Controversy over off-topic 10th grade entrance exam essay still getting points

Ho Chi Minh City The 10th grade entrance exam's Literature exam requires candidates to analyze poetry, but the grading guidelines stipulate that even if you analyze a story, you still get points, causing controversy over its fairness.

In the Literature exam for grade 10 public schools in Ho Chi Minh City, topic 1 (candidates can choose one of two topics) of the literature essay section requires you to write an essay about a stanza or a passage of poetry that makes you think about the patriotism of the Vietnamese people and want to sing praises to that love. From there, indicate the impact of that stanza or passage of poetry on you.

The answer key recently announced by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training noted that in case the candidate chooses to analyze the story, the examiner will still evaluate and score the skills and the topic as agreed by the examination board.

Answers and grading scale for the literature essay part of the 10th grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training

This post sparked controversy on student forums in Ho Chi Minh City.

Minh Khoa, a candidate in Thu Duc City, was upset because candidates who did the wrong test were still given points. According to Khoa, the test clearly required analysis of a paragraph or stanza, so choosing a story that was clearly off-topic but was still given points is unacceptable.

"In an entrance exam, candidates compete for 0.25 points but still get points for doing things off topic, which I think is unfair to those who do things correctly," Khoa said. This candidate believes that a wrong answer can be scored for skills or given a "consolation" point, but cannot be scored the same as a correct answer.

An anonymous account said that choosing the wrong genre of work could be a mistake due to stress in the exam room, these candidates should be given the opportunity if they analyze the topic correctly.

Having participated in grading Literature exams for many years, a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City said that the questions are very clear, so it is unacceptable for candidates to do things wrong, especially in an entrance exam.

According to the teacher, the Literature answer sheet still scores the skills and the content is on topic, which is reasonable. But how to score and the maximum score compared to the absolute score needs to be clearly announced.

"I understand the students' frustrations. The Department should clearly announce how the grading will be done so as not to create a subjective mentality that if a candidate goes off-topic, they will still be graded," he said, adding that this is the first time the answer sheet has been graded for a candidate who went off-topic. This has not happened in previous years.

A teacher who participated in grading this year's exam said that for the wrongly asked questions, grading skills and presentation is normal because the answer sheet has separate scoring sections for these parts.

Off topic does not get full marks

Responding to VnExpress , Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh, a Literature specialist at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, confirmed that candidates who chose the wrong genre as required - story analysis instead of poetry analysis - were still scored on their skills and presentation.

Specifically, these essays will be graded if they ensure the structure of the essay; ensure the rules of spelling, word usage, and sentence structure; express creatively, and think deeply about the essay topic. This skill section is graded with a maximum of 1 point.

However, according to Mr. Thanh, the examiner will consider the level of the candidate's work to give points, not just based on the form. For example, the work has three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion, but each part must be correct in its task to receive the maximum score of 0.5. If the form of the introduction, body, and conclusion is correct but written for the sake of it, without ensuring the function, the candidate will not receive the maximum score.

"In addition, candidates who choose to analyze a story but this story has a theme of patriotism will be considered by the examiner for scoring because the content of the argument is on topic. Thus, those who do not answer the question, even if written well, will only receive a maximum of 1.5/4 points," Mr. Thanh said that the answers and detailed scoring scale for Literature will be announced and given specific instructions to each examiner.

The Department’s expert also added that the guidelines for grading the Literature exam in Ho Chi Minh City this year are similar to those for grading the high school graduation exam, still giving points for skills and correct topics to candidates who choose the wrong category. In previous years, these cases would be given 0 points.

Candidates take the Literature exam for 10th graders at public schools in Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of June 6. Photo: Quynh Tran

According to the marking regulations of the Department of Education and Training, the exams are marked independently in two rounds by examiners from two different groups. In case the scores of the two examiners differ, there are very detailed instructions on how to unify the scores.

Before marking, the head examiner will meet with the group leaders to discuss the answers, marking instructions and mark at least 5 test papers together as samples. After that, each marking group will also mark at least 5 test papers together so that all members are fully aware.

The department said it will mobilize more than 2,500 teachers to grade 10th grade exams from June 12 to 17. Ho Chi Minh City's 10th grade exam scores will be announced on June 20.

In early June, nearly 96,000 candidates took the Literature, Foreign Language, and Math exams to compete for a spot in grade 10 public schools in Ho Chi Minh City. The total quota for 108 public high schools in the city is 77,300, with an admission rate of about 80%.

Many teachers commented that the Literature and Math exams were stable as in previous years, while the English exam was quite easy. Therefore, the benchmark score for 10th graders in Ho Chi Minh City this year could be over 25 points for top schools, 16-22 points for mid-ranking schools, and over 11 points for schools in the suburbs. This level increased by 0.5-1 point compared to last year.

Le Nguyen

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