Be careful with the multiple choice question format

TP - This year's high school graduation exam is considered a departure from previous years. The exam questions have undergone several adjustments, making it more challenging for candidates to achieve high scores.

TP - This year's high school graduation exam is considered a departure from previous years. The exam questions have undergone several adjustments, making it more challenging for candidates to achieve high scores.

Renew

According to the Ministry of Education and Training 's plan for organizing the high school graduation exam and recognizing high school graduation from 2025 onwards, Literature is the only subject that will be tested in essay format on paper, while other subjects will be tested in multiple-choice format on paper.

For multiple-choice exams, this year there will be a maximum of 3 question formats used: Part I, multiple-choice questions (this format has been used for many years in Vietnam). True/False questions (Part II, 4 questions, 1 point each), each question has 4 parts, and candidates must answer True/False for each part of the question. This format requires candidates to have comprehensive skills and knowledge to achieve the maximum score. The probability of randomly scoring the maximum score is 1/16, which is 4 times smaller than the current multiple-choice format.

Part III consists of short-answer multiple-choice questions. This format is similar to essay questions and is assessed based on the final answer that candidates must fill in on the answer sheet. This format requires candidates to have solid skills and knowledge, limiting the use of "tricks" to choose answers from distracting options, unlike in multiple-choice questions. Among the multiple-choice exams, only the Foreign Language exam uses the multiple-choice question format.

To achieve high scores on the 2025 high school graduation exam, in addition to familiarizing themselves with the new multiple-choice question format, teacher Mai Anh Hung believes that time management skills are also crucial. Students can save time and avoid mistakes that lead to incorrect results.

Worried about how the scores are calculated?

Based on the Ministry of Education and Training's sample exam for the 2025 high school graduation exam, 12th-grade students are worried about the new scoring method for True/False multiple-choice questions. Nguyen Thi Tam, a 12th-grade student in Nam Dinh, said she felt quite pressured and stressed when doing the True/False section. Even though she was careful and confident with her first three choices, she still had to rack her brain to choose the correct answer for the fourth option, the most difficult part of the question. Just one incorrect answer would cost her only 0.5 out of 1 point. The True/False section has four questions; if she gets each answer wrong, she loses 50% of her points.

In the True/False multiple-choice question section, each question has 4 options (a), (b), (c), (d) and requires candidates to answer true or false for all 4 options. If a candidate answers only 1 option correctly, they will receive 0.1 point; 2 options correctly, 0.25 points; 3 options correctly, 0.5 points; and 4 options correctly, 1 point.

Many candidates say that for the last part of each True/False multiple-choice question, most of them just "guess" because these are the difficult ones. But this luck-based guessing accounts for 50% of the points for each question. In the high school graduation exams from 2024 onwards, the multiple-choice subjects only had one type of question, and depending on the number of questions in each exam, the points were evenly distributed. Whether the question was easy or difficult, understanding or applying low or high levels, all received the same score. However, the scoring method has changed compared to previous years' exams. The scoring in Part II has changed; the points are no longer evenly distributed at 0.25 per question, which students believe is unfair. Students argue that this will put pressure on candidates taking the exam this year.

According to Mr. Mai Anh Hung, a teacher at Tran Phu High School in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi , with three types of multiple-choice questions, fairly good students can achieve high scores. However, in the True/False section, students who are not proficient enough can easily make mistakes. "Many of my students have shared that even though they are diligent and understand the lesson material, they still don't get high scores on the exam. This is not too difficult to understand because some questions seem very easy, but when students have to choose True/False, they become confused and struggle," Mr. Hung said.

Therefore, to achieve good results on the exam with the new multiple-choice question formats, according to Mr. Hung, in addition to mastering the material, candidates must systematize their knowledge and build a mind map of the knowledge they need to learn. Mr. Hung shared that 12th-grade students face difficulties when studying and taking exams with many different types of questions. Exams assessing aptitude, exams assessing thinking skills, and graduation exams all have specific requirements regarding knowledge and skills. Sometimes, Mr. Hung feels sorry for the students because they are struggling so much to prepare for both the high school graduation exam and university entrance exams.

According to Ms. Nguyen Tuyet Thanh, a geography teacher at Hai Hau A High School in Nam Dinh, this year's high school graduation exam regulations do not allow candidates to bring atlases into the exam room. Therefore, candidates need to have a solid grasp of basic knowledge. Candidates also need to practice their test-taking skills because the exam includes new types of multiple-choice questions.

NGHIEM HUE

Source: https://tienphong.vn/thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-nam-2025-can-trong-voi-dang-thuc-cau-hoi-trac-nghiem-post1725088.tpo