Editor of Literature Program suggests students how to do the test to get high scores

TPO - Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong, Editor-in-Chief of the 2018 General Education Literature Program, Editor-in-Chief of the High School Literature textbook Canh Dieu series, suggests to 12th grade students this year how to take the Literature exam to get high scores.

In less than a month, 12th graders nationwide will take the 2025 High School Graduation Exam. This year's exam is special as it applies a new exam method for the first time and is also the first year candidates take the exam according to the 2018 General Education Program.

For Literature, this is a turning point because students will no longer have to speculate about the exam questions because the Council may not use the textbooks at all. Thus, candidates will have to approach new materials to do the exam within 120 minutes.

At this time, 12th grade students in high schools and Continuing Education Centers have completed the school year program and entered the accelerated review phase to prepare for the exam.

Previously, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the sample exam for the 2025 exam with two main parts: Reading Comprehension (4 points) and Writing (6 points). In which, the Reading Comprehension section has 5 questions and the Writing section includes writing a paragraph of about 200 words (2 points); writing an argumentative essay of about 600 words (4 points).

Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong said that the 2025 High School Graduation Exam is the first exam to assess learners' capacity according to the 2018 General Education Program.

Along with Math, Literature is one of the two compulsory subjects. The requirements of the exam have many new points, especially the fact that the texts already in the textbooks are not reused.

12th grade students in Hanoi in the 2025 High School Graduation Exam Consulting Program organized by Tien Phong Newspaper.

To do well on the high school graduation exam in Literature, students need to pay attention to some content and ways to do the test. The Ministry of Education and Training has announced the structure and format of the test and students have been trained by teachers at high schools and familiarized with sample questions...

Therefore, Associate Professor Thong gave some suggestions on how to enter the exam room and take the test most effectively.

Literature is the first subject in the exam. Specifically, on the morning of June 26, at exactly 7:30 am, candidates will be given the exam papers and 5 minutes later, the test time will begin.

According to the Associate Professor, first of all, candidates need to stay calm and confident. After receiving the exam, candidates should not rush to do it right away but should skim through the entire exam including both parts (reading and writing) to get an overview of the requirements of the entire exam, and discover the relationship between the parts and questions in the exam.

Then, candidates should do the reading comprehension part first (the whole test is 120 minutes, you should only spend 30-40/120 minutes on reading comprehension). The way to do this is to stay calm, read the text slowly, then answer each question in the test.

“Just answer briefly, to the point, and answer the question directly.

For example, with the question: Identify the rhetorical device in the excerpt, you only need to name the rhetorical device; there is no need to explain, nor to state the characteristics and effects of that device. On the contrary, if the question asks why, you must explain...", Associate Professor, Dr. Thong said.

For comprehension questions (questions 3, 4) and application (question 5), candidates should not be wordy but should write concisely, mainly stating the main information to get the score.

In Part II, the Writing section, candidates can write a paragraph or an essay first, depending on their choice. However, candidates also need to pay attention to the relationship between the writing requirement and the reading comprehension section.

If the content of a sentence is related to the reading text, do that part first. Writing a paragraph usually focuses on clarifying one main idea. The main idea is often stated in the question.

Candidates should state this main idea in the introduction of the paragraph; the following sentences include paragraph development only to clarify the idea stated in the introduction, not to expand on other ideas; even though the paragraph may not be long, less than 200 words, if you feel that you have clarified the opening idea, you can stop and move on to the essay.

He advised students to spend only about 30 minutes writing a 200-word paragraph. The remaining time should be spent writing an essay, about 60 minutes.

Don't write too long, pay attention to the presentation

The editor of the 2018 General Education Literature Program also emphasized the problem that the time for the Literature exam is not much, so the exam for this subject cannot require candidates to write very long sentences.

Even the test questions often have material that is not too long or too difficult; therefore, candidates are required to write clearly, appropriate to their level, student population, and writing time.

"Regarding the capacity, the question states the limit for writing a paragraph of "about 200 words" but candidates can write more or less than the specified number of words, it is not necessary to write exactly that number of words", Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong.

Regarding the length, the question states the limit for writing a paragraph of "about 200 words" but candidates can write more or less than the specified number of words, it is not necessary to write exactly that number of words.

For example, a short paragraph can be 250 words if it is not exhaustive or 180 words if it is complete, or an argumentative essay can be 700 words long but can also be 500 words... However, he also warned that candidates should not be too engrossed in a certain sentence, leading to not having time to do the next sentence. Doing it carelessly and just for the sake of it will easily lead to missing ideas and losing points.

Associate Professor, Dr. Do Ngoc Thong, Editor of the 2018 General Education Literature Program, trained teachers on creating Literature test questions and practicing with students.

An important issue that the Associate Professor noted to candidates is that when taking the Literature exam, they need to pay attention to the presentation of the essay.

The new program requires candidates to pay attention not only to the content but also to the presentation. Candidates will be deducted a lot of points if their writing has many formal errors such as: sloppy handwriting (wrong, missing strokes), spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes; incorrect word usage, ambiguous, confusing expressions, previous sentences contradicting the next ones...

Candidates should express their writing honestly and creatively. In particular, an argumentative essay is an expression of the writer’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes; knowledge, ways of thinking, ways of feeling, ways of understanding a literary issue or life and society.

Therefore, candidates need to express their thoughts, opinions, and understandings honestly. Specifically, what they think, feel, and understand... they should state their own thoughts, feelings, and understandings, especially boldly stating new personal ideas; do not copy, borrow, or follow others as a beaten path...

“However, even personal thoughts need to be presented in a clear, logical order to convince the reader. The essay not only clearly states the ideas, but the writer also knows how to express those ideas correctly and well with clear, richly-imaged sentences and words...”, Associate Professor Thong said.

Literature is the first subject in the High School Graduation Exam. Specifically, on the morning of June 26, at exactly 7:30 am, candidates will be given the exam papers and 5 minutes later, the test time will begin.

Ha Linh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chu-bien-chuong-trinh-ngu-van-goi-y-hoc-sinh-cach-lam-bai-dat-diem-cao-post1746339.tpo