In the 2024-2025 school year, students studying the 2018 General Education Program will take the 10th grade entrance exam. The new program has many changes, so the exam will also have many adjustments to suit.
According to the Draft Circular promulgating the Regulations on Secondary School and High School Admissions of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), high school admissions (entrance exams to grade 10) are organized according to one of three methods: Admission, entrance exams or a combination of entrance exams and admissions.
With the admission method, the basis is the training and learning results of the years of secondary school general education program or secondary school continuing education program of the admission subject.
With the entrance exam method, the number of subjects is 3 subjects with math, literature and 1 third subject or a combination exam.
The Departments of Education and Training are allowed to choose one of two options. If they choose the third subject, it must be among the subjects that are evaluated by scores. Notably, the Ministry requires the Departments to change the third subject over the years to achieve the goal of comprehensive education in the basic education stage.
The time for localities to announce the third subject is before March 31 every year.
At this time last year, some localities had announced plans for the 10th grade public high school entrance exam. However, this year, students in all provinces and cities must wait for the Ministry's Circular to implement it uniformly nationwide.
According to the plan, the Ministry of Education and Training's regulations on secondary school and high school admissions will be issued before December 31, 2024.
In big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the 10th grade entrance exam is more stressful than ever. The reason is that the public school system only meets about 60% of students' needs. Therefore, at this time, many parents and students feel pressured.
Nguyen Bao Anh Quan, a 9th grader at Hong Ha Secondary School (Hanoi), said: “The change in the choice of the third subject makes me quite worried and confused. This requires students to study many subjects that are not their strengths, which can lead to knowledge overload.”
According to Anh Quan, fixing exam subjects not only reduces pressure but also helps improve students' foreign language proficiency.
"English will help us a lot in the future. I think that the entrance exam for grade 10 should be maintained in the form of 3 subjects: Math, Literature and English" - the male student shared more.
Last year, 55/63 provinces and cities nationwide organized entrance exams for grade 10 high school. Of the 55 provinces and cities that organized entrance exams, 11 provinces and cities combined entrance exams and review of academic records.
Some provinces such as Long An, An Giang, and Hai Duong choose to have 2 compulsory subjects, Math and Literature, and a randomly selected third subject. However, since 2021, all 3 localities have chosen English as the third subject.
In Hanoi, in the past 3 years, the exam in 3 subjects of Math, Literature, Foreign Language has been maintained instead of drawing lots for the 4th subject as prescribed. Quang Binh, Ha Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long only take 2 subjects: Math and Literature.
The remaining provinces test 3 fixed subjects including Math, Literature, Foreign Language. Of which, the most popular foreign language is English. 8 provinces and cities only consider transcripts for grade 10 admission including: Quang Nam, Ca Mau, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Gia Lai and Lam Dong.
