Experts predict that the 2025 university admission benchmark will decrease.

Candidates look up their high school graduation exam scores. (Photo: Thanh Tung/VNA)

Immediately after the announcement of the 2025 High School Graduation Exam scores, from July 16 to 5:00 p.m. on July 28, candidates will register, adjust and add their university and college admission wishes on the General Admission System.

In addition to admission based on academic records, aptitude test scores, thinking assessments, foreign language certificates, etc., candidates across the country still focus on the high school graduation exam to use these results for admission.

Therefore, comments and predictions about benchmark scores from experts and training institutions are important reference channels for candidates to choose and register for suitable majors and schools.

Benchmark scores decrease in combinations with Math and English

As an expert in the score spectrum analysis group, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, University of Technology - Hanoi National University, said that the predicted university admission score this year will be lower than last year, for many reasons.

Although the number of candidates taking the exam for the groups is less, because the exam questions are more differentiated, the scores are lower; the average score and the percentage of excellent scores for the subjects are also lower, there is no longer a shortage of excellent scores like every year. Therefore, the benchmark score can be 2-3 points lower depending on the field.

The average score of Literature and Geography this year is still relatively high, so the standard score of combinations with these subjects will not be too different from last year, such as the score of block C00 will be relatively stable.

But combinations with Math and English scores will decrease by 2-3 points.

According to Professor, Doctor Nguyen Dinh Duc, this year, many candidates and teachers were "shocked" because the exam questions were differentiated, especially in Math and English.

In fact, when the Ministry announced the sample exam, experts said it was more difficult. Therefore, teachers, parents, and students need to be aware to prepare more carefully in the coming years, aiming for real, substantial learning and solid knowledge.

In order to ensure fairness for candidates, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc highly appreciated the Ministry of Education and Training's application of regulations on converting equivalent scores between admission methods from this year's admission season, providing an adjustment coefficient when considering entrance, especially for majors that consider admission from many combinations.

For example, in the fields of Law or Social Sciences and Humanities, which recruit all groups A, B, C, D, converting equivalent scores is a suitable method with a scientific basis.

Emphasizing the need to maintain stability in the Ministry's enrollment regulations and the enrollment plans of schools, Professor, Doctor Nguyen Dinh Duc said: The enrollment plan needs to remain stable over many years, and should not be changed every year, causing difficulties for candidates.

For example, the medical industry used to recruit students with traditional combinations of Chemistry and Biology, but now there are strange combinations that need to be considered to conform to international practices.

The choice of major at university will determine the choice of subjects for the high school graduation exam, so it needs to be considered and evaluated to ensure input quality.

The Ministry of Education and Training and training institutions also need to announce the enrollment plan early, not waiting until March or April like in recent years, causing candidates to be "shocked" by sudden changes.

We also need to follow international practice, have better methods of assessing ability, in the short term there is a 2-in-1 exam but in the long term there needs to be tests like the US (SAT, ICT...) to have standardization, candidates can take the exam many times a year.

Giving advice to candidates after knowing their high school graduation exam scores, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc shared: Based on the score distribution, schools will set admission score thresholds for each major.

Candidates need to carefully research each school and each field to register their wishes accordingly.

There is a large difference in benchmark scores between schools.

Looking at the score spectrum, Mr. Nguyen Vinh San - Head of Administration Department, University of Education, University of Danang - commented that in 2025, the score spectrum of the high school graduation exam will be well differentiated, the score spectrum will shift more towards the middle and there will be a balance on both sides.

It can be said that this is the most suitable score range in recent years for the exam whose results are used to consider high school graduation and also provide reliable data for universities and vocational education institutions to use in enrollment in the spirit of autonomy.

A better differentiated score spectrum helps universities group candidates and select students with suitable abilities for the school, especially at schools with high entrance requirements and top schools.

It is predicted that there will be a large difference in admission scores between universities. For top universities, the admission scores are not expected to change much, except for the combination of Math which may decrease slightly.

For lower-group schools, this year's benchmark scores will decrease a lot (2-3 points or more).

Sharing the same opinion, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that the score distribution in 2025 will decrease in all subjects, leading to the score distribution of traditional combinations such as A00 (Math - Physics - Chemistry), B00 (Math - Chemistry - Biology), A01 (Math - Physics - English), C01 (Math - Literature - Physics), D01 (Math - Literature - English) will decrease by 1-2 points.

Therefore, the admission score based on the high school graduation exam will decrease in all fields. In particular, the admission fields with Math, Chemistry, and Biology will decrease sharply, possibly up to 2-3 points compared to 2024.

Dr. Vo Thanh Hai, Vice President of Duy Tan University, shared: In all exam subjects, the average and median scores decreased compared to last year (except for Physics).

The biggest decrease was in Math, with the median score dropping by 2.2 points and having the lowest average score among the 12 subjects. Meanwhile, Math is one of the two compulsory subjects in the High School Graduation Exam, and is also one of the two compulsory subjects in each admission group.

This year, English is an optional subject. Candidates choose this subject if they have good or above average academic ability. However, the average and median scores of this subject this year are both lower than last year, which shows the difficulty of the exam.

However, looking at the score distribution, we can see that the differentiation of the exam subjects is good. It is predicted that the admission scores for top majors such as medicine, artificial intelligence, etc. may be stable because the 10-point score this year is still high.

According to statistics, over 15,000 candidates scored 10 points, higher than last year.

However, the fluctuation in benchmark scores may be in the group of majors with an average score of about 6-7.5 points per subject, and majors in this range may have their benchmark scores decrease./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/chuyen-gia-du-doan-diem-chuan-xet-tuyen-dai-hoc-2025-se-giam-255022.htm