Candidates at the exam site of Nguyen Gia Thieu Secondary School (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) discuss after completing the 2025 high school graduation exam - Photo: NGUYEN KHANG
Amid the ongoing heated debate about the 2025 high school graduation exam, according to many teachers and experts, the core of the graduation exam is whether it correctly assesses students' foreign language proficiency or not.
Help students know where they are
Associate Professor Dr. Pham Vu Phi Ho - Deputy Head of the Foreign Language Department of Van Lang University - said that the problem does not lie in whether the test is difficult or easy, but in that the English test must measure the students' language ability.
"International standard tests like IELTS do this very well. After finishing the test, candidates will know their level, their strengths and weaknesses, and how well they can use English in communication, study or work," said Mr. Ho.
Meanwhile, high school graduation exams, if too difficult or too easy, do not reflect true ability.
"Candidates can score 6-7 or even 8-9 points, but still do not clearly understand their language ability. Every year the difficulty level changes, making the assessment of proficiency level more vague and inconsistent," Mr. Ho commented.
He proposed to reorient the way of constructing English test questions, instead of just classifying students according to the level of difficulty or ease of answering questions, it is necessary to focus on assessing the ability to use foreign languages in practice. To do that, the test questions need to be carefully researched, widely tested and referenced to international competency frameworks.
The test library must also be constantly updated in this direction, avoiding designing tests based solely on the subjective feelings of a certain group of experts. "The test needs to be a tool to help students understand where they are on their language learning journey, not a quiz competition," he emphasized.
"There is a problem with the test"
Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen - bilingual and international education expert - believes that the current debate on high school graduation exams should not revolve around whether the exam is "good" or "bad". According to her, that is an emotional way of calling it, lacking an academic basis.
"In academia, there is no such criterion as 'good test'. A good assessment must accurately measure the required capacity, be stable, fair, transparent, motivate learning and be linked to the teaching and learning process," she emphasized. Compared to those criteria, this year's English test has many problems.
She pointed out that the general education program only requires students to reach B1 level, while the exam has a lot of content at C1 level - such as readings on project farming and greenwashing - which are both long and challenging.
"About 30-35% of the content at C1 level is beyond the requirements," she said. This leads to unfairness, especially for public school students studying according to standard curriculum, while teachers only teach at B1-B2. "If teachers have not reached C1, how can students do this test?", she asked.
In addition, the difference between the sample questions and the real exam makes students and teachers prepare in the wrong direction. On social networks, she only sees confused and discouraged responses, instead of inspiration to study. The exam also does not reflect the reality of teaching, when most high schools do not have the conditions to access C1 level.
According to Dr. Huyen, to improve the quality of exam questions, the important thing is not to start with the technique of making questions, but to start with the evaluation thinking. And especially, any exam questions need to be tested and evaluated on a large scale before being officially applied.
Measure students' abilities correctly
MSc. Nguyen Thuy Vuong Khanh - Director of the Admissions Center of Ho Chi Minh City College of Economics - analyzed that the problem does not lie in chasing after scores or achievements, but in reality, for many years, scores have been considered a "measure of students' ability". A student who gets 6 points can immediately be labeled as "poor student" or "incompetent".
Therefore, the important thing is not to make the test difficult or easy, but to make sure that the test truly measures the students' abilities, helping them understand where they are, which path is suitable for them - university, vocational training, or another direction - without falling into a state of self-doubt and confusion.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-thi-tieng-anh-tot-nghiep-thpt-qua-kho-co-van-de-can-xem-lai-tu-duy-danh-gia-20250630081414174.htm
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