Many innovations in the exam
Pham Anh Duc - a second-year student at the Diplomatic Academy - who was an excellent student at the national level in History, said that compared to when he took the high school graduation exam 2 years ago, the History exam has many new points, not only in structure and way of asking questions, but also in content.
The 4-option multiple-choice part is basically the same as the old program exam, focusing on knowledge about the historical periods of Vietnam and world history. However, the way of asking questions and problem-solving is somewhat longer; there are questions where candidates are required to read a language section before answering the question - Duc analyzed.
Regarding the difficulty, the male student said that, in general, the question of this part is basic knowledge, which candidates can easily do if they carefully study the knowledge in the textbook under the new program (which has updated historical knowledge since 2000).
"With the correct/false answer section, this is a new exam compared to the old program. This section is the candidate differentiation section because that data section is only the initial basis. To determine the correct or wrong in the small ideas below, students must understand the nature of the historical problem, need to reason, criticize the problem... Students can make mistakes if they do not clearly understand the event, the historical problem and are deceived - sometimes only 1-2 words in the given sentence are wrong" - Duc said.
On the teachers' side, teachers from the HOCMAI Education System said that compared to the high school graduation exam in 2024 and before this year's exam, the proportion of questions using documentation has increased, requiring candidates to analyze information and apply the knowledge they have learned, candidates do not need to "rollize" in many events but need to use available historical documents to reason and solve problems. In particular, the exam contains topical content, suitable for the actual situation such as the issue of international integration.
For the first time, Vietnam's sovereignty over the sea and islands is on the exam
The special point in this year's high school graduation exam in History is the mention of the contents of the country's sovereignty over the sea and islands.
Mr. Tran Trung Hieu - a History teacher at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted (Nghe An) - said: "Loving for the country is the first quality among the 5 qualities of the 2018 General Education Program. In general subjects, History is a mandatory subject and also a subject with the advantage of playing a leading role in educating patriotism, national pride, historical traditions and national culture.
Studying and taking exams in History to help students have the opportunity to absorb andengthen core knowledge, train students in historical phenomena, apply historical lessons from their ancestors in the past to solve basic problems of real life, develop vision, contribute to the formation and development of the qualities of Vietnamese citizens - Mr. Hieu stated his opinion.
Sharing the same view, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Huong - senior lecturer of the Faculty of History, Hanoi National University of Education - acknowledged that innovating the way of producing exam questions will breathe new life, positively affecting the innovation of teaching and learning history in high schools.
