The Ho Chi Minh City 12th grade excellent student exam for the 2023-2024 school year has just taken place with the participation of nearly 5,000 students of the final course studying the 2006 General Education Program. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that the 12th grade excellent student exam compiled according to the 2006 General Education Program is oriented to assess students' thinking and practical application abilities. In addition, there will also be some new points regarding the regulations on candidates and the number of candidates to ensure the highest benefits for students.

Specifically, in this year's 12th grade gifted student exam, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stipulates that students in specialized classes in literature, history, geography, math, physics, chemistry, biology, information technology, English, French, and Chinese are not allowed to take exams in their specialized subjects, but can only take cross-subject exams in subjects that are not specialized subjects.

The Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City also clearly stipulates the number of candidates allowed to take the exam in each subject at each school:

For math, physics, chemistry, biology, literature, history, geography, computer science, and English, each unit will send a maximum of 5 students per exam subject.

For French, Japanese, and Chinese, each unit can send a maximum of 10 students per subject. At the same time, the regulation implemented last year will continue to be applied: Schools with students winning first prize in a subject in the 2022-2023 school year can send a maximum of 5 more students for that subject.

In addition, the exam continues to apply the regulations that have been implemented in previous years: Students in the city's excellent student team participating in the national excellent student exam are not allowed to take the exam.

Regarding the award structure, this year Ho Chi Minh City still maintains the same award ratio as the previous school year. Only first, second, and third individual prizes are awarded for each subject. In which, the percentage of students winning prizes must not exceed 60% of the students taking the exam. And the Department of Education and Training specifically stipulates the score for each prize: first prize from 18 to 20 points, second prize from 15 to under 18 points, third prize from 10 to under 15 points.

With the above new points, Mr. Pham Quang Tam, Deputy Head of Secondary Education Department, Department of Education and Training, said that the restriction of exam subjects for specialized class students in the excellent student exam is based on the suggestions of many schools to ensure fairness and encourage the movement of training excellent students equally.

According to Mr. Tam, this regulation does not affect the rights of specialized students because the city organized an exam to select excellent students for the national team in October 2023. In this exam, students are allowed to take the exam in the specialized subject they are studying. Students who pass the team will still be ranked according to their results and will not lose their rights.