The 2026 high school graduation exam is the second time fully implemented according to the 2018 General Education program and is the first time organized in the new administrative model with 34 provinces and cities.
Candidates will take 4 exams, including 2 compulsory subjects: Math, Literature and 2 elective subjects from the remaining subjects.
Among the 4 subjects, Literature is the first subject and also the only subject to be tested in essay form. The materials in the exam questions will be used outside of textbooks to avoid the situation of "cramming". Therefore, this exam subject always receives the attention of candidates.
Before the Literature exam, Dinh Thanh Tra, a 12th grade student at Thanh Liem High School (Ninh Binh), said that she felt quite nervous before the important exam.
Tra aims to get 7 points or more in each exam subject, but admits he is still quite worried about Literature because the review time is mainly focused on Math and Physics.
I am considering using the admission method based on transcripts in addition to the high school graduation exam results" - Tra shared.
In Hanoi, many candidates also came to the exam site with many levels of emotions.
Pham Ho Phuong Anh, a student at Cau Giay High School, aims for over 9 points in Literature.
Phuong Anh owns an IELTS 7.0 certificate and plans to apply to the University of Foreign Trade. Although she does not put too much pressure on herself, she still spends time studying and reviewing to prepare for the exam.
I am most worried about Math. As for Literature, the social commentary section of about 600 words is the content I am most afraid of because I am afraid of writing rambling and not fully implementing the idea. I hope to do my best and get over 9 points in this first subject" - Phuong Anh expressed.
Regarding the grading of the high school graduation exam in Literature, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the Ministry has 3 solutions to improve fairness in grading: Exam questions must ensure better differentiation; grading guidelines need to be complete and clear to ensure uniformity between localities; and enhance the responsibility of the council and grading teachers.
The process will include trial marking, announcement of trial marking results, then common marking and random marking to ensure that exam marking is in accordance with regulations. In particular, this year, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to strengthen this work and remind localities more regularly.
In addition, the Ministry will work with 34 Directors of Departments of Education and Training to discuss specific solutions to ensure fair and unified grading work between localities.
The responsibility belongs to all stages, from the question-setting council, the marking guide to the officials and teachers marking exams" - Mr. Chuong said.
The 2026 high school exam will be held in 3 days, from December 10th to 6th, half a month earlier than the 2025 exam, with a scale of more than 1.22 million registered candidates, an increase of more than 61,000 compared to the previous year.
The whole country has nearly 2,500 exam sites with about 50,000 exam rooms and about 200,000 officials, civil servants, and public employees participating in serving the exam.
In the context of many localities after merging 2-3 old provinces and cities, with vast areas stretching from mountainous and border areas to urban and coastal areas, organizing a safe and serious exam is a requirement. This is not only the work of the education sector but also requires synchronous coordination in management, digital infrastructure, security, transportation, health and disaster prevention.
