What is the percentile for?

In the 2025 admissions season, the term 'percentile' suddenly became a controversial concept.

Many candidates and parents are "confused" with "percentiles"

Some call it a tool to ensure fairness among admission methods when multiple admission methods are applied. Others suspect that it is a "technical shell" for a system that is increasingly more about managing scores than serving candidates.

Percentiles are used to determine a candidate's relative position compared to the entire group taking the same test. Instead of relying solely on absolute scores, schools use percentiles to convert between combinations and between admission methods - from graduation exams, transcripts to capacity assessments...

In theory, percentiles help reduce the "everyone has their own score" situation, helping schools compare input standards between many combinations and methods.

But if viewed from the learner's perspective, the question is: does the percentile help candidates choose the right major and develop themselves better?

Although they are the main subjects, in reality, candidates are not provided with full information about the calculation method, the data analysis sample, or how schools use specific percentiles.

When a tool directly affects the admission results but is "unknown" to the student, the benefits for the candidate are difficult to verify. This leads to a paradox: candidates study well, get high scores but are still confused about their position.

Meanwhile, schools easily use percentiles as a "reasonable basis" to adjust quotas and floor scores. So who is percentile serving?

It is undeniable: the pressure of grades is already heavy, now there is the added pressure of "position" that even the students themselves do not fully understand. This is a significant psychological risk for high school students - those who are standing at the threshold of life, needing guidance rather than being confused by technical terms that appear "urgently" for monitoring and management.

Education is a long-term journey that cannot be operated solely by "instant innovation" tools without a data foundation and truly humanistic goals.

With percentiles, it is worth thinking about: is this a temporary technical solution in a period of many competitive admission methods, or is it really a sustainable direction to ensure admission quality and especially the opportunity to be admitted, receive effective education, develop a career in the right direction and start a successful business?

When a tool creates more confusion than consensus, when learners are not psychologically and informationally prepared to approach it, the educational value is deeply affected. "The need for education is not complexity, but transparency - which helps learners feel understood and empowered."

Percentiles, if used properly—with data evidence, with a spirit of enlightenment, with educational integrity—can be a step forward. But if they are turned into a mechanism for simplifying management while leaving learners in a maze of information, they can do more harm than good.

Let percentiles be a tool for students - not a tool for the convenience of the system, especially when the goals are purely for monitoring or handling methods that we ourselves set.

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Thien Hanh

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bach-phan-vi-de-lam-gi-20250728075817104.htm