Priority ticket
In recent years, the IELTS certificate has been seen by many candidates as a "priority ticket" to increase their chances of being admitted to university. Many students actively invest in learning foreign languages early, considering this as a competitive advantage in the context of increasingly strict enrollment.
For many students, IELTS is not only a foreign language certificate but also a tool to help expand the opportunities to choose majors and schools. This trend is particularly clear in universities with combined admission methods or conversion of scores from international certificates.
Sharing about his choice, Le Minh Chau - a 12th-grade student at Galileo High School (Hanoi) - said that the IELTS certificate is still a major strength for him in the process of preparing for university admission. According to Chau, owning IELTS not only helps him feel more confident when choosing admission methods, but also creates a competitive advantage compared to other candidates.
“I find IELTS very useful, not only is it a plus point in admission consideration but also provides a lot of support in studying and career orientation later” - Minh Chau shared.
Not only students, many teachers also recognize IELTS as an advantage in admissions. According to teachers, owning a foreign language certificate not only helps increase admission opportunities but also supports students in their later learning process.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Lua - Head of the Foreign Language Department, Galileo High School (Hanoi), the IELTS certificate brings a clear advantage to students in the university admission process. However, she also noted that this is not the only factor determining the admission opportunity.
IELTS is an advantage and when students have IELTS, they already have a very big advantage. However, students still need to learn carefully about each school, especially the specific way to convert scores, to have a choice that is suitable for their abilities and goals" - Ms. Lua gave advice.
Tightening bonus points creates fairness
According to the 2026 admission regulations, the bonus points for IELTS certificates are reduced to a maximum of 1.5 points instead of 3.0 as in previous years. In addition, candidates who have converted their foreign language certificate scores will not receive bonus points to avoid one achievement being calculated twice.
Many opinions believe that this policy does not reduce the value of foreign language certificates, but adjusts them to keep the advantage within a reasonable threshold, avoiding becoming a decisive factor in admission results.
Sharing with reporters, Master Nguyen Quang Trung - Deputy Head of Communication and Enrollment Department, University of Commerce, said that limiting the maximum addition level for IELTS certificates is appropriate. This helps ensure fairness between candidates, especially regions.
From a parent's perspective, many people expressed agreement with adjusting policies towards tightening IELTS scores, considering this a necessary step to ensure fairness in admissions.
When limited to an appropriate level, children will have the opportunity to compete more fairly based on their actual learning ability. However, IELTS is still very important, children can completely invest because this is a long-term skill, not just for admission consideration" - Mr. Nguyen Van Thang - a student parent in Hanoi said.
Many other opinions also agreed with the view - the new regulation does not reduce the value of foreign language certificates, but helps limit the situation of "dependence" on bonus points, and at the same time encourages students to develop comprehensively, balancing between foreign languages and knowledge of subjects.
