More than 151,000 candidates take the 10th grade entrance exam
This year, Ho Chi Minh City continues to apply two enrollment methods including entrance exams and admission consideration. Most students participate in the entrance exam to 10th grade public schools in the form of entrance exams; some specialized schools enroll according to their own plans.
Candidates take 3 compulsory subjects including: Math, Literature and Foreign Language. In which, Math and Literature take essay exams in 120 minutes, Foreign Language takes exams in 90 minutes. Students who register for specialized or integrated classes will take additional subjects accordingly.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (GDĐT), in the 2026-2027 school year, the whole city has more than 151,000 students registered to take the 10th grade public school entrance exam, while the total enrollment target is more than 180,000 students. Thus, it is expected that about 78% of candidates taking the exam will be admitted.
The admission score is the total score of 3 subjects on a scale of 10 along with priority and encouragement points (if any). The admission condition is that no exam paper is scored 0.
Tighten registration of aspirations by distance
One of the notable points of this year's enrollment is the tightening of regulations on registration of aspirations based on geographical distance. The online enrollment system will automatically calculate the distance from the residence to the registered school and warn if it exceeds the permissible limit.
Students registering for schools more than 10 km away from their residence in the Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong areas before the merger, or more than 13 km away in the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area before the merger, will be directly consulted by the school with parents and a confirmation record will be made.
137 schools increase enrollment quotas
In the 2026-2027 school year, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training announced the enrollment targets of 181 public high schools. Of which, 137 schools increased enrollment targets.
Some schools increased sharply such as Phuoc Kien High School increasing 375 quotas, Thai Hoa High School increasing 365 quotas; Nguyen Van Tang, Vo Truong Toan and Ho Thi Bi High Schools also increased 315 quotas.
In the opposite direction, only 4 schools reduced enrollment quotas.
Notably, this school year, 5 new public high schools were added to the enrollment system, including Phu My ward high school, Tan Phu ward high school, Thoi An ward TH-THCS-THPT, Di An ward high school and Dong Hung Thuan ward high school. These are currently temporary names and will be updated after the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issues an official decision.
Strong competition ratio differentiation between schools
The first-choice registration data shows the level of strong differentiated competition between high schools.
In the specialized block, Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted has the highest competition ratio in the whole city with 1/7.13. Next is Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted with 1/4.8; Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted is about 1/3.35.
In the non-specialized block, Bui Thi Xuan High School leads with a competition ratio of 1/2.84; followed by Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School with 1/2.79 and Thu Duc High School with 1/2.57.
Meanwhile, more than 40 schools have a competition ratio below 1, meaning that the number of candidates registering for nguyện vọng 1 is lower than the enrollment quota. Most of these schools are located in suburban areas, far from the center.
Some schools have very low competition rates such as Nguyen Van Linh High School (1/0.18), Nguyen Van Tang High School (1/0.25), Ngo Gia Tu High School (1/0.26) or Tran Huu Trang High School (1/0.29).
Supplementary enrollment can be organized
According to the enrollment process, after the initial aspiration consideration phase, Ho Chi Minh City can organize additional enrollment for schools that still lack quotas.
The supplementary enrollment aims to create more learning opportunities for students who are not admitted to all 3 aspirations, and at the same time help schools with low competition rates recruit enough students according to the plan.
However, students who have been admitted to a public high school will not be allowed to change their aspirations after the results are announced. In case they are admitted but do not enroll on time, they will lose the right to be admitted.
