High School Graduation Exam 2025: Opening a New Beginning

GD&TĐ - The 2025 high school graduation exam is a concrete expression, closing an old way of doing things, opening a new beginning...

In response to concerns about the differentiation of the 2025 high school graduation exam, many experts and teachers said that it is necessary to evaluate and analyze the score distribution after the exam results are available and to have a thorough and comprehensive view of the problem; avoid emotional comments and assessments that affect the psychology of candidates, parents and more broadly, continue to innovate education .

Need to listen and be persistent

Regarding this year's high school graduation exam in Mathematics, Dr. Tran Nam Dung, Vice Principal of the Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University), commented that the difficulty was not as high as last year's, but was "a shift from technical difficulty (of the last questions in the old 50-question multiple-choice test) to difficulty in reading comprehension and modeling." The only truly difficult questions in the test were 2 short answer questions and 1 true-false multiple-choice question.

“I think people are complaining because of the change, and the expectations are too high. My students set a target of 8 points and I see that they are happy.” Saying this, Mr. Tran Nam Dung said that with the Math test, it is not difficult for average students to get 4.5 points; good students can get 6, 7, 8 points. Scores of 8.5 to 9 are not rare, but above 9 are not many.

“Basically, this year's Math exam is good, the Ministry of Education and Training should firmly follow this direction. The exam covers basic knowledge, testing core mathematical abilities such as thinking and reasoning, mathematical modeling, mathematical communication, and mathematical problem solving. The exam does not confuse, does not get bogged down in techniques, avoids rote learning and cheating; the differentiation is good, the score distribution will be in the form of a normal distribution. Those who get high scores are truly capable.

However, the exam needs to be more concise; only a few statements in the form of practical math, the rest should be simple, going straight to the essence of mathematics. The exam length is about 3 pages. The structure of the sections also needs to be more carefully done. In this year's exam, the 2 most difficult questions are both in the combination section, which is a bit off," Mr. Tran Nam Dung commented.

Regarding Literature, Associate Professor Dr. Do Ngoc Thong - Editor of the 2028 Literature Program shared, making exam questions is like "serving a hundred families". In major exams, Literature questions always receive many opinions; for the same question, some praise, others criticize... This is normal, because literature is a field in which anyone can give opinions and judge, each person's praise or criticism comes from different perspectives.

With knowledge of the 2018 Literature Program, experience in teaching, compiling textbooks, and creating exam questions, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong commented: In general, there may be other things that need to be done better, but the 2025 High School Graduation Literature exam has basically met the requirements of the competency assessment exam according to the 2018 General Education Program. Specifically, the requirements for reading comprehension and writing skills.

According to the requirements for assessing competence, the test does not reuse texts learned in textbooks, documents, or review books; nor does it reuse language used in the recent 10th grade entrance exam and high school graduation mock exams of provinces and cities. Reading comprehension questions meet 3 levels: Knowledge, understanding, application; requiring writing paragraphs and argumentative essays with a specified number of words.

Associate Professor Dr. Do Ngoc Thong said that, according to the old program, the exam questions only revolved around the works that had been studied. In that context, this year's Literature exam is a strong step forward, although we still need to do better. This exam officially closes the period when teachers only run after equipping knowledge, teaching by rote, guessing; students memorize available materials... taking exams only copying, speaking after others. At the same time, it opens a new phase: Teaching how to read, how to write texts (how to learn).

With each reading or writing text, students need to speak their own voice, express their personal thoughts and know how to write their own essay, even if it is still clumsy and makes mistakes. This also closes the period of clichéd exam questions; opens the stage of exam questions and answers designed according to competency requirements, different answers according to content. With competency orientation, specific content is not as important as the direction, way of thinking and problem solving of students...

Candidates taking the 2025 High School Graduation Exam. Photo: Le Cuong

Look thoroughly, comprehensively, avoid sentimentality

Regarding the opinion on the difficulty of the exam, especially Math and English, Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy - Deputy Head of General Education Department, Hung Yen Department of Education and Training expressed his opinion: It is necessary to evaluate and analyze the score distribution after the exam results and expert opinions to have a thorough and comprehensive view of the problem; limit emotional comments and assessments that affect the psychology of candidates and parents, and more broadly, continue to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education. Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy also explained more clearly to help create peace of mind and trust in this year's High School Graduation Exam as follows:

Firstly, the Ministry of Education and Training has calculated and adjusted the graduation exam for students appropriately, creating maximum conditions such as: Graduation exam scores are only 50% of graduation exam scores, the remaining 50% is calculated from the 3 years of high school study. Candidates who have all exam subjects achieving above 1 point (10-point scale) and have graduation exam scores of 5 points or higher are recognized as high school graduates.

High school diplomas are not classified as Excellent, Good, or Average as before, which helps reduce the pressure in the learning and exam process. Thus, students from all regions who have studied seriously in the 3 years of high school do not have to worry about exams and graduation.

Second, the number of graduation exams has been reduced from 6 to 4; not only does it help reduce exam pressure but it is also related to career orientation. Therefore, it is understandable that students need to study more deeply, even with more advanced topics to be able to solve some questions at the applied thinking level; students and teachers need to get used to and adjust their learning and teaching methods in the coming school years. These knowledge bases also help students continue their studies at higher levels.

Third, in the rapid development of the 4.0 industrial revolution, to solve big problems in strategic technology, it is necessary to teach students how to solve problems; face difficult problems in practice that require effort and effort; be happy with the results they create; aim for a real learning environment, real exams, real talents, even if they are initially confused. Of course, that process always has the support and guidance of teachers and the companionship of parents.

“To do better, we need to continue listening to the opinions of experts and teachers; be steadfast in achieving goals; continue to innovate, improve, and synchronize management and direction; have consensus from all levels and sectors; have understanding, sharing, and support from all classes of people; and make efforts from each teacher,” Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy shared.

The road to innovation is still long, we need to listen to comments to continue to improve the way of making exam questions according to new requirements. However, we also need to have enough courage to believe in what we have done. The 2025 high school graduation exam is a concrete expression, closing an old way of doing things, opening a new beginning, a new way of assessment contributes to "turning the wheel" so that the ship of teaching and learning Literature turns in the right direction, more effectively. - Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-nam-2025-mo-ra-khoi-dau-moi-post738056.html