Ho Chi Minh City tightens the organization of the high school graduation exam
The 2026 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City takes place on a large scale, with more than 130,000 candidates taking the exam, putting significant pressure on the organization; the education sector requires strict implementation of regulations, ensuring absolute safety at all stages.
According to the plan, the high school graduation exam takes place in two days, June 11 and 12, with a system of many exam sites arranged throughout the city to ensure favorable exam conditions for candidates. Candidates will take 4 exams, including 2 compulsory subjects, Math and Literature, and 2 elective subjects according to the curriculum. In which, Literature is tested in essay form; the remaining subjects are objective multiple-choice tests.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phong - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training - informed that the Ministry of Education and Training has issued complete guidelines for organizing the exam, covering the entire process from registration for the exam, printing and copying exam questions, invigilating, grading to announcing results. On that basis, Ho Chi Minh City is deploying synchronously to units, requiring strict implementation of each stage to minimize arising risks.
According to Mr. Phong, with the large scale of the exam, just a small mistake in any stage can affect the entire organization process. "The scale of the exam is very large, even small mistakes can affect the entire exam" - Mr. Phong emphasized.
In particular, the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training affirmed that the most important criterion for evaluating the exam is not to let violations occur. "Just one candidate bringing a phone into the exam room cannot say that the exam took place seriously," Mr. Nguyen Van Phong stated clearly. Therefore, exam sites are required to strengthen control, from calling candidates into the exam room, checking items brought to supervision throughout the exam time. In parallel, ensuring security and safety of exam questions and papers continues to be put first, with the coordination of the police and functional forces to prevent negative situations.
In addition to the pressure of organizing the exam, Ho Chi Minh City also faces a large volume of administrative work after the exam, including processing exam score data, graduation consideration, printing and issuing diplomas to hundreds of thousands of candidates.
In the context of the 10th grade entrance exam and the high school graduation exam taking place continuously, the city's education sector requires units to proactively arrange personnel and minimize leave to ensure sufficient forces to perform tasks.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also requires the heads of units to be directly responsible in the entire organization process; all stages must be strictly controlled, ensuring compliance with regulations.
Students need to proactively review and firmly grasp the regulations
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the 2026 high school graduation exam will continue to remain stable as in 2025. The format, structure of the exam questions and sample exam questions have been announced since 2024, remaining stable for both 2025 and 2026.
Currently, high schools across the country are promoting tutoring for 12th grade students. According to Ms. Le Minh Thu - Vice Principal of Galileo High School (Hanoi), the preparation for the exam has been implemented early, closely following the 2018 General Education program, and at the same time associated with career orientation. Students are advised to identify abilities, strengths and shape appropriate choices.
At school, students are grouped according to their abilities and personal needs, building their own learning roadmap. This approach helps teachers closely monitor progress, promptly adjust methods, and at the same time support students to promote strengths, overcome limitations in the review and test preparation process. In the lessons serving the graduation exam review, students can also choose classes according to their wishes to improve learning efficiency.
Regarding university admissions, Dr. Nguyen Phi Long - Head of Training Department, Vietnam Women's Academy - said that the 2026 admission regulations have some points that candidates need to pay attention to. In which, the source of admission is candidates with a total score of three high school graduation exam subjects corresponding to the admission combination (or the exam score of Math and Literature and another subject) reaching at least 15 on a 30-point scale. In addition, candidates are only allowed to register a maximum of 15 aspirations for training programs of different schools and need to be arranged in order of priority from highest to lowest.
Dr. Nguyen Phi Long recommends that students need to focus on completing the curriculum well, and at the same time proactively learn about enrollment information from schools. Listening to yourself, clearly identifying interests, abilities and referring to career trends will help candidates make appropriate choices and build effective aspiration registration strategies.
