Pressure of individual exam preparation

In the context of many changes in the High School Graduation Exam from 2025, universities will also have adjustments in enrollment to suit the 2018 General Education Program.

Among them, many top schools are expected to continue reducing admission quotas based on high school graduation exam scores, such as: National Economics University and Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

Instead of just entering university based on high school graduation exam results, many candidates seek admission opportunities through early admission methods such as: admission based on academic records, admission combined with international language certificates, admission based on separate exam results, etc.

With the desire to get into top universities, many candidates spend time, effort and spare no expense preparing for foreign language certificates such as IELTS and SAT from a very early age.

Although she has just entered the first semester of high school, Nguyen Ngoc Diep, a 10th grade student at Pham Hong Thai High School (Hanoi), has already found an IELTS preparation class. Diep aims to achieve 7.0 IELTS and plans to take the certificate exam in the second semester of grade 11 or the first semester of grade 12.

“I plan to choose the admission method that combines IELTS scores with the results of the Hanoi National University's competency assessment test. So the sooner I start preparing for the IELTS test, the less difficult it will be for me in grade 12."

To achieve the above goal, Diep said, she spends a lot of time practicing listening and writing skills. These are two skills she is still weak at. Every week, she studies English up to 5 sessions, not counting the time she spends studying other subjects.

According to research, the cost to study and take the IELTS exam is not small, from several tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dong, depending on each student's ability.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Huong (Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi) has just registered for an IELTS test preparation course for her child with a tuition fee of 55 million VND, with a commitment to an output of 6.5 IELTS.

Ms. Huong said: “In the context of everyone rushing to practice for the IELTS exam, my child cannot stay out of it. To increase my child’s chances of getting into his favorite university, I spare no expense in investing in him. A score of 6.5 IELTS is just the initial goal. If my child wants to be admitted to top universities, he needs to practice more to achieve a higher goal.”

In addition to the admission method combining foreign language certificates, many candidates choose the admission method based on the scores of the ability assessment test and thinking assessment organized by universities.

Among these, many candidates take many separate exams at the same time, causing exam pressure to increase day by day.

Early admission has negative effects

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), schools use a total of more than 20 admission methods, mainly early admission by: academic transcripts, international certificates, capacity assessment, thinking assessment, combination...

Last year, 214 out of 322 schools offered early admission. The number of students admitted under this option was more than 375,500 (nearly 50% of the total number of university applications).

Although early admission is considered to help candidates reduce exam pressure, in reality, the fact that schools use many early admission methods narrows the quota for admission based on high school graduation exam scores. Many candidates with high exam scores still fail to pass their favorite wishes, creating a negative social psychology.

In the method of considering transcripts, many schools consider admission from January with scores of 3 or 5 semesters, not including semester II of grade 12. Some schools announce transcript benchmark scores in March.

Meanwhile, the high school graduation exam takes place at the end of June, the exam scores are announced in mid-July, and the benchmark scores are announced in mid-August.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son and many experts believe that this has a negative impact on the final stage of general education, and the data source used for admission is also incomplete because students have not finished grade 12.

Faced with the above situation, Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong - Director of Quality Management Department, Ministry of Education and Training proposed that the time to announce early admission results should be after the end of the program and school year plan, that is, after May 31.

The benchmark scores for early admission methods should be announced after this time to avoid affecting the high school graduation exam and students' studies.

In addition, Mr. Chuong also proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training issue regulations to inspect and monitor the quality of competency assessment and thinking assessment exams organized by universities themselves.