More difficult, creating conditions for university admission

Teacher Nguyen Thanh Cong, Hanoi National University of Education High School for the Gifted, commented that all subjects have been innovated in a direction that is consistent with the goals of the 2018 general education program, consistent with the goals of graduation and university admission. The exam questions are more difficult, so there is more differentiation, which is a good basis for schools to consider admission.

According to Mr. Cong, candidates for the 2025 high school graduation exam have studied the 2018 general education program since grade 10, have been familiar with the new exam format, and now are familiar with the new question format, so there are not many surprises.

“The students said the exam was more difficult. But personally, I think that if the exam was more difficult, the differentiation area would be wider, and universities would be able to select the right candidates. As for graduation, the Ministry of Education and Training will provide a macro tool to ensure that the graduation rate is not affected,” said Mr. Cong.

In 2024, there will be dozens of separate exams nationwide organized by universities for admission. Photo: Nhu Y

Strong differentiation test

A high school math teacher in Hanoi affirmed that the reference math exam was good, but he wondered if this exam was inconsistent with the goals and objectives previously set by the Ministry. When changing the name from the 2-in-1 national high school exam to the high school graduation exam, the Ministry of Education and Training determined the requirement to ensure accurate, objective, and reliable results for considering high school graduation recognition, providing information to assess the quality of general education and being one of the bases for university and college admissions.

If we look at this goal, from the reference questions, we can confirm that the Math score distribution in 2025 will decrease because the exam questions are highly differentiated. So is the main goal of the Ministry of Education and Training in organizing the exam in 2025 for graduation or university admission?

Another point that this teacher is concerned about is that 12th grade students will face many difficulties in university admission and graduation exams in 2025. Because the sample exam of the Ministry of Education and Training is not the same as the requirements of the thinking assessment exam (of Hanoi University of Science and Technology), the capacity assessment exam that universities are organizing.

To achieve good graduation exam results and be admitted to the desired universities, candidates will have to swim among many requirements. This will overload students.

“Before any change or adjustment, the Ministry of Education and Training must answer the question of what benefits candidates will get. With this reference test, students will find it difficult to achieve high scores if they only study in class for Math as they do now,” said this teacher.

MSc. Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said that the questions in part 2 and especially part 3 of the Math reference test are used to classify students and are for university admissions in 2025. If students study carefully and understand the lesson, they will do well on this high school graduation exam. Otherwise, they will only get 5-6 points.

A difficult exam to solve 2 goals

Since 2015, when the Ministry of Education and Training decided to abolish the 3 common exams, leaving only the national high school exam, experts have warned of the difficulties of a “marriage” that is known to have many conflicts. The graduation exam is to assess the quality of general education, and to grant graduation certificates to students if they meet the requirements.

The entrance exam is to select qualified people to study at university, so it is considered according to the slope. Because of this contradiction, if the exam meets the graduation target, it will rain 10 points, if it meets the university admission target, the 10 points will be like "autumn leaves" and in the end, no problem can be completely solved.

Faced with the fluctuation of scores, along with autonomy, many universities have organized their own entrance exams for admission. The separate exams and admission methods that do not depend on the high school graduation exam have created conditions for candidates to have more opportunities to be admitted to universities, reducing the load of the high school graduation exam. However, immediately after that, the problem was revealed that candidates were overloaded with exams, which was unfair to candidates from disadvantaged areas who could not take separate exams.

At the 2024 University Admissions Conference, the Ministry of Education and Training acknowledged these limitations and said there would be adjustments in 2025.

At present, there is no draft of the University Admission Regulations for 2025, so schools and candidates do not know what adjustments will be made. However, the reference exam for the 2025 high school graduation exam is a challenge for 12th graders as the exam has a new format with a higher level of difficulty.

A series of universities announced to adjust their own exams such as 2 National Universities, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Some more schools organized their own exams for admission such as Hanoi University of Education, some schools chose to organize the computer-based assessment exam V-SAT...

With so many exams like today, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to have other solutions to ensure fairness for candidates to access university opportunities. The Ministry's current solution is to increase the graduation exam load to force all students who do not need to use their graduation exam scores for university admission to take the same exam as candidates who need to.

The public has repeatedly asked when the Ministry of Education and Training will hand over the graduation exam to localities, but so far the Ministry's answer is still based on the provisions of the Education Law. In fact, if necessary, it is still possible to propose amending the law and the Ministry of Education and Training is doing this work, but absolutely does not mention the matter of handing over the exam to localities.

Source: https://danviet.vn/de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-nam-2025-kho-hon-tao-dieu-kien-cho-xet-tuyen-dh-20241021070919293.htm