Accordingly, the high school graduation exam from 2025 will have 2 compulsory subjects and 2 subjects that candidates can choose. Candidates will take the exam in literature, mathematics and 2 elective subjects from the remaining subjects studied in grade 12 (foreign language, history, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, economic and legal education, information technology, technology). Literature will be tested in essay form; the remaining subjects will be tested in multiple choice form.

C CAN ONLY BE CHOSEN FROM GRADE 12 SUBJECTS

Late yesterday afternoon (November 29), the Ministry of Education and Training held a press conference on the plan to organize the high school graduation exam from 2025.

Responding to Thanh Nien reporter's question about whether the Ministry of Education and Training allows candidates to choose more than the 4 subjects prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management, said that in principle, the current model of organizing exams does not allow this. Because there are 36 different combinations of options when choosing 2 out of 9 subjects.

Thus, according to Mr. Ha, if the third subject is allowed to be selected, there will be duplication. Also according to Mr. Ha, if students choose too many subjects while only applying for one major, it will lead to a situation where the same faculty, the same major is applied for many different combinations, which does not ensure the principle of fairness when comparing the scores of the two combinations. Therefore, in the short term, Mr. Ha believes that taking only 4 subjects for each candidate will help save the whole society, including students and parents, including saving time and effort.

Regarding the question of whether candidates can choose a different subject from the one they studied in high school, and if they change their chosen subject during their studies, what will happen when they take the exam, Mr. Ha said that the development of the exam plan must closely follow the regulations on teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education and Training allows students to change their chosen subject during their high school studies, so the choice of exam subject is also corresponding. "Regardless of how the chosen subject is changed in grade 10 or grade 11, the subject you choose to register for the exam must be the subject you studied in grade 12. This also helps to achieve a very important purpose of using the results of the high school graduation exam to evaluate the teaching and learning process in reverse, and to have appropriate solutions," Mr. Ha said.

' REVEAL' ABOUT EXAM FORMAT FROM 2025

Regarding the exam, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha affirmed that the new exam format will overcome a number of problems, including the need to balance reliability, even between different subjects. "We are actively researching and applying modern testing methods to avoid large deviations in scores between some subjects, such as some subjects in the natural sciences or social sciences group," Mr. Ha said.

Regarding the construction of the question bank, the Ministry of Education and Training said that in November, the Ministry will hold the first training session for more than 3,000 teachers of all subjects of the 2025 high school graduation exam for 63 departments of education and training nationwide and a number of universities that participate heavily in the high school graduation exam. These more than 3,000 teachers will be the core force to help change the construction of the question bank.

Responding to Thanh Nien about the limitations in the multiple-choice testing method as implemented over the past 10 years, especially in math, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha revealed that in the recent working and research period, some new formats were developed. "With this new format, we will overcome the limitations in the thinking space of math. Previously, we were only limited to choosing one of four options, but now we are researching to develop a format that allows for more freedom in the thinking of PhDs. If the research and testing results are good, they will be announced to the whole society," said Mr. Ha.

Sharing more about this issue, according to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong, multiple-choice tests have limitations. However, currently, there are experts who previously strongly disagreed with the multiple-choice test format, especially in math, but now highly agree with the solution of designing test questions with logical thinking and reasoning.

"That is what we are dealing with professionally. If there are places where teachers and students teach in a trick-based way, the Ministry of Education and Training will direct the departments to overcome this aspect of the teaching and learning process. As well as reducing compulsory subjects and increasing elective subjects, we are shifting the education that has been focused on testing (studying for exams, only studying when taking exams) to an education that is truly learning, truly teaching, truly working, truly working," said Deputy Minister Thuong.

How to retake the 2024 high school graduation exam if you fail?

Many reporters are also concerned about the situation of students who failed the graduation exam in 2024, while they are the last generation of students studying under the old program, while 2025 is the exam for students studying the new program.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha affirmed: "Students will take exams according to the program they study. This is a general principle. For these students, we can calculate to organize exams after 2024, ensuring the exam content and methods follow the 2006 general education program, including structure and format."

Regarding university admissions for these cases, Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy, Director of the Department of Higher Education, said that the admission regulations have been kept stable for the past 2 years, which set out general principles (basic requirements) for universities to organize admissions regardless of the content or form of the high school graduation exam. Regardless of how the exam is organized, schools must still ensure fairness between admission methods and recruit students who are suitable for the requirements of the training program. Thus, regardless of which exam students take or what the exam content is, they will still be considered for admission fairly.