Editor's note:
The 2025 high school graduation exam marks an important milestone in the implementation of the 2018 general education program. The Ministry of Education and Training has set three goals for this exam: to assess learners' learning outcomes according to the goals and standards of the new program; to use exam results to consider recognizing high school graduation and to serve as one of the bases for assessing the quality of teaching and learning of general education institutions and the direction of education management agencies; to provide reliable data for universities and vocational education institutions to use in enrollment in the spirit of autonomy.
On that basis, the Ministry has made strong and drastic innovations in both exams and university admission regulations to aim for real learning and real testing, reduce exam pressure, promote the teaching and learning process according to the abilities and interests of each individual, while ensuring fairness and transparency.
However, as these ambitious policies were put into practice, a series of challenges arose.
From English exams with difficulty levels exceeding the standard, the uneven test matrix of each subject, the difference in scores between groups, to the complicated regulations on equivalent score conversion... All of these unintentionally create "privileges" for a group of candidates and widen the gap with candidates in rural and remote areas.
With the series of articles "High school graduation exam and university entrance exam 2025: The maze of innovation and concerns about fairness", we not only look back at the problems that have occurred but also dig deep to find the core causes, thereby proposing solutions and making practical recommendations so that the high school graduation exam and university entrance exam in 2026 and the following years will truly be a fair and transparent competition for each learner and each training institution, while also positively impacting innovation in teaching and learning at the high school level.
Male student's tears after high school graduation math exam
On the afternoon of June 26, the first candidates at the Chu Van An Secondary School exam site in Hanoi left the school gate after taking the high school graduation math exam. A male student burst into tears as soon as he saw his relatives waiting.
“The test was more difficult than I imagined, much more difficult than the sample test announced by the Ministry of Education and Training ,” M., a 12th grade Physics major student at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, expressed his bewildered and disappointed face. Perhaps, not being able to reach a 9 in math is something that is hard to accept for a gifted student like M.
The same reaction was repeated the next morning with English, when many students and teachers commented that the test was more difficult than the B1 standard in the general education program, even the reading passage reached B2 and C1 levels.
On the evening of June 27, the Ministry of Education and Training held a press conference to conclude the 2025 high school graduation exam. At this event, Dan Tri reporters reported on the difficulty of the math and English tests, of which the English test was considered by many teachers to be "as difficult as the IELTS test".
Responding to press comments on the exam, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Ha - Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management - affirmed that the Ministry has organized large-scale testing of exam questions in all three regions to assess students' abilities in order to adjust the difficulty level in making the exam questions.
“When making the test, the council carefully considered the data during the testing process. The difficulty of the test is based on the actual results, while also closely following the reference test," said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha.
Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam in Hanoi (Photo: Hai Long).
On July 15, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the distribution of high school graduation exam scores. The distribution of scores for both math and English subjects has a beautiful shape, as Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc (University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) commented, it is "surprisingly beautiful".
Accordingly, the saddle-shaped graph of English has disappeared, replaced by a nearly bell-shaped graph, slightly skewed to the right.
The saddle-shaped graph of English used to be a headache for the education sector. Because the existence of two peaks on the graph shows a large differentiation in the teaching and learning of foreign languages, reflecting the difference in proficiency between the low-scoring group and the high-scoring group.
Meanwhile, the bell-shaped score spectrum is considered the ideal distribution in education with the peak at the average score - where the majority of students are, and the two sides are symmetrical. The number of students with scores that are too low or too high is very small, and the "gap" between weak and good is eliminated.
The bell-shaped score distribution reflects the differentiation of the test, clearly distinguishing excellent students from average students - an important factor in university admissions.
However, students and the public cannot help but worry when the average score is good but the percentage of students with below average scores is too high and the percentage of students with good scores or higher is low.
Specifically, 56.4% of candidates scored below average in math. Only 12% of candidates scored 7 or higher. The average score was 4.78, the median 4.6.
In English, the number of candidates with below average scores was 38%. The number of candidates with scores of 7 or higher was 15%. The average score was 5.38, the median was 5.25.
The statistics from the score distribution are the most complete answer to whether the math and English exams are really difficult or just the subjective judgment of a few teachers, as well as whether the majority or minority of candidates leaving the math and English exam rooms with disappointed faces.
Basic statistical indicators of mathematics in 2025 compared to 2024 (Photo: Ministry of Education and Training).
An admissions expert said that although the weak-good peaks in the English score spectrum no longer exist, the average score of the score spectrum is below the good level, showing that English is still a difficult subject for the majority of candidates, even though English has become an elective subject, meaning that only candidates with strengths in this subject choose to take the exam.
The high school graduation exam has two main goals: graduation and university admission. With the current score range, the 2025 English exam does not serve both of these goals well, according to this expert's analysis.
"With the goal of graduation, nearly 40% of students not achieving the average score is too high, not suitable for the requirements of ensuring basic output. If not adjusted, the risk of students "failing to graduate" because of elective subjects is real.
For admission purposes, the lack of high scores makes it difficult for schools to use them to screen candidates. They will be forced to use additional criteria or combine multiple years of school records - factors that are often questioned for their fairness," the expert said.
Difficult exam to classify students, which group is at a disadvantage?
Commenting on the 2025 high school graduation English exam, MSc. Hoang Duc Long - who has many years of experience teaching English, teaching academic writing and critical thinking - commented: "The exam is easy for those who have experience and test-taking techniques and problem-solving skills, to adapt to many types of questions, and at the same time have very rich language knowledge, understanding of both specialized and common languages...
For excellent students, not only do they master knowledge in the general education program but they also master academic English (level C1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), while the output standard for high school students only stops at level B1.
For students who are only loyal to the general education program of the Ministry of Education and Training, this exam is really difficult.
MSc in English Education Dinh Thu Hong, currently working at an elementary school in Georgia, USA, used the website https://textinspector.com to measure the difficulty of the reading passages in the 2025 high school graduation English exam. As a result, the reading difficulty index was equivalent to that of a graduate student.
“Other indicators also show that the most difficult reading passage of the sample test is still much easier than the test on June 27, and it seems that both reading passages exceed level 3 as set by the Ministry of Education and Training in the innovation program goals for high school level,” Ms. Hong commented.
According to Circular 01 issued in 2014, the output requirement for high school students is level 3 in the 6-level foreign language proficiency framework for Vietnam, equivalent to B1. But the exam has many questions at level B2, even C1, according to the assessment of English teachers.
MSc. Hoang Duc Long commented that with the 2025 high school graduation English exam, the advantage belongs to candidates who have invested finance and time to study additional academic English programs, of which IELTS preparation is an example.
Teachers' assessments of the exam questions as well as the average scores in math and English show that if students only study the main subjects and stick to the curriculum and textbooks, they will be at a disadvantage in the race to get into top schools.
Meanwhile, opportunities for extra study are uneven between regions and between candidates with different socio-economic conditions.
The purpose of making difficult exams is to differentiate and classify students, effectively serving university admissions, but it also unintentionally differentiates between candidates who receive extra classes and those who do not, candidates who have access to academic English and candidates who do not.
In other words, the classification of students does not closely follow the description of the competency framework to be achieved in the announced 2018 framework program.
Need to fill the gap between learning and testing
Four months before the high school graduation exam, Circular 29 regulating extra teaching and learning took effect. Schools are not allowed to teach more than 2 periods/subject per week, even if they volunteer to teach for free.
The viewpoint of the Ministry of Education and Training when issuing this Circular is to target schools that do not have extra classes or tutoring for the reason: In principle, schools and teachers implementing the prescribed study hours have ensured students have the amount of knowledge and met the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program.
At the high school graduation exam training conference in early April, Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong once again emphasized: Exam preparation is the responsibility of the school. Where students are weak, it is because the teaching of the main curriculum is not good, there is no excuse that it is due to Circular 29.
"If teachers teach well every day, every semester, and all year, the exam will no longer be stressful," said Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong, adding that the 2026 high school graduation exam is expected to be held earlier so that the review period will not be prolonged.
Circular 29 has received widespread support from society and is considered a breakthrough in “liberating” many students and parents from the situation of “voluntary but forced” extra classes. At the same time, the new regulations on extra teaching and learning also directly impact the current teaching and learning methods in schools, promoting the spirit, awareness of self-study and initiative in learning of students.
However, for Circular 29 to truly enter life in a long-term manner, innovation in examinations plays a particularly important role. When the examination questions go beyond the "requirements to be achieved" of the program and the scope of textbooks, the widespread situation of extra classes, exam preparation, and "cheat sheets" will return in one way or another to meet the examination needs of students and parents.
Dr. Sai Cong Hong, an expert on educational assessment and evaluation, analyzed: “In the spirit of the 2018 General Education Program, textbooks are a tool to specify the "requirements to be achieved", that is, the minimum competencies, knowledge and skills that students need to grasp after a period of study.
In principle, graduation exams need to be based on these requirements to ensure consistency and reasonableness in assessment.
The inconsistency between teaching, learning and testing makes it difficult for students who do not take extra classes to achieve high scores. When textbooks are no longer a reliable basis for students to study on their own, they are forced to depend on practice tests and extra classes.
If not improved in the following years, this will result in the elimination of students' motivation and ability to self-study. Thus, the good and humane purposes of Circular 29 regulating extra teaching and learning will be difficult to achieve effectively.
The biggest problem that many testing experts have pointed out with the high school graduation exam is the conflict between two goals: graduation recognition and university admission. Some years, the exam questions were too biased towards mass, causing difficulties in admissions. This year, the exam structure is biased towards classification, making it unfair and unapproachable for the majority of candidates - the main target of the high school graduation exam.
Being easy enough to graduate and difficult enough to filter candidates into college is a challenge for the test development process.
The 2026 high school graduation exam inherits the experience of 2025 - the first year of high school graduation exams under the new general education program - and is expected to resolve the above-mentioned bottlenecks, including adjusting the difficulty of the exam, balancing the difficulty and ease between the elective subjects. The adjustment process to make the exam meet standards requires empirical evidence and time.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-kho-vuot-chuan-ai-thiet-trong-cuoc-dua-dai-hoc-20250804031933636.htm
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