High competition rate, 105,000 Hanoi students enter stressful 10th grade exam

This morning, June 10, nearly 105,000 candidates in Hanoi entered the first exam of the 10th grade entrance exam in 2023.

Tỷ lệ chọi cao, 105.000 sĩ tử Hà Nội bước vào kỳ thi lớp 10 đầy căng thẳng

Khuong Dinh High School exam scores. (Source: Vietnamnet)

From early morning, parents and candidates were present at the exam site. At 5:45 a.m., at the exam site of Thang Long High School (Hai Ba Trung District), Cao Minh Hoang (student of To Hoang Secondary School) took the opportunity to review the content of the Literature subject.

This is the subject Hoang is most worried about because his strength is natural sciences. Because he is worried, Hoang arrived 2 hours earlier than the test start time.

"My 3 choices include Thang Long, Hai Ba Trung, and Truong Dinh High Schools, of which Thang Long is my first choice - which has the highest admission score in the Hai Ba Trung area. Therefore, I will have to try harder in today's and tomorrow's exams."

Ms. Ngoc Thao (resident of Nhan Chinh ward, Thanh Xuan district) shared that her daughter woke up at 5am to review her lessons. Taking her first daughter to take the 10th grade exam, she could not help but worry. Because if her child fails the public school entrance exam, going to a quality private school would be a financial decision while the family's economy is not very good.

“On the way, I kept encouraging my child but I was also worried inside.” Khuong Dinh High School had barricaded the testing area quite far away, and her house was also close by, but Ms. Thao still chose a nearby cafe to ensure that if her child needed anything, she would be able to help promptly.

Nervously watching her child enter the exam room, Ms. Nguyen Minh Hanh (Dong Da district) shared: "Over the past time, my children have studied and reviewed very hard, so no matter what the results are, my family and I are always proud of them. I hope they will always be confident and calm."

At 8:00 a.m., candidates will take the Literature exam in essay format for 120 minutes. The exam includes questions based on the knowledge and skills standards of the current secondary school curriculum of the Ministry of Education and Training, mainly in the 9th grade curriculum.

In particular, the Math and Literature exams ensure 4 cognitive levels: Recognition, comprehension, application and high-level application. The Foreign Language exam is mainly at the recognition and comprehension levels and has some questions at the application level.

According to statistics, the number of Hanoi students registering for the 10th grade entrance exam at public high schools in the 2023-2024 school year is nearly 105,000 students. Meanwhile, the enrollment quota for public high schools is only about 72,000.

This year, Hanoi organized 201 examination sites, located at high schools, some secondary schools, and vocational education and training centers. At the same time, mobilized more than 20,000 teachers to work as invigilators and graders.

Among the schools, this year, Khuong Ha High School has the highest competition ratio, up to 1/3.55. The reason is also because this is a new public school in Hanoi (starting enrollment from 2021) with a low number of quotas. Next is Chu Van An High School with a competition ratio of up to 1/3.43...

Checking documents and equipment before entering the exam site at Khuong Thuong Secondary School (Dong Da District). (Source: Vietnamnet)

However, besides high schools with extremely high competition rates, there are also schools with very low competition rates. In fact, there are many schools where the number of candidates registering for their first choice is lower than the quota. These schools are all located in suburban districts of Hanoi.

Minh Quang High School has the lowest competition rate for grade 10 admission this year in Hanoi (about 1/0.5). The number of students registering for their first choice for grade 10 at this school is 229 while the school's quota is 450.

Right after this school is Bac Luong Son High School (with a competition ratio of 1/0.69) and Tho Xuan High School (with a competition ratio of 1/0.71).

The 10 high schools with the lowest competition rates for grade 10 in Hanoi in 2023 include: Minh Quang High School, Bac Luong Son High School, Tho Xuan High School, Tu Lap High School, Bat Bat High School, Xuan Khanh High School, Nguyen Van Troi High School, Ung Hoa B High School, Luu Hoang High School, Dai Cuong High School.

Among these, except for Dai Cuong High School, the remaining schools all have a number of students registering for their first choice lower than the quota.

However, the common point of these schools is that the number of students registering for their second and third choices is very large, mostly over 1,000, even some schools have nearly 2,000 choices. This is understandable, as these schools are often considered as “backup plans” to get a place in public schools when failing the first choice schools.

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