Extra points for excellent students in the 10th grade entrance exam: Should or shouldn't?

Candidates participating in the entrance exam for 10th grade at high schools in Hanoi for the 2022-2023 school year. Photo: Thu Huong.

First prize only.

The Hanoi City-level competition for outstanding 9th-grade students in cultural and scientific subjects for the 2023-2024 school year attracted over 3,500 registered participants. These are excellent students, selected from tens of thousands of 9th-grade or 8th-grade students from junior high schools and general education schools with junior high school levels in the city.

The results, announced at the end of January, were good news for many students, their families, and schools. This acknowledges the efforts and achievements of the students after a long period of hard work, focusing on their favorite subjects. However, most of these students face the highly stressful 10th-grade entrance exam, often described as even more intense than the university entrance exam due to the high competition rate.

Ms. Mai Ngoc Hanh (Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi), the parent of a student who won second prize in Physics in the recent Hanoi Grade 9 excellent student competition, said that besides the joy of winning the prize, her child is also very worried because the entrance exam to Grade 10 is coming up. After spending a lot of time focusing on preparing for the competition, the result was slightly less than winning first prize, which would have secured direct admission to some specialized high schools affiliated with universities. Her child will not have any preferential treatment in the upcoming stressful exam.

“When my daughter hesitated about whether to join the team because it would take up time preparing for the 10th grade entrance exam, I still advised her to wholeheartedly pursue her passion. The final year of middle school is very stressful, and now she's focusing all her energy on 3 or 4 subjects for the high school entrance exam, which is much harder than for other students. If only she had received some extra encouragement in the form of points for winning second place, she would have felt comforted and recognized for her efforts,” Ms. Hanh expressed.

According to current regulations, students who win prizes in the Hanoi city-level excellent student competition, besides receiving bonus points in the preliminary round (for students applying to specialized schools), are not entitled to any preferential treatment or incentives in the entrance exam for 10th grade in Hanoi's public high schools. This is a general regulation in the Ministry of Education and Training's admissions regulations applied to junior and senior high school entrance exams nationwide. Students who win prizes in the city-level excellent student competition will receive a certificate of achievement. The Hanoi Department of Education and Training also issues certificates of participation in the city-level excellent student competition to candidates who participate but do not win prizes.

Carefully research the priorities.

According to teacher Doan Thi Dong (Nguyen Hue High School for the Gifted, Hanoi), many students today are interested in social activities and passionate about social media, while neglecting science subjects. They prefer being elected to a club rather than being selected for a gifted student team. Some students are even willing to drop out of the gifted student team to participate in their favorite club's events...

This is also a common concern among many teachers who have been involved in training and nurturing gifted junior high school students for many years in various provinces and cities across the country. It's not uncommon for students to refuse a call to join the gifted student competition team in grade 9, as this is a crucial transitional stage where they face a decisive exam, while the gifted student award they receive, even if they achieve it, hardly gives them any special privileges compared to other students.

For students in the Math, Literature, and English teams, they have an advantage because these are compulsory subjects in the 10th grade entrance exam, so each study session reinforces their knowledge. However, for other subjects like Chemistry, Physics, and Biology, students who dedicate time to team training may not have the same in-depth understanding as other students and will be at a disadvantage in the general entrance exam for public high schools. This is especially true for students who don't aim for specialized schools but only want to attend a high school near their home. The fact that they spend time in team training but their results aren't recognized or encouraged in the general exam will make them reconsider their chances of joining the team.

While supporting the idea of awarding bonus points would facilitate the nurturing of gifted students in schools, allowing them to pursue their passions without excessive worry about the entrance exam, many opinions suggest caution in proposing the amount of bonus points to avoid creating unfairness in the selection process. In reality, many students admitted to specialized classes have never participated in provincial or city-level gifted student competitions. Conversely, not all gifted students who win awards at the provincial or city level pass the entrance exam for specialized 10th-grade classes. Therefore, careful consideration is needed regarding any preferential treatment given to students who win awards in the gifted student competition, which is primarily for the majority.

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