Anxiety reduces chances of admission
Faced with this news, Nguyen Yen Nhi - a 12th grade student at Han Thuyen High School (Bac Ninh) - expressed her disappointment and anxiety. “I have invested a lot to have a good academic record for early admission to university. I also plan to take the HSK4 certificate exam (for Chinese learners) and an aptitude test. The tightening of early university admission quotas may change my exam preparation plan as well as my application strategy. I will definitely have to try harder in the 2025 high school graduation exam to increase my chances of being admitted,” Yen Nhi shared.
Sharing the same sentiment, Ngoc Diep - a 12th grade student at Cau Giay High School (Hanoi) - said that reducing the early admission quota will narrow the chances of being admitted to universities, increasing the pressure of studying and reviewing in the near future.
“Limiting the quota to 20% may increase the benchmark for early admission methods, and the competition among candidates will also be more fierce. In particular, we will have a rather heavy mentality when entering the “war” of early admission and general admission by the Ministry of Education and Training,” the female student assessed.
Besides concerns about increased competition for university admission, many students also believe that reducing early admission quotas is a positive sign, limiting the impact on students' studies in the final semester of grade 12.
“This can create a level playing field where all candidates compete based on the same reference system, which is the high school graduation exam results. Moreover, this will more accurately reflect the quality of teaching and learning at school,” said Huu Minh, a 12th grade student at Cau Giay High School (Hanoi).
Limit quotas to ensure fairness
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporter about this issue, Ms. Tran Quang Van - teacher at Ha Huy Tap High School (Nghe An) - said that reducing the early admission quota will create two streams of opinions.
“Reducing the early admission quota will increase the advantage for students in remote areas, who have difficulty studying for SAT, IELTS certificates, ability assessments, and thinking assessments. At the same time, it will also cause disadvantages for students in specialized schools or those who have tried to have good academic records for early admission. It is very likely that the first years of applying the reduced early admission quota will increase the pressure on students in the high school graduation exam,” Ms. Van stated.
Giving advice to candidates, Ms. Tran Quang Van advised them to prioritize reviewing for the high school graduation exam. If they plan to be admitted based on their ability and thinking assessment scores, students should only take the exam once or twice to avoid spreading their energy too much, leading to ineffective review.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung - former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, the new proposal of the Ministry of Education and Training is completely correct. This is an important step to ensure fairness and input quality of higher education institutions.
“In previous school years, the early admission quota was always high, even overwhelming the admission quota based on high school graduation exam scores, pushing the benchmark score of this method very high. In addition, prioritizing the quota for early admission methods also causes injustice because candidates in remote, isolated areas have little opportunity to access separate exams or foreign language certificates. Limiting the early admission quota to 20% forces candidates to focus on the high school graduation exam, creating fairness,” said Associate Professor, Dr. Do Van Dung.
