According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (GDĐT), the Literature exam for 10th grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City consists of 2 parts with a total score of 10.
Part 1 (5 points) includes reading comprehension of literary texts and writing paragraphs. In which, reading comprehension questions account for 3 points, writing paragraph questions account for 2 points.
Part 2 (5 points) includes reading comprehension of commentary or information document and writing a social commentary essay. The reading comprehension question accounts for 1 point, the social commentary essay accounts for 4 points.
Regarding the scope of assessment, the materials used in the exam are all outside of textbooks. The exam includes literary text combined with one of two types of text: essay or information. The total volume of materials does not exceed 1,300 words.
In the section of writing a paragraph of about 200 words, candidates may be asked to write down their feelings about a poem, verse paragraph or analyze the content of the topic, artistic depth and aesthetic effectiveness of the work.
For the section of writing a social commentary essay, the exam may require candidates to present their views on a life problem or propose solutions to a problem that needs to be solved, ensuring reasonable reasons and convincing evidence.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that the exam questions are designed according to the orientation of integrating reading comprehension and writing ability assessments. The content of the writing part will be related to the text in the reading comprehension part.
Notably, the exam has 1 Vietnamese question in the reading comprehension section of literary texts. Some contents students need to pay attention to include: rhetorical techniques, figurative - figurative words, isolated components, clear and implicit meanings, short sentences, special sentences, direct and indirect introductions.
The assessment basis is mainly based on the required standards of the 2018 General Education Program for Literature at the secondary school level, focusing on grades 8 and 9.
The reference questions are as follows:
In the 2025-2026 school year, Ho Chi Minh City has 169,602 9th grade students completing the secondary school program. Of which, 151,269 candidates registered to take the 10th grade public high school entrance exam for the 2026-2027 school year and 1,515 students are eligible for direct admission.
The exam will take place in two days, June 1 and 2. 2026, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training arranges 242 exam sites with 6,443 exam rooms, and at the same time mobilizes more than 17,000 officials and teachers to participate in exam supervision and service.
Candidates will take 3 subjects including Literature, Mathematics and Foreign Language 1; candidates registering for specialized or integrated classes will take additional specialized or integrated subjects according to regulations.
