The exam is innovative but needs to be suitable for candidates

The 2025 high school graduation exam has ended, but the echoes of the Math and English exam questions are still hot on forums with many conflicting opinions.

Many experts and teachers believe that, with the English exam, although the innovation in the way of making exam questions has clearly demonstrated the policy of standardizing foreign language proficiency, gradually approaching the international reference framework, if an exam question deviates from the program's goals and does not accurately reflect the ability of the majority of students, it is not a successful exam question. From the reality of this year's exam, many opinions say that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to research and develop more reasonable exam questions to ensure fairness for all students across the country, especially in disadvantaged areas where there are no conditions to learn foreign languages.

Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam. Illustrative photo.

After finishing the 2025 High School Graduation Exam, many candidates said they were quite "shocked" by the differentiation of the Math and English exams because they were much more difficult than the sample exam. Especially in the English exam, many students who achieved IELTS 7.0-7.5 were quite surprised by the difficulty of the exam. The exam was long, with many academic terms that were far from high school students' understanding; the exam was more suitable for candidates taking the English major exam or the gifted student exam than for a general exam like the high school graduation exam.

Sharing with CAND Newspaper reporters, Master Hoang Tang Duc, English lecturer at Vinh University ( Nghe An ) said that the English exam has some notable advantages. That is, the rich language materials in the exam help students approach real language instead of just "studying for the exam"; the requirement to use appropriate words, arrange paragraphs logically, and in the right context is the right direction in assessing language proficiency. The exam also approaches comprehensive assessment when many questions assess language thinking ability such as inference, synthesis, and idea arrangement - reflecting the trend of testing real ability, instead of discrete knowledge; at the same time, gradually approaching international exams such as IELTS, TOEFL. However, the exam seems to be moving faster than students' ability and current teaching conditions in high school.

According to the analysis of Master Hoang Tang Duc, the core problem here is that the high school graduation exam is currently serving two very different goals. If the high school graduation goal ensures that students complete the program - that is, they only need to meet the B1 standard (level 3) according to Circular 32/2018/TT-BGDDT, the university admission goal needs to clearly classify academic capacity, especially for top schools that require questions at the B2 - C1 level to ensure differentiation. Two goals with two completely different assessment logics are wrapped up in 40 multiple choice questions of a single test. And the result is that the test is pulled towards academics, while the B1 output standard becomes blurred. The consequence is that students in difficult areas will be severely affected when many students, especially in rural and mountainous areas, only study to "graduate" - now have to struggle with an exam that exceeds the standard with many C1 questions, not suitable for their actual capacity.

General education teachers are also confused in their orientation when they have to stand between two choices: Teaching according to the standard program (B1) or following the exam preparation style that is biased towards B2 - C1, leading to disorientation in teaching. Families and society bear additional pressure when parents, especially in difficult areas, are forced to spend more money on extra classes and exam preparation, creating a significant economic burden. This deepens the gap between regions and classes, going against the principle of fairness in public education.

From the current situation of the English exam this year, Master Hoang Tang Duc said that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to make some changes and adjustments to move towards a truly fairer and more effective exam. Firstly, clearly separate the goals. If we still maintain the "two-in-one" exam for both graduation and university admission, we need to transparently announce the proportion of questions according to the competency levels (B1- B2 - C1); better yet, there should be a separate exam for university admission to ensure the correct function and goals of each subject.

In addition, to increase the content that reflects actual abilities, the exam needs to have an additional section to assess writing skills, describe personal experiences or make simple arguments in accordance with the requirements of Level 3 according to the 6-level Foreign Language Competency Framework as prescribed in the 2018 General Education Program. The exam questions need to be based on the official requirements of the program, avoiding exceeding the standards too much, otherwise, it will lead to deviations from the teaching and learning objectives, creating injustice and unnecessary pressure for learners. In addition, before any major adjustment of the exam, there needs to be a thorough, extensive and systematic preparation process for both teachers and students.

Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education and Training, also said that encouraging real learning, fighting against the disease of achievement and improving English teaching and learning are very necessary in the current context. However, a high school graduation exam that is too difficult, even many students have reported as "shocking", needs to be seriously considered and evaluated.

According to Mr. Vinh, education needs planned movements, not shocks - especially when the ones directly affected are students. If the program does not ensure enough time and quality for teaching and learning reading comprehension skills; if the gap between urban and rural areas in learning English is still large; if textbooks do not provide enough types of materials like the exam questions - then suddenly increasing the difficulty level will create a sense of puzzles instead of encouraging students to study seriously. A high school graduation exam cannot have the mindset of a "selective" exam and innovation in testing and assessment activities also need to be compatible with the actual teaching and learning conditions in current high schools.

In response to students and teachers' feedback that this year's Math and English exams were too difficult and somewhat puzzling, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management, said that the Ministry of Education and Training will take note of the comments to consider after completing the marking process. Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong also affirmed that he will accept comments on the exam to do better in the following years on the principle of ensuring the rights of candidates as well as the goals of the exam.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/giao-duc/de-thi-doi-moi-nhung-can-vua-suc-thi-sinh-i773349/