How do countries around the world hold high school graduation exams?

At the conference summarizing the organization of the high school graduation exam of the Ministry of Education and Training yesterday, Prof. Dr. Do Duc Thai, Editor-in-Chief of Mathematics of the new general education program, gave his opinion on the plan to organize the high school graduation exam in 2025.

Option 1: Students take two compulsory subjects: Math, Literature and elective subjects. Option 2 includes three compulsory subjects: Math, Literature, Foreign Language and elective subjects. Among the elective subjects, students only need to choose 2 subjects according to their strengths, abilities and career orientation to take the exam, without having to take all of them.

Professor Do Duc Thai, Editor-in-Chief of the new general education program, spoke yesterday.

Professor Thai cited that in Russia, candidates only take two compulsory subjects: Russian and Mathematics. If they wish to continue their studies at university or college, they must take the subjects required by the university or college system to submit their application for admission.

In China, high school graduation candidates take three compulsory subjects: Math, Chinese, English and one elective subject.

In contrast, Australia does not have a national graduation exam, but each school organizes its own exam to recognize high school graduation. Japan and South Korea also do not currently have a high school graduation exam.

Most states in the US have now abandoned the high school graduation exam, with only eight states maintaining it. States award diplomas to students based on their records demonstrating their abilities throughout their three years of high school.

"Thus, each country has a different way of testing or considering graduation, there is no right or wrong, it just serves the most effectively the educational purpose of that country," said Mr. Thai. The testing or recognition of high school graduation is implemented by all countries in a concise way, respecting students, promoting students' strengths and abilities.

In our country, the high school graduation exam must be organized in a concise way, reducing costs for society but ensuring reliability and objectivity. If the 2025 high school graduation exam is organized with 4 compulsory subjects as some experts have proposed, it will be very burdensome for students and cumbersome, going against the spirit of innovation and conciseness.

Therefore, he proposed that there should only be 2-3 compulsory subjects, along with 2 elective subjects.

This expert also added that the high school graduation exam should follow the principle of what you study, what you test, not what you study, what you test. The high school graduation exam results provide data for university and vocational education admissions, but do not play a direct role in admissions. The Ministry of Education and Training should encourage schools to be completely autonomous in admissions, according to the requirements of each school.

Previously, the Ministry of Education and Training finalized the draft plan for the 2025 high school graduation exam to widely collect opinions from localities, experts, and students.

Option 1, students take four compulsory subjects: Math, Literature, Foreign Language, History and two elective subjects from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, and Technology.

Option 2: Students take three compulsory subjects: Math, Literature, Foreign Language and two elective subjects from among History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, and Technology.

The representative of the Department of Quality Management also said that in the period of 2025 - 2030, the Ministry of Education and Training agreed on a plan to organize the 2025 high school graduation exam on paper, while enhancing the effective application of information technology. At the same time, the Ministry will gradually pilot computer-based exams for multiple-choice subjects in qualified localities (can combine paper-based and computer-based exams).

After 2030, strive for all localities nationwide to have enough conditions to organize computer-based exams with multiple-choice subjects.

Ha Cuong

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