New skills for reviewing 10th grade entrance exam

The 2025 10th grade entrance exam is the first exam to be conducted according to the 2018 General Education Program. Therefore, to help teachers and 9th grade students this year best prepare for the exam taking place in June 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has announced the structure and sample questions.

SKILLS TO PRACTICE WITH LITERATURE TEST TOPICS

From the orientation of closely following the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program, Master Tran Le Duy, lecturer of the Faculty of Literature, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that teachers need to teach correctly, sufficiently, and systematically the lesson units according to the requirements of the program.

With the structure and sample exam for grade 10, grade 9 students in Ho Chi Minh City will soon receive appropriate review guidance from teachers.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

According to Mr. Le Duy, the 2018 program design is continuous, the previous year is an important foundation for the following year, so teachers review the development path of reading and writing skills to see the connection between knowledge and skills at all levels of secondary school. On that basis, there are solutions to review and fill in knowledge gaps for students in a timely manner.

According to Mr. Duy, the necessary work is for teachers to prepare a system of reading comprehension exercises and practice writing skills for students to review.

For students, Master Tran Le Duy instructs that in the first stage, they should closely follow the content and learning activities in the textbook to ensure a solid grasp of the basics and a good foundation. Near the exam, they should focus on doing more exercises, practicing solving questions, writing essays to manage their time appropriately, gain experience in handling questions, and learn from mistakes in skills.

Master Tran Nguyen Tuan Huy, head of the literature group at Tran Boi Co Secondary School (District 5), commented that the structure of the 10th grade entrance exam for literature according to the 2018 general education program not only focuses on literary knowledge but also comprehensively assesses students' language and thinking abilities, more accurately reflecting their learning ability. This reflects the modern educational trend, focusing on self-study ability and application of knowledge in practice.

In the reading comprehension section, using materials outside of textbooks requires students to access a variety of sources and develop identification, analysis, and evaluation skills.

In the writing section, regarding the requirement to create a literary argumentative paragraph, students need to practice the ability to express ideas in a concise and succinct manner. At the same time, the requirement to express emotions or analyze the content of the work will create conditions for promoting the thinking and creative personality of each student through the equipped skills.

Regarding the requirement of creating a social argumentative essay, providing two approaches to argumentation about a life issue or a solution to a problem that needs to be solved will encourage students to not only express their opinions but also to associate to think and suggest feasible solutions. In addition, the requirement to be achieved is quite clear through the assessment of presenting personal opinions, knowing how to use reasoning and evidence, so students need to practice more on logical reasoning skills and critical thinking.

IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION WITH REAL-LIFE MATH

Regarding the math reference test, Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, a teacher at Thu Duc High School, said that the test had one less practical math question compared to 2024.

According to Mr. Tuan Anh, in previous years, the 10th grade math exam in Ho Chi Minh City was considered long, with a lot of "words" so students did not have much time to understand the exam and find solutions to the problem, and did not have time to present the solution... Therefore, the exam structure this year reduced one practical math question, which is reasonable. Mr. Tuan Anh believes that candidates taking the 10th grade exam in Ho Chi Minh City next year will have an easier time solving math questions.

To meet the requirements of the exam, according to Mr. Tuan Anh, students need to have a firm grasp of the basic knowledge taught by teachers in class; numerical calculation skills, expression transformation, solving equations, inequalities, basic knowledge of plane geometry... Then, improve reading comprehension in solving practical problems, know how to convert from everyday language to mathematical language, from there, they can model the problem, bringing it back to basic problems such as solving equations, solving systems of equations, calculating expression values...

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, with the new exam, students must know and improve their ability to apply learned knowledge to solve practical problems; encourage self-study and creativity, and avoid rote learning.

PHOTO OF DAO NGOC THACH

SKILLS TO USE VOCABULARY FLEXIBLY IN ENGLISH

Regarding the English reference test, many teachers commented that the structure and content of the test remained similar to previous years, with only a few minor changes in questions 35 and 36. Previously, questions 35 and 36 required students to arrange suggested words into complete sentences, which were considered quite simple and easy to score. However, this year the questions have been changed to require students to use the vocabulary provided in the appropriate context to complete the sentences.

Ms. Tran Thi Van, a teacher at Nguyen Du Secondary School (District 1), said that the structure and assessment requirements of the 10th grade exam according to the 2018 General Education Program require students to not only memorize vocabulary but also know how to use words in different situations and contexts. This new type of exercise will help students practice their vocabulary skills more flexibly instead of just memorizing. This will create new challenges for students but also help improve the quality of the 10th grade entrance exam.

The test increased the application rate by 40%.

Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the assessment focuses on the requirements of subjects in the 2018 General Education Program for secondary school level, mainly grades 8 and 9. The assessment content aims to help students orient themselves with some necessary knowledge and skills when entering high school.

According to Mr. Quoc, the literature exam is designed to integrate reading comprehension and writing ability assessment, and the content in the writing section is related to the text in the reading comprehension section.

Mathematics will be presented through the following knowledge streams: geometry and measurement; numbers and algebra; statistics and probability. The exam requirements aim to assess mathematical abilities such as mathematical thinking and reasoning, mathematical problem solving, and mathematical modeling.

In English, the goal of the entrance exam will be to assess language proficiency not only based on students' knowledge of grammar and vocabulary but also the ability to understand and apply language knowledge in appropriate contexts, especially real-life situations. Therefore, in the 40 questions of the 2025 exam, there will be 2 new questions about writing appropriate phrases based on the given information. This question tests the ability to read notes in the dictionary to find linguistic information and apply knowledge.

The person in charge of the Department of Education and Training also clarified that the ratio of knowledge levels in the exam according to the 2018 program has also been adjusted, reducing the level of recognition and understanding, increasing the rate of application. Specifically, for entrance exams from 2024 and earlier, due to the application of the 2006 general education program, the level of recognition and understanding will account for 70 - 75% of the knowledge in the exam. From 2025, in the 10th grade exam, the level of recognition and understanding will be reduced to 60% and the rate of questions requiring application will increase to 40%. This adjustment is to assess students' practical application ability according to the orientation of the 2018 general education program.

From the exam requirements, Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc emphasized that students must know and improve their ability to apply learned knowledge to solve practical problems; encourage self-study and creativity, and avoid rote learning.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ky-nang-on-tap-thi-tuyen-sinh-lop-10-theo-huong-moi-185241003192702848.htm