Candidates in Ho Chi Minh City have mixed feelings after the combined exam.

At noon on June 28, candidates in Ho Chi Minh City completed the combined exam of Natural Sciences (including physics, chemistry, biology) and Social Sciences (including geography, history, civics). According to the opinions of some candidates at the exam locations, the combined exam was not too difficult but long, with a lot of knowledge, and expected to be highly differentiated.

At the exam site of Ba Diem High School (Hoc Mon district), many candidates said they chose the Social Science exam because it was "easier to score points" than the Natural Science exam. Duy Thanh, a candidate who chose the Social Science exam, said that each exam in the group lasted 50 minutes, in the form of multiple choice. "Multiple choice exams and knowledge in the field of social sciences are easier to score points. Experience from previous years and myself shows that. For example, the History exam, the first 30 questions are quite easy, with basic knowledge and a little bit of reasoning, you can do it. The last 10 questions are quite difficult, all are specialized knowledge. Or in Geography, half of the questions are quite easy, only the second half are difficult questions. However, I can reason and choose. Overall, I got about 6-7 in this group of exams, enough to graduate and apply for admission," Duy Thanh said.

Candidates in Ho Chi Minh City completed the exam on June 28. (Photo: Doan Xa).

Similarly, many other candidates at Nguyen Thuong Hien school (Tan Binh district) also said that the social science exam was "more delicious" than the natural science exam. Because natural science subjects require precise calculation and finding answers in physics and chemistry to get multiple choice test results, not pure reasoning. According to general statistics from the education sector, the number of candidates choosing the social science exam increased compared to last year and was about twice as much as the natural science exam.

However, not all candidates avoid the natural science group. Bich Ngoc, a candidate at Nguyen Thuong Hien testing site, said that although she is a girl, she really loves physics and chemistry. "As long as you have a good academic record, you can do well on the natural science exam. In the physics exam, only the last 10 questions were quite difficult, while the first 30 questions were normal. I was able to do all 40 questions but was only sure about 35. As for biology, I was sure about 25 questions, but I was not sure about the rest but still filled in the answers. Because with multiple choice tests, there is already a 25% chance of getting the test done," Bich Ngoc happily said.

According to our research, in addition to some candidates using the scores of this exam for university admission, some candidates only need enough points to be recognized as graduating. Therefore, the pressure on them is not great. Even for the group of candidates using admission scores, this exam only accounts for a small part (from 20 to 50% of the total score) when considering admission according to the requirements of many universities, in addition to the ability assessment test scores and high school transcript scores.