According to the orientation of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (GDĐT), the English exam not only assesses grammar and vocabulary knowledge but also focuses on the ability to understand and use language appropriately to the actual communication context.
The exam questions aim to specifically assess language skills, and at the same time encourage changing teaching and learning methods towards communication, putting students at the center.
The assessment scope includes content on phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, communication, writing and reading comprehension.
In the phonetics section, students need to grasp how to pronounce vowels, basic consonants and how to place accents.
The vocabulary and grammar section requires applying diverse vocabulary and grammatical structures according to the program.
The exam also assesses the ability to understand and respond in simple communication situations associated with reality.
In writing skills, students need to complete the correct word type, write appropriate phrases according to the given information and write sentences based on the grammar structure and vocabulary they have learned.
The reading comprehension section includes a reading lesson of about 180-200 words to find information and a paragraph reading lesson of about 80-100 words.
According to the announced structure, the exam consists of 4 parts:
Phonetics section: from sentence 1 to sentence 4.
Vocabulary, grammar, communication section: from question 5 to question 16.
Reading comprehension part: from question 17 to question 28.
from question 29 to question 40.
Notably, the exam will have 2 new questions in the writing section of appropriate phrases according to available information. This type of question aims to test the ability to read notes in dictionaries to find language information and apply knowledge of students.
The sample exam 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 directly admitted.
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.
