At noon on June 1st, more than 151,000 candidates in Ho Chi Minh City completed the Literature exam - the first exam in the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2026-2027 school year.
Commenting on the Literature exam, teacher Vo Kim Bao, Head of Literature Department, Nguyen Du Secondary School (Ben Thanh ward), said that this year's exam has a structure close to the sample exam announced from the first semester. Therefore, students are not much surprised by the form and requirements of the exam.
According to Mr. Bao, the exam questions are designed to be suitable for the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program and ensure that students can study according to any set of textbooks to meet the requirements.
The exam has a wide coverage, comprehensively testing students' knowledge learned in the Secondary School Literature program. However, the noteworthy point is that the questions do not require rote learning but focus on assessing students' actual ability, thinking ability and problem-solving ability," teacher Bao commented.
According to this teacher, the exam questions create opportunities for candidates to express personal opinions, creativity and personal experiences during the test. This is consistent with the orientation of developing qualities and abilities of the new education program.
Another highlight of the exam is that it is built according to the xuyên suốt theme with the theme "Colors of emotions". Teacher Bao believes that this design method shows the investment of the question setter, and at the same time helps students have a more logical thinking orientation when handling requirements in the exam.
The topic of the exam is very close to the age of students. This is content that students can relate from their own experiences and daily life, so they will have many opportunities to express their own thoughts, create emotional and personal writings," said teacher Bao.
Assessing the level of differentiation, teacher Bao said that the exam questions have quite good screening ability, especially in questions requiring application of literary knowledge, social understanding and creativity. Accordingly, students with good skills, rich life experience and reading experience will have many advantages to achieve high scores.
In the reading comprehension section, teacher Bao was particularly impressed with the question: "When machines become more and more human-like, are humans gradually living like machines?". According to him, this is a close issue to the context of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly popular, both topical and creating conditions for students to express their personal perspectives.
This is not too difficult a question but it has good differentiation. I look forward to reading creative answers from students about a problem that is of concern to society," the teacher shared.
In the social commentary writing section, this teacher highly appreciated the requirement to discuss the value of emotions in human life. According to him, this is a new topic but not unfamiliar to students, encouraging them to look back at the inner world, identify their emotions and reflect on how to behave in modern life.
In the process of doing the test, students have a lot of materials from practical experience to deploy. They not only write the test but also have the opportunity to re-examine themselves, understand more about emotions and relationships around them," teacher Bao assessed.
From a professional perspective, teacher Bao believes that the exam questions are not too difficult but also not easy to get high scores. Students who study in the right direction of developing abilities, regularly practice reading comprehension and writing skills will have many opportunities to achieve good results.
After completing Literature, teacher Bao also advised students not to worry too much about checking answers or comparing their papers with friends. According to him, with open-ended questions, especially the sections requiring writing and presenting personal opinions, there will not be a single answer.
The most important thing at this time is to maintain a stable mentality to focus on the remaining exam subjects. Students should not let unverified information on the internet affect their spirit and results," teacher Bao advised.
This afternoon, candidates will continue to take the English exam for 90 minutes.
The 10th grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City in the 2026-2027 school year will take place in 2 days, June 1st and 2nd, with more than 151,000 candidates taking the exam.
Candidates take exams in three subjects: Literature, Mathematics and English. Those who register for specialized or integrated classes will take additional specialized or integrated subjects accordingly. In which, on the morning of June 1st, candidates take the Literature exam in 120 minutes.
