Need to look at and evaluate the high school graduation exam more comprehensively

GD&TĐ - Experts and teachers believe that it is necessary to have a more comprehensive and objective view of this year's high school graduation exam.

Differentiation in exam questions is necessary and legitimate.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi commented: The Ministry of Education and Training's orientation of the high school graduation exam towards assessing real capacity and increasing the level of differentiation is a step forward in line with international trends.

The exam has shifted to assessing competence very clearly; there are real-life contexts, testing the learner's ability to apply, analyze, and debate.

The high school graduation exam is not only used for graduation, but also for university admission. Therefore, this year, the structure of the high school graduation exam has been divided into 4 (knowledge), 3 (understanding) and 3 (application). With such a structure, it is expected that students who have a firm grasp and deep understanding of general knowledge will achieve 7 points for high school graduation. The remaining 3 points are used to strongly classify candidates for university admission.

“I think that such differentiation is necessary and legitimate, serving two goals. It is also consistent with the general trend of 70% basic knowledge and 30% differentiated knowledge.

As for the comment that “the exam is more difficult”, I think that is not the key point. With the intention of designing the exam according to the 7/3 structure, the average score will fall around 6-7. We will need to analyze the score distribution to see if it follows the normal distribution line; and if the average score shifts a little to the left or right, there is nothing to worry about if the level of differentiation of the exam is good”, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam said.

However, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam also said that we need to continue to learn from experience to improve.

Teachers must be trained in depth in setting questions based on competence, critical thinking, and clear differentiation; must test and analyze the difficulty of each question, balance the difficulty of each test code in a systematic way, and even conduct research and analyze the test score spectrum before officially applying it.

It is important to understand that “improving quality” should not be equated with “increasing academic difficulty”. Difficulty should not be assessed solely based on the subjective feelings of the test-maker but should be based on statistical analysis.

For students, from the perspective of a psychologist, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam, stress often comes from the mentality of having to study hard to pass the exam; the pressure of always being at the top and excelling in academic records leads to perfectionism and anxiety and disappointment when not completing all the questions.

He said that before each turning point - specifically the 2025 High School Graduation Exam is a turning point in reforming assessment and teaching methods - anxiety is natural. Let's encourage candidates to overcome their anxiety, instead of analyzing from a personal perspective, leading to unnecessary social pressure.

Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam. Photo: Van Anh.

Maintaining the Exam with Differentiated Tests Brings Many Benefits

Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy, Deputy Head of the GeneralEducation Department, Hung Yen Department of Education and Training, assessed: Basically, the 2025 high school graduation exam closely followed the set goals, including: Correctly assessing the learning outcomes of learners; using exam results to consider recognizing high school graduation and assessing the teaching and learning quality of general education/continuing education institutions; providing reliable and honest data for universities and vocational education institutions to use in enrollment in the spirit of autonomy.

Some technical adjustments (if any) will be studied and completed after the exam results are available, the score distribution is analyzed, and opinions are sought from experts and teachers with in-depth expertise so that the exam in the coming years can be organized better and better.

In the current conditions, maintaining and improving this Exam, according to Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy, will bring many benefits to people and students for the following reasons:

Firstly, the Exam is designed to make maximum use of the results of students' ability assessment throughout their learning process from grades 10, 11, 12. In which, the average score of all subjects when considering graduation accounts for 50% excluding priority points, creating a comfortable, secure mentality, not causing pressure for students who only need to take the exam for graduation consideration.

Second, the High School Graduation Exam is held locally with a reduced number of subjects compared to before; it is organized with a strict process at all stages, with supervision from professional departments and society... so the results of assessing students' abilities are reliable.

The test questions are distributed at the level of knowledge, understanding, and application in the ratio of 4:3:3. The understanding and application ratio of about 60% is suitable for good differentiation, serving as a basis for universities to use in admissions.

Third, in the current conditions in Vietnam, seriously organizing and ensuring fairness for candidates who need to use high school graduation exam results for university admission is a necessary and humane thing to do; reducing the need for students to participate in too many capacity assessment exams, thinking assessment exams, etc. according to the universities' own projects - an issue raised by National Assembly delegates in recent National Assembly sessions.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/can-nhin-nhan-danh-gia-toan-dien-hon-ve-de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-post737999.html