Of the more than 1 million candidates registered for the 2024 high school graduation exam nationwide, the number of independent candidates is 46,978, an increase of 9,137 compared to 2023. Because this is the last year of organizing the exam according to the old general education program, the number of independent candidates participating has increased significantly compared to previous years, with 5,785 candidates in Ho Chi Minh City alone. In addition to the goal of taking the exam to set an example for their children and grandchildren, many young independent candidates choose to retake the exam to change to a suitable field of study.

To Nguyen Hoan Vu, 19 years old, is one of them. Vu is currently a student majoring in literature at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. However, because he feels that teaching is not suitable for him, he wants to change majors and choose the international relations of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities as his "destination" for the next 4 years. The exam block Vu chose is D14 (literature, history, English). Notably, in 2023, he scored 10 points in history.

"For history, I solved about 100 questions in the 2 weeks leading up to the exam, and for English, 50. Even though I'm good at literature, I still feel that this year's literature test is a bit long, especially the literature essay question. I did okay in English and history. As for history, I think I'll get 9.5 points because I got 2 theory questions wrong," Vu shared.

Sharing more about the secret to getting a perfect score in history, instead of "dive headfirst" into memorizing the outline, the male student said he chose to study by thinking, that is, reading the theory and memorizing it, then applying that theory in the process of solving the questions. Repeating like that, candidates can practice reflexes and gain experience. "Currently, I am practicing IELTS and looking for early internship opportunities because I started 1 year later than my peers," Vu said.

Nguyen Thuy Ha May, 19, a fashion student at Van Lang University, chose to keep her studies and decided to take the 2024 high school graduation exam two months ago. May's goal is to major in psychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, a field that, according to her, "is not yet popular in Vietnam and has a lot of room for students to develop."

"I'm not good at history, so I just went through a rather 'hard' review period to regain my 'roots'. I divided the 2 months of review into two parts, the first month to build up my knowledge and the second month to focus on solving exam questions. Regarding learning resources, I signed up for a course on a TikTok channel, watching 1 video every day. They create engaging, quality content, making me more interested in receiving knowledge," said the female student taking the D14 exam and hoping to achieve a total score of 26.

Sharing more about the recent exam results, May said that she "hit the jackpot" in literature, but because the exam requirements were too long, she couldn't write in time, "not as I expected" and hoped for a score above 8. With history and English, May also hopes to get a score above 9. "Now I will make up for the past few days with friends, wait until I get the score to plan the next step," May said.

Meanwhile, Huynh Thi Yen Nhi, 19, said she is taking a gap year to work part-time outside. During that time, she realized she was passionate about pet care, so she decided to retake the exam to pursue this major. "I don't face much pressure because I have fewer subjects to take and I have more time to study and review," said the student taking the natural sciences exam.

After the 2024 high school graduation exam ends, the exam results are expected to be announced on July 17 and candidates can register and adjust their university admission wishes an unlimited number of times on the Ministry of Education and Training's common system from July 18 to 30. Before 5:00 p.m. on July 22, universities will announce the admission score on the common system and the school's own website.