The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced the reference questions for the 2024 high school graduation exam.
The English test consists of 40 multiple choice questions with 4 options. The test time is 50 minutes.
Dang Ngoc Minh Chau, a 12th grade student at Viet Duc High School (Hanoi), commented that the English sample test had many differences compared to the test questions of previous years.
"The test has removed the pronunciation and stress sections and increased the number of reading passages. Most of the questions in this section are not highly applicable, many students learn tricks to do it. I think removing this section requires students to develop their reading comprehension and logical thinking skills. Therefore, the test will be more difficult and have a higher classification" - Minh Chau shared.
In addition, the answers provided in the exam limit the individual vocabulary questions, single meanings to questions that require filling in whole phrases, whole sentences. This forces students to have a holistic thinking, understand the problem, the question, avoid the case of students doing tricks, learning by rote or guessing.
"To solve the fill-in-the-blank questions, I have to really understand the context and meaning of the whole sentence and reading instead of relying on the individual meaning of the words like before. Besides the challenge, this is also an opportunity for me to promote my advantages in this subject. I have been exposed to similar readings regularly. In my opinion, increasing the difficulty will help good students gain a clearer advantage in scores than before" - Minh Chau said.
Ho Gia Huy, a student of class 12D6, Dao Duy Tu High School (Quang Binh), commented that the new structure of the English sample test was more difficult and longer than before. Personally, he found the test a bit too much for him and some of his peers.
"What impressed me most was the change in the reading passage. The change from single sentences to sentences related to the context in the reading passage will help students better understand the meaning and role of words in sentences and sentences in paragraphs. However, the number of reading passages taking up almost the entire test also makes me hesitant about assessing the overall knowledge of students" - Gia Huy said.
The male student believes that increasing the difficulty level will have both advantages and disadvantages. The new structure can better differentiate students.
"However, I also encountered many difficulties and challenges when solving this question. Partly because my knowledge is not solid, but partly because the question has changed a lot, getting used to the exam structure from now until the end of the year is a challenge for me.
To achieve good results, I think we need to redefine our test-taking strategies and make the most of our time. On the other hand, we cannot apply old learning methods such as using tips, but must delve into the essence of the language. In addition, I am also thinking about online courses to be able to review more effectively" - Gia Huy said about his review in the near future.
Ms. Le Mai Anh - a Foreign Language teacher in Hanoi commented that the reference questions for the 2025 high school graduation exam in Foreign Languages have many significant changes compared to before and are highly classified.
"The content of the questions in the exam focuses on exploiting students' reading comprehension and thinking ability. This helps avoid rote learning and memorization. To achieve high scores, students need to learn the knowledge firmly and practice logical thinking ability" - Ms. Mai Anh analyzed
Candidates can follow the answers and sample exam questions for high school graduation in 2025 HERE.
