents signed the petition, saying that their children's exam had problems, causing them to misread and make mistakes.

"This is a rare incident, a valuable lesson for us, especially during the time when high school graduation exams are approaching," said Mr. Le Ngoc Hoa, Chief of Office of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training.

The Department said that in the following exams, in addition to ensuring the quality of printing, the Department will pay attention to notifying and reminding candidates to review the exam questions and report to the invigilators.

Part 1, question III of the two exam papers has the fraction sign blurred and not blurred. Photo: Thanh Hang

Earlier this morning, about 20 parents whose children were affected went to the Department of Education and Training, submitting a petition requesting the Department to include the scores for candidates who did the equation with negative signs. According to them, with 1 point for the equation of question III, students who did it wrong would lose 2 points in the total admission score, because the Math subject was doubled. This could cause their children to lose the opportunity to study at public high schools.

According to a survey by VnExpress , 80% of 4,600 people said that points should be given to candidates who misunderstand the questions due to blurred printing. This is also the wish of many teachers.

VnExpress survey results as of 6pm June 12. Screenshot — *VnExpress* survey results as of 6pm June 12. *Screenshot*

On June 10-11, 104,000 students in Hanoi completed three exams in Literature, Foreign Language and Mathematics to enter grade 10 of public high schools (mass). With a target of about 72,000, the admission rate is 66.5%. The admission score is the sum of Literature and Mathematics scores multiplied by two, along with the Foreign Language score and priority points (if any).

This year’s Hanoi public 10th grade exam scores and benchmark scores will be announced on July 4 and July 8-9. If admitted, students will enroll online. From July 18, schools that do not have enough enrollment quotas will begin to consider additional enrollment.