There are "trap" questions in vocabulary

Master Chau The Huu, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages ​​and Information Technology, commented that the English test of this year's high school graduation exam has the structure as announced by the Ministry of Education and Training. In general, the test is not too difficult but has a high level of classification, especially in questions related to vocabulary.

"Questions about phonetics and grammar stress are not barriers for candidates who have mastered basic knowledge. Questions related to relative clauses, if-conditional sentences or tenses are all present and at a moderate level, and can be handled," said Master The Huu.

Meanwhile, according to Master Huu, vocabulary questions are more challenging, however, candidates can guess their choices in the context provided by the questions and reading (for vocabulary questions related to reading).

For example, candidates taking test code 410 can predict the meaning of the phrase "loquacious" in question number 37 based on the correlation between this word and the word "outgoing" in the reading passage. In addition, to avoid traps in vocabulary questions, candidates should also pay attention to reading the questions carefully to identify the correct requirements such as choosing words with similar or opposite meanings.

The two reading passages in test 410 are arranged in order from easy to difficult. The second reading passage is related to music and can confuse candidates. To do well in these requirements, candidates need to calmly read and analyze the parts of the passage, not being distracted by vocabulary and sentence structure.

"With this test, the average score could be 7-8. Candidates who have basic knowledge and do the test carefully can get higher scores," said Master Chau The Huu.

The reading passage is difficult, the question about antonyms is quite puzzling for candidates.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tri, a PhD student in English teaching at Ho Chi Minh City Open University, also said that this year's English exam was good with a high level of differentiation, covering the basic knowledge content of the general education program with typical grammar points such as passive sentences, relative pronouns, and articles. The failure rate is expected to be quite low.

"However, the test has many difficult questions that require students to have a solid grasp of knowledge and thinking. With the sound questions, the questions are quite easy because the vocabulary is familiar and less confusing. Although the questions about synonyms are quite easy, the questions about antonyms are quite challenging for students when it comes to idioms, content that students need to have a deep understanding of the phrase to be able to answer," Mr. Tri commented.

According to Mr. Tri, grammar questions are diverse and basic throughout the program, causing little difficulty for candidates. Cloze text content (fill-in-the-blank exercises) is considered quite difficult because the questions for the options are easily confused with each other through quite similar options that learners often make mistakes.

"This year's reading passage is more differentiated and difficult than the 2023 English exam, requiring candidates to clearly understand the hidden meanings in the text in order to answer inference questions or distinguish between right and wrong statements," Mr. Tri shared.

In addition, the vocabulary question in the reading passage is quite difficult because the data in the passage is still vague, so it is difficult for candidates to guess the meaning of the words. The 3 questions about choosing the wrong answer are quite difficult because the choices all fall into common mistakes of high school students, so candidates will hardly see the mistakes.