High School Graduation Exam 2025: Things to note

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam. Photo: NHU Y

Special features

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued instructions for the 2025 high school graduation exam. Special points in this year's exam: There are 2 exam schedules corresponding to the 2006 and 2018 general education programs. For candidates taking the exam according to the 2006 program, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that, based on the number of candidates registering for the exam, the Departments of Education and Training will arrange a number of separate exam locations. The organization of the exam is carried out according to the regulations of the 2024 High School Graduation Exam Regulations. Candidates take 6 subjects. Of which, 3 are compulsory: Math, Literature, Foreign Language and choose 1 of 2 Natural Science exams (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) or Social Science exam (History, Geography, Civic Education). If any candidate has not graduated last year and is considered for graduation this year, the old regulations will apply, with a ratio of 30% of the 12th grade transcript score and 70% of the high school graduation exam score. Candidates take the exam in 4 sessions.

The group of candidates taking the graduation exam according to the 2018 program, according to regulations, only take 4 exams including 2 compulsory subjects: Math, Literature and 2 elective subjects from the remaining subjects studied in high school (10 subjects). In the formula for calculating graduation scores, the exam scores account for 50%; the 3-year high school transcript score accounts for 50% and priority points if any. Compared to before, the transcript score increased by 20%. Candidates take the graduation exam in 3 sessions.

Negative fear

In the instructions, the Ministry of Education and Training requires that the arrangement of exam rooms be carried out according to the following principles for the elective exam session: In the room, each subject will only be given the exam questions once; once the exam questions for a subject are given, the candidates who have registered to take that subject must take the exam for that subject, which means that the 10 elective subjects will be given the exam questions at the same time at the beginning of the exam session.

Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management, (Ministry of Education and Training) explained that because the number of subjects in the exam increased compared to last year and candidates were allowed to choose 2 subjects, the arrangement of the exam rooms was more complicated, and the exam supervision work would have many new points. Accordingly, in the process of developing the regulations, the Ministry of Education and Training organized many experimental sessions to optimize the process such as: Peeling, distributing, collecting exam papers as well as testing the exam room arrangement system.

From 2025, candidates will take the exam in a single fixed room for all 3 exam sessions. The room arrangement will be based on the candidates' 2 optional subjects, including rooms where subjects 1 and 2 can be tested in turn, but there will also be rooms where multiple subjects can be tested at the same time, up to a maximum of 5 subjects.

Faced with the new and quite complicated point in organizing the elective subjects in this year's high school graduation exam, an examination expert commented that for candidates following the 2006 General Education Program, the organization has been relatively clear and strict. Candidates taking the exam under the 2018 General Education Program have 2 elective subjects out of the remaining 10 subjects, tested in the same session. This is a difference from previous years because the examination room may have many elective subjects and tested at different times, leading to confusion for the invigilators and candidates, possibly causing unfortunate mistakes or cheating during the organization of the elective exam. For example, in the same room, candidate A chooses 2 exams: History, Physics; candidate B chooses History, Economic Education and Law; candidate C chooses Biology, Chemistry.

Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong shared that the 2025 high school graduation exam has new points compared to previous exams: not only testing knowledge but also focusing on assessing the ability to apply knowledge in practice. Accordingly, there will be many questions built from real-life situations in life, science, and society, helping candidates clearly see the connection between the knowledge learned and the world around them.

In recent years, for objective tests, the Ministry of Education and Training has stipulated that each candidate has a separate test code, with 24 different test codes/test room and is formed from 4 different original test codes (each subject has 4 independent original test questions), from which 6 test codes are mixed and ensure that students sitting next to each other do not have the same original test code to minimize the situation of having the same questions and the same answers. In addition, the Ministry requires that test rooms must arrange different registration numbers to avoid coincidences, candidates can ask to leave for reasons of force majeure to exchange answers to questions with the same test code. This is to minimize negativity. To avoid confusion for test invigilators and candidates and minimize unnecessary shortcomings, minimize possible fraud, create fairness, objectivity, transparency, and honesty in the process of organizing the selection test; The expert suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to have detailed instructions and training, disseminate to exam invigilators and especially candidates.

Talking to reporters about this concern, Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong informed about the anti-cheating solution such as each candidate only sits in one exam room during the exam (previous years, the exam rooms were changed). One subject can be tested in 2 shifts for different exam rooms, so candidates must be isolated for 2 shifts and the exam codes for each different shift must be increased to 48 codes (previously it was 24 codes).

The Ministry of Education and Training calculates the time interval between exam papers in an examination room from 2 to 5 subjects. The leader of the Department of Quality Management said that candidates need to note that when taking the elective exam, they must be present from the beginning of the exam and can only leave when the exam time is over (after both elective exams). Previously, candidates who only took the second exam in the elective exam could arrive 15 minutes before the second exam time. However, from 2025, candidates must arrive right from the beginning of the exam. One of the important regulations that candidates need to remember when taking the objective multiple-choice exam is that they cannot submit their exam papers before the end of the exam time. Candidates can only leave the exam room after the invigilator has checked enough multiple-choice answer sheets in the entire exam room and given permission.

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