Exam schedule for competency assessment and thinking assessment in 2026
At this time, the units organizing competency assessment and thinking assessment exams have announced specific exam schedules, creating favorable conditions for candidates to proactively develop exam and admission plans.
In 2026, Hanoi University of Science and Technology plans to organize 3 rounds of thinking assessment (TSA) exams on weekends, each round will have 3-4 exam teams at 30 exam sites, meeting about 60,000 turns of candidates taking the exam.
The school has opened the registration for the first thinking assessment exam phase 1 in 2026 from December 5-15, 2025 with nearly 17,000 candidates registering for the exam, including more than 2,000 10th and 11th grade students. The official exam day of phase 1 is January 24-25, 2026.
Compared to the first phase of 2025, the number of registered candidates increased by 22%. Grade 10 and 11 classes also increased by 10%. The reason is that the results are valuable in two years, grade 11 students with high scores can be used for admission in 2027.
Phase 2 of the exam will take place on March 14-15, 2026; registration date is February 5-15, 2026. For phase 3, the exam date is May 16-17, 2026; registration date is April 5-15, 2026.
In 2026, Vietnam National University, Hanoi will organize 6 rounds of competency assessment exams; taking place from July 7 to May 24, 2026 in Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh...
The total number of entries is about 120,000 (each round 20,000 entries), an increase of more than 30,000 compared to 2025.
Candidates register for the exam from November 25, 2025 to the end of January 31, 2026 at: https://khaothi.vnu.edu.vn/ or https:/hsa.edu.vn/.
Candidates register for the exam session from 9:00 AM on February 1, 2026 (more than 1 month later than previously announced) to 4:30 PM on February 7, 2026.
The system will open for candidates to choose the second exam session (if there are still quotas) from 9 am on February 8, 2026 to 9 am on February 14, 2026. The system allows candidates to register for a maximum of 2 exam sessions/year (as of December 31, 2026). Two consecutive exam sessions are at least 28 days apart.
The exam fee is 600,000 VND/candidate/exam session. The fee paid is non-refundable for any reason. Therefore, candidates should carefully read the instructions and consider before paying the fee. The exam notification will be transferred via email and notified on the exam account 7 days before the official exam.
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City organizes 2 rounds of competency assessment exams in 2026 on April 5 and May 24, 2026.
Phase 1, candidates register from January 24 to February 23, announce the results on April 17;
Phase 2, candidates register from April 18 to April 25, announce results 6.6.
Pedagogical schools continue to organize separate exams
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thu - Head of Training Department, Hanoi National University of Education 2 said that according to 2025 statistics of the Ministry of Education and Training, the rate of candidates admitted through separate exams organized by training institutions nationwide reached 2.56% and at the school, this rate is 4%. The number of candidates eligible to be admitted corresponds to the number of students enrolled. There are no virtual candidates, the enrollment rate reaches 100%.
Therefore, this year, the school plans to continue to organize a separate exam in 2026 in the last week of May.
The 2026 high school graduation exam is scheduled to take place on June 11 and 12. The Ministry also requires independent exams to announce and update results to the admission system no later than 5:00 PM on June 20. Therefore, the school organizes a separate exam about a month early to have time to implement and process the results" - Mr. Thu informed.
In addition to Hanoi National University of Education 2, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education organizes 3 specialized competency assessment exams in 2026, in March and May in four localities (Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Dak Lak and Tay Ninh). The 3rd phase will only take place in Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh.
