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

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

Only First Prize is given priority

The Hanoi City Excellent Student Competition in Cultural and Science Subjects for Grade 9 in the 2023-2024 school year attracted more than 3,500 students to register. These are excellent students, selected from tens of thousands of Grade 9 or Grade 8 students from secondary schools and general schools with secondary education levels in the city.

The results announced at the end of January were good news for many candidates, their families and schools. This is a recognition of the students’ efforts and achievements after a long time of trying to review and focus on studying the subjects they are passionate about and love. However, ahead of most of these students is the stressful 10th grade exam, which is considered more fierce 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 the second prize in Physics in the recent Hanoi 9th grade excellent student competition, said that besides the joy of winning the prize, her child was also very worried because the upcoming 10th grade entrance exam was coming up. After spending a lot of time focusing on studying for the national team but the result was still a little bit lower than winning the first prize, which would mean that the child would be directly admitted to a number of specialized high schools affiliated with the university, and would not have any priority in the upcoming stressful exam.

“When my child was wondering whether to join the team or not because it would take time to prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam, I still advised him to live his passion to the fullest. The final year of high school was full of stress, and now he is focusing on 3 or 4 subjects for the high school entrance exam, which is much more difficult than other students. If there was more encouragement with the bonus points of the second prize, he would feel comforted and recognized for his efforts,” Ms. Hanh expressed.

According to current regulations, students who win prizes in the Hanoi City-level Excellent Student Competition, in addition to receiving extra points in the preliminary round (for students taking the specialized exam), are not entitled to any preferential or incentive policies in the Hanoi Public High School Grade 10 Entrance Exam. This is a general regulation in the Ministry of Education and Training's Admission Regulations applied to junior high school and 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 a prize.

Research your priorities carefully.

According to teacher Doan Thi Dong (Nguyen Hue High School for the Gifted, Hanoi), many students are currently interested in social activities and are passionate about social networks, but are indifferent to science subjects. They prefer to be elected to a club rather than to be on the excellent student team. Some students are even willing to skip the team to participate in events of their favorite club...

This is also a common concern of many teachers who have been involved in training and nurturing excellent secondary school students for many years in many provinces and cities across the country. It is not uncommon for students to refuse when being called to join the 9th grade excellent student competition team because this is an important transition stage, students have to face a decisive exam while the excellent student award that students have achieved is almost not given any special priority compared to other students.

For students of the Math, Literature, and English teams, they have an advantage because these are all compulsory subjects in the entrance exam for grade 10, so studying once is a way to consolidate knowledge. But with other subjects such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc., when students spend time studying for the team, there will certainly be parts that are not as in-depth as other students and will be at a disadvantage when taking the general exam for admission to grade 10 of public schools. Especially for students who do not intend to go to a specialized school but only want to study at a high school near their home, spending time studying for the team but the results are not recognized or encouraged in the general exam will make them reconsider their chances of joining the team.

Supporting the addition of priority points will facilitate the training of excellent students of schools, so that students can live their passion without worrying too much about the transfer exam, but many opinions also say that we need to be careful when proposing the amount of bonus points to avoid creating injustice in the entrance exam. Because in reality, many students who pass the specialized classes today are students who have never participated in the excellent student exam at the provincial or city level. On the contrary, not all excellent students who win prizes at the provincial or city level when taking the entrance exam for specialized grade 10 will pass. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully calculate what priority is given to students who win the excellent student award in the entrance exam for grade 10, which is for the majority.

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