Will high school graduation exam scores have 'variables'?

The 2025 high school graduation exam for candidates following the 2018 general education program has many changes from structure to content. Some exam questions can contribute greatly to creating "variables" in exam scores.

Candidates exchange papers after the elective exam at the exam site of Chu Van An Secondary School, Hanoi - Photo: NAM TRAN

The two subjects of math and English in the high school graduation exam this year are difficult and very difficult - this is the opinion of many candidates, including those who are students at specialized schools. Some candidates burst into tears after taking the exams for these two subjects or expressed that they were "very shocked". Admitting that the exam was difficult, some math teachers still said that the exam was good.

Math, English: scores will decrease

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong (head of the math - information technology group of MV Lomonosov Secondary and High School, Hanoi) was impressed with the practical questions of the math problem such as an app to manage advertising messages on mobile phones, the amount of residual drugs in water in the aquaculture industry, mathematical modeling in observing the movement of an object in space, optimization problems in economics or the problem of calculating the volume of a decorative object...

Ms. Hong believes that the way of giving questions that require students to connect and apply knowledge to real life to solve problems is an orientation of the new program. But because of that, it will be difficult and unfamiliar to some candidates.

"There will be fewer 8, 9, and 10 points than in previous years and the score spectrum will shift to the left, with the peak of the score spectrum at around 6-7 points," Ms. Hong commented.

Mr. Lam Vu Cong Chinh, a math teacher at Nguyen Du High School (HCMC), said that with this math test, there could be many candidates who scored below 5. In particular, the questions in the new multiple choice format are all difficult.

Compared to the figures of recent years, the math scores of the high school graduation exam have not changed. In the previous year's exam, the highest score achieved by most candidates was 7.6. There were about 12,000 papers with a score of 9 or higher, and no papers with a score of 10.

But with teachers' comments on this year's math exam, the math scores many candidates achieved will decrease, possibly even decrease significantly.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Phong, a math teacher at a cultural training center in Ho Chi Minh City, also commented: "The math exam differentiates students very clearly. The questions require candidates to understand the lesson, have mathematical thinking, and know how to apply the knowledge they have learned to solve problems at many levels...

This year's math exam allows candidates to easily get 5 points to graduate from high school. But getting 9 or 10 points is not easy. I predict that this year there will not be many 10 points in math, and even 9 points will not be many."

Similarly, this year's English exam was also commented by teachers to be significantly more difficult than last year's. Ms. Dieu Linh, an English teacher at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted (Hanoi), predicted that the average score would be only 6-7 points, and there would not be many scores of 8 or higher.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vu Ha Thanh Luan, an English teacher for grade 12 at Lomonosov Secondary and High School, predicted that the average score would only be 5.5 - 6.5 because passing 40 questions in this year's English test is really a big challenge.

In recent years, English has been the only subject with a 2-peak score distribution. Although there have been improvements since 2021 (the year the score distribution is considered "the elephant's back"), in 2024 the score distribution of this subject still has 2 peaks, while there are 565 candidates with perfect scores, there are also 145 candidates with failing scores (1 point or less) and up to 42.7% of the test scores are below average. The average score of candidates is 5.51.

With such a difficult exam as this year, many teachers believe that the 2-peak score range will continue to recur, clearly showing the English proficiency between regions and the average score will decrease significantly. Scores of 8, 9, and 10 are also not as numerous as last year.

Literature, history, geography "easy"

Evaluating the exam questions for block C subjects, most teachers said that the questions were "easy" and within the candidates' ability.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Vinh, head of the history group at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (HCMC), this year's history exam was not too long and not too difficult, and there were no questions that challenged candidates. However, the questions required students to have good reading and comprehension skills, analytical and synthesis skills... to achieve maximum score.

"I think the first year of taking the exam according to the new program as proposed is quite okay. I predict the average score will be around 7-8 points. For students who study carefully, understand the lesson and have the skills as mentioned above, it will be easy to get 10 points," said Mr. Vinh.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai, head of the geography group at Nguyen Du High School (HCMC), also commented: "Compared to 2024, this year's geography exam is relatively easy, perhaps because this is the first year of taking the exam under the new program. For students who study geography seriously and are determined to use their geography exam scores for university admission, they can easily achieve 9 or 10 points."

"With the literature, history, and geography exams like this year, I predict that the benchmark scores for admission to block C will be higher than in 2024," said Ms. Mai.

"The English high school graduation exam is more difficult than IELTS"

After the graduation exam on the morning of June 27, many candidates shared that this year's English test was so difficult that they could not do it.

With an IELTS score of 7.0, Phuong Anh, a candidate in District 10 (HCMC), said that with this English test, she is not confident to get a score of 8-9.

"I only thought I would get a score of 7-8. The test had many passages with difficult English idioms. There were many difficult and rare words, many specialized words, so when I read the test, I was quite overwhelmed. I also had difficult passages in the IELTS test, but this test seemed to be even more difficult," Phuong Anh shared.

Commenting on this exam, an English teacher from a specialized high school in Ho Chi Minh City said that it was a really difficult exam. Compared to the sample exam given by the Ministry of Education and Training , the difficulty level of this year's exam was more difficult.

However, the reason why many candidates complained about the difficulty is probably because this is the first year the English exam is conducted according to the 2018 program, the exam is not based on the books or the problems in the textbooks.

"This test requires teachers and students to change their learning methods and approaches to problems in English. If students are willing to read and learn about real-life issues, they will be able to do it," said this teacher.

New subjects will have many good scores.

According to many teachers, the physics and chemistry questions of the 2025 high school graduation exam are relatively easy. Teacher Tran Thi Linh, a physics teacher at grade 12 at Lomonosov Secondary and High School, predicted that the number of candidates who scored the most on the physics test would be 7-8 points.

Meanwhile, teacher Tran Van Huy, a teacher at Phan Huy Chu High School (Dong Da District, Hanoi), said that this year's physics exam score could be higher than last year at over 8 points.

In 2024, nearly 350,000 candidates registered for physics. Last year, the average score for this subject was 6.67. The highest score achieved by most candidates was 8. There were 55 candidates with perfect scores and 56 candidates with failing scores (1 or lower).

Similarly, teachers commented that the number of candidates who achieved the most points in chemistry was 7.5 - 8 points. In the group of natural sciences, biology is still predicted to have a lower peak score than physics and chemistry and the percentage of below average scores is higher than the other two subjects in the group. History and geography are predicted to have a score range of 6.5 - 7.5 points.

Meanwhile, subjects appearing in the exam for the first time, especially subjects that few candidates choose and few training institutions choose for the admission combination, are evaluated lightly, and there may be "a rain of 10s".

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/diem-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-se-co-bien-so-20250628080929637.htm