Adjustments to subject combinations

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued a draft circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the admission regulations, expected to apply in 2025. Among them, one of the most concerned contents is related to the subject combination for university admission.

V EATING OR MATH IS A COMPULSORY SUBJECT

In the draft circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on university and college admissions for preschool education issued together with Circular 08/2022 of the Minister of Education and Training, the issue of subject combinations for admission is one of the revised contents that has been put forward for comments. Accordingly, for the admission method based on learning outcomes, exam results for each subject (including the total score of high school subjects, high school graduation exam scores, foreign language certificates and other assessment results), the draft stipulates that the subject combination used for admission includes at least 3 subjects.

These 3 subjects must be suitable to the characteristics and requirements of the training program, in which there must be a math or literature subject with an assessment weight of at least 1/3 of the total score. A training program, major, or group of majors can use a number of subject combinations at the same time for admission, in which case the common number of subjects of the combinations must have an assessment weight of at least 50% of the total score. In case of using high school study results for admission, the study results of the entire 12th grade of the candidate must be used.

This year's 12th graders will take the high school graduation exam and university entrance exam in 2025 with many changes.

Thus, the regulations on admission subject combinations in this draft are basically not much different from the previous regulations. Universities build admission subject combinations consisting of at least 3 subjects, in which literature or mathematics are compulsory and the remaining subjects need to be suitable to the characteristics and requirements of the training sector.

Commenting on this policy, Master Cu Xuan Tien, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that the draft's content stipulates that schools do not limit the combination of admissions but are bound by the proportion of subjects in the total score, which is appropriate and in line with the wishes of many schools.

INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ADMISSION COMBINATIONS FOR INDUSTRIES

Following this direction, many universities have planned to build admission combinations for 2025 including 3 subjects, each combination has at least literature or math. For example, the University of Economics and Law plans to apply 5 admission combinations for all majors. Specifically, including: math - English - literature, math - English - physics, math - English - information technology, math - English - economic and legal education, math - physics - chemistry.

According to Master Cu Xuan Tien, the school's orientation to build this combination meets the necessary conditions of the draft amendment and supplement to the admission regulations that the Ministry of Education and Training is collecting opinions on. Each combination consists of 3 subjects, math appears in all combinations. In addition to the traditional combination, the school has built a new combination with new subjects added in the 2018 General Education program (Information Technology, Economic Education and Law). There is no longer a regulation that each major has a maximum of 4 admission combinations, the school plans to apply 5 admission combinations for all majors.

Similarly, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that the school also plans to have more admission combinations for 2025. In particular, the combinations are expected to expand to include new subjects in the 2018 General Education program. "However, each combination still includes 3 subjects according to the principle of having 1-2 core subjects required for a major," Dr. Nhan affirmed.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Quang Hung, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, also said that the school's admission combination orientation remains stable, without much change. Compared to 2024, the school will remove combinations that are no longer suitable for next year's high school graduation exam, such as: natural sciences, social sciences. The main subjects in the school's admission combination include: math, literature, physics, chemistry and foreign languages. As for the admission method based on the learning process from grade 10 to grade 12, the admission combination is also built based on the compulsory subjects and main subjects as above.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Education also plans to adjust the admission combinations to suit the high school graduation exam subjects from 2025 but ensure the principle of 3 subjects in the combination. Accordingly, it will still maintain the admission combinations of 2024 in the methods using high school graduation exam scores suitable for the subjects from 2025. At the same time, the school will adjust the combinations that are no longer suitable, such as eliminating combinations with natural sciences and social sciences and adding new combinations with economic and legal education, information technology, and technology.

Even with the method of considering the scores of the specialized competency assessment exam, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education also converted to a 30-point scale including the score of 1 main subject multiplied by a coefficient of 2 plus the score of 1 remaining subject in the admission combination for each major. Particularly, the national defense and security education major plans to enroll students by aptitude test, based on the scores of 3 subjects: the score of 1 cultural subject from the specialized competency assessment exam or the high school graduation exam and 2 aptitude test subjects.

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam

In 2025, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade also plans to have 4 admission combinations and each combination consists of 3 subjects for each training major. The combinations apply to the method of considering high school graduation exam scores and considering high school study scores in 2025. In which, math is considered the main subject in the admission combination for majors: information technology, accounting, finance and banking and engineering majors. Literature is the main subject in the admission combination for majors related to administration and society such as: tourism and travel service management, economic law. English is the main subject in the admission combination for majors: English language and Chinese language.

Meanwhile, according to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thien Phuc, Vice Principal of the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University), the school is proposing to Ho Chi Minh City National University to recommend the Ministry of Education and Training to allow the admission combination to include 2 subjects. In which, the combination includes 1 hard subject (math or literature) and 1 subject from the elective group (physics, chemistry, biology...). However, Mr. Phuc said that the school will have an official decision in the spirit of the official admission regulations.

Are there any disadvantages between the combinations when applying to university?

In the 2025 high school graduation exam, candidates will take two compulsory subjects: math and literature; two optional subjects from the following subjects: chemistry, physics, biology, geography, history, economic and legal education, information technology, technology and foreign languages.

According to information from the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) at the recent conference summarizing the high school graduation exam for the period 2020 - 2024, each year in the period 2020 - 2024, the whole country has about 900,000 - 1 million candidates taking the high school graduation exam. Candidates take 3 compulsory subjects: math, literature, foreign language and one of 2 combined exams (natural science or social science). However, the aggregated data in recent years shows that the number of candidates choosing the natural science exam is always lower than the social science exam (except in Ho Chi Minh City in the opposite direction). Notably, statistics show that the average score of social science subjects increases slightly every year. On the contrary, the scores of natural science subjects are stable and lower. This is one of the reasons why candidates tend to choose the social science exam to have an advantage when applying for university admission.

According to the assessment of the Department of Quality Management, this is also a somewhat disadvantageous factor between the combinations when considering university admissions when many schools are considering many combinations for the same major but using the same standard score.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xet-tuyen-dh-2025-nhung-dieu-chinh-ve-to-hop-mon-185241127173718219.htm