According to the high school graduation exam plan from 2025 announced by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), candidates will take compulsory exams in Math, Literature and 2 subjects chosen from the remaining subjects studied in grade 12 (Foreign Language, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, Technology).
Regarding the exam format, Literature is organized in essay format, other subjects are tested in objective multiple-choice format. However, the way of calculating scores for multiple-choice exams has changed compared to previous years.
Accordingly, in multiple-choice exams, the three main question formats in the exam are: Multiple-choice questions (12 questions, each worth 0.25 points); 4-choice objective questions with only one correct answer, true-false multiple-choice (4 questions, each worth 1 point); short-answer questions (6 questions, each worth 0.5 points, essentially fill-in-the-blank questions).
In the true/false multiple choice question format, each question has 4 options (a), (b), (c), (d) and requires candidates to answer all 4 options correctly or incorrectly. If a candidate only answers 1 option correctly, they will get 0.1 point; if they answer 2 options correctly, they will get 0.25 points; if they answer 3 options correctly, they will get 0.5 points and if they answer 4 options correctly, they will get 1 point. In this format, the probability of randomly scoring the maximum score is 1/16, 4 times smaller than the current multiple choice test format.
The short answer multiple choice questions are similar to essay questions and are assessed through the final results that candidates must fill in on the answer sheet.
Both of these formats require candidates to have comprehensive knowledge and skills to achieve maximum scores, limiting the use of "tricks" to choose answers from confusing options like in multiple choice tests.
Nguyen Hoang Le Vy, a 12th grade student in Khanh Hoa province, plans to choose the combination of Literature, History, and Geography for university admission.
With the change in the structure of the exam as well as the way of calculating the scores of the high school graduation exam for multiple-choice subjects, Vy feels quite worried and concerned:
"With the new scoring method for true-false multiple choice questions, if I get one answer wrong in a question (4 answers), I lose 0.5 points. I feel pressured when doing this part of the test and find it a bit confusing to understand this scoring method."
Worried and feeling pressured - this is also the mood of Tran Khanh Ly - a 12th grade student in Thanh Hoa.
"The way of calculating scores is different from before, making me very afraid of the multiple choice part and spending a lot of time on this type of question" - Khanh Ly shared and worried that allocating time like that would affect the overall result of the whole test.
Meanwhile, experts say that the new scoring method is reasonable, suitable for capacity assessment and has good classification.
Master Nguyen Quang Thi - Bao Loc High School, Lam Dong said that the sample exam for high school graduation exam, Mr. Thi said that the exam is to classify each student group and provide data for universities to consider admission.
As for the multiple choice part, true or false, the scoring method helps limit the chance of "randomly guessing" the correct answer.
"The total score for this section is 4 points, but to do it, candidates must have comprehensive capacity, knowledge and skills to achieve the maximum score. In my opinion, it is difficult for students to achieve the maximum score in this section," said Mr. Thi.
