New signal

Recently, the Hanoi City Private High School Management Club held its first conference in 2025. The conference focused on discussing to clarify the current situation and solutions to improve the quality of high school graduation exams, early admissions; and implementing new regulations on extra teaching and learning in private schools.

In fact, in the recent 12th grade survey in Hanoi, more than 28,000 private schools participated. The results showed that the group of students with average scores (from 5-6 points) accounted for the largest proportion, which was identified as the core force to raise to a good level if the schools had a good review strategy. The survey results also showed that the level of students among private schools was not uniform, many students tended to focus on subjects chosen according to their personal wishes, leading to differences between subjects.

Students taking the 2024 high school graduation exam. Photo: NHU Y

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Binh, Principal of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School, said that the reason why the survey results were not as expected was that 12th grade students studied 3 years of high school according to the 2018 general education program, but in primary and secondary school they studied the 2006 general education program. Thus, the teaching and assessment methods with old learning methods and old thinking affected the students' survey results.

“We must move towards real teaching and learning, and I think this is a very good sign. If we keep this momentum, education will regain the trust of society and universities will not be too stressed when using graduation exam scores for admission.”

Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc, University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Speaking to reporters, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, University of Technology (Hanoi National University) affirmed that the results of Hanoi's survey of 12th grade students according to the structure of the high school graduation exam for the 2018 general education program are encouraging. This is a number that reflects the actual learning situation of students. Mr. Duc analyzed that we are familiar with the disease of achievement, the graduation exam scores in previous years were quite high.

Second, the exam results clearly confirm that the structure of this year's high school graduation exam has been adjusted by the Ministry of Education and Training and has better differentiation. In addition to the 4-answer multiple-choice questions, there are new question types such as true/false multiple-choice and short-answer multiple-choice questions with different scoring methods. Therefore, this result is not unexpected. "I think it reflects the reality and we have to study for real, take real exams and that will create strong innovation next year. Personally, I think such results are a signal for us to look at the reality," said Mr. Duc.

Meet admission requirements

Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc predicted that this year's high school graduation exam will no longer have the phenomenon of a rain of 9s and 10s. According to him, this year, with good differentiation like the Hanoi exam, universities will be more confident in their admissions and ensure more fairness for candidates between admission methods.

Professor Dinh Duc said that this result is not a cause for concern. Schools, students, and parents should look directly at the reality to study and take real exams. This result also shows that we need to review the organization of teaching and learning according to the new program. Mr. Duc said that through consulting many teachers and students who teach and learn according to the new program, he realized that the implementation in schools is still shaky, especially in natural science subjects.

Teaching must be more substantial, and more attention must be paid to high school education. In addition, parents, students and schools need to be alerted and cannot continue to pursue the disease of achievement. “We must move towards substantial teaching and learning, and I think this is a good sign. If we keep this momentum, education will regain the trust of society and universities will not be too stressed when using graduation exam scores for admission,” affirmed Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc.

Prof. Dr. Do Duc Thai, lecturer of the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Technology, Hanoi National University of Education, said that he and two professors of the same faculty had difficulty with question 44 (code 109) of the 2024 high school graduation exam in Mathematics. All three tried together, but by the end of the afternoon they still could not solve it. It was impossible to solve it within the limited time frame. "So why do we force students to learn in such a way? We need to review teaching methods to train generations who know how to apply learned knowledge to solve practical problems," Prof. Thai emphasized.

He said that the 2006 general education program mainly focused on imparting knowledge, with the goal of helping students answer the question of what they will know after finishing their studies. However, how to apply that knowledge in practice was not given much attention. For example, in Mathematics, students only focused on the number and types of exercises they could solve, instead of understanding the application of Mathematics in life and career fields.

The 2018 program is approached in the direction of developing students' qualities and abilities, focusing on the question of what students will be able to do and how they will do it after completing the program. The high school graduation exam has had many changes in terms of exam methods and exam formats. This is clearly shown in the sample high school graduation exam questions that the Ministry of Education and Training has announced, especially for the Math subject. According to Mr. Thai, it is time to decisively shift from the mentality of studying for the exam to studying for the exam.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/khao-sat-chat-luong-hoc-sinh-lop-12-tin-hieu-tot-cua-viec-day-va-hoc-post1733371.tpo