Maintain stability of the 2026 High School Graduation Exam

Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong speaks at the Conference. (Photo: Thu Hoai/VNA)

The 2026 High School Graduation Exam is scheduled to be held on June 11-12 and the organization of the exam will remain basically the same as in 2025. However, there will be some adjustments to the exam to suit the current management model as well as to increase the application of information technology in the exam organization stages. These adjustments are mainly technical and will not affect candidates.

In the 2027 high school graduation exam, computer-based testing will be piloted at qualified locations and paper-based testing will continue at other locations.

The above information was shared at the Conference to summarize the organization of the 2025 High School Graduation Exam and preparations for the 2026 exam, organized by the Ministry of Education and Training on the afternoon of September 26, in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training, said that for the 2026 exam, the Ministry plans to adjust regulations related to inspection and examination; amend a number of regulations to suit the provincial scale after the arrangement, in the direction of increasing decentralization for high schools to reduce pressure on the Departments and integrate certificates.

In which, the exam registration file is only kept at the high school; integrating the exam notice and exam card, integrating the Temporary Graduation Certificate and the Exam Result Certificate, these papers will be issued by the high school where the candidate submits the exam registration file.

The review process has also been adjusted, all exams with changed scores after review must be discussed; the time to receive review applications has been reduced from 10 days to 5 days. The exam data transmission process has also been revised.

Regarding the roadmap for piloting computer-based exams, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong said that from March to May 2026, the Ministry will pilot computer-based exam questions with a scale of about 100,000 candidates.

This trial serves to build a question bank and is the basis for developing procedures and regulations for organizing computer-based exams. On that basis, the Ministry will submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation a Project on organizing high school graduation exams on computers.

It is expected that the 2027 exam will pilot the organization of the exam on computers at qualified locations and organize the exam on paper at other locations. The 2025 High School Graduation Exam will have 1,165,289 candidates taking the exam, with a graduation rate of 99.25%.

This is the year that the first batch of students studying under the 2018 General Education program will take the graduation exam, so the exam will be conducted according to 2 regulations with 2 sets of exam questions according to the 2006 and 2018 general education programs.

In particular, the exam regulations according to the 2018 program are implemented according to the 2+2 exam plan, candidates take 2 compulsory subjects, Literature and Math, and choose 2 out of 9 subjects. Through the innovation of the exam method, the exam time has been shortened from 4 sessions in previous years to 3 sessions.

In the total score for high school graduation, the rate of using learning assessment results in grades 10, 11 and 12 will be increased to 50% (previously 30% and only using grade 12 results) to evaluate the entire learning process of students.

The 2025 exam will also take place in the context of changing local government models, when the exam proctoring organization is still 63 provinces and cities, but the exam grading organization is 34 provinces and cities.

The 2025 exam is the first year to build an open library of exam questions in accordance with the method of one program with many textbooks. This year's exam questions also received special attention from the public when it was said that the questions were difficult, especially the difficulty level between subjects was different.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, in order to ensure fairness in assessing educational outcomes, the Ministry applies testing methods to accurately reflect the actual abilities of candidates, eliminating the impact of differences in difficulty between exam subjects.

Analysis of the results of the subjects shows that the exam no longer focuses on memorizing sample situations, but requires students to understand the nature, apply knowledge to reality, explain phenomena or solve given situations.

According to the assessment of experts and society, the exam questions and subjects closely follow the 2018 General Education Program. The score distribution of all subjects has appropriate differentiation to ensure the goals of considering recognition of high school graduation; assessing the quality of teaching and learning at schools and localities; providing reliable and honest data, correctly assessing students' abilities for universities and vocational training institutions to use in enrollment.

Analysis of the exam score distribution also shows that the Math and English exam questions are completely suitable for the exam's purpose. Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong acknowledged that the organization of the 2025 exam had many big challenges when there were many new points and it took place in a special context, but with the sense of responsibility of the whole system and the coordination of departments, the exam was successfully organized.

The Ministry has proactively coordinated with ministries, branches and localities to prepare all necessary conditions to organize the exam early and remotely, creating maximum convenience for localities, schools, teachers and students to participate.

The test questions have been made in line with the objectives of the new program, shifting from mainly assessing knowledge to assessing the learners' abilities. The test content is linked to reality, to the transformation of the country, thereby encouraging innovation in teaching and learning methods in general schools, enhancing the educational significance and responsibility of students, schools, and society.

According to Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong, to ensure the best conditions for the 2026 exam, the Ministry will soon announce the regulations and issue an exam organization plan so that localities can proactively prepare; along with that, it will continue to improve and upgrade software, add questions to the exam bank, build and strengthen the exam-making team.../.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/giu-on-dinh-ky-thi-tot-nghiep-trung-hoc-pho-thong-nam-2026-5060180.html