The entrance exam for 10th grade maintains a high level of innovation and differentiation.

On May 31st, nearly 124,000 students in Hanoi completed the three subjects in the entrance exam for 10th grade in public high schools for the 2026-2027 school year. According to a quick report from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, the exam was conducted safely, seriously, and in accordance with regulations. Across the city, only four candidates violated regulations by bringing mobile phones into the exam room. This year's exam questions were considered to maintain the pace of innovation, accurately assessing students' abilities, and aligning with the goals of a highly competitive exam like the 10th grade entrance exam.

On the morning of May 31st, Hanoi candidates completed the Mathematics exam, the final subject in the exam, with a time limit of 120 minutes.

Leaving the exam room feeling relaxed and cheerful, Nguyen Bao Nam, a student from Yen Nghia Secondary School, said that this year's math exam was quite manageable for him. Because it's his strong subject, he did quite well and estimated he would score around 8-8.5 points. However, Nam also noted that the math exam had a high degree of differentiation; only those with a solid foundation in knowledge and serious study habits would find it manageable and easy. Conversely, it wouldn't be easy to score 7 or higher on this exam.

Tran Vu Long, a student from Duong Noi Secondary School, shared: "This exam is truly an unforgettable experience for me because I went to the exam with a broken arm. At first, I was very worried, but luckily I did well on all three exams. For Math, I found the questions manageable, and I predict I'll get around 8 points. Now I hope the cut-off scores this year remain stable like last year so I have a chance to get into my first-choice university."

Tran Vu Long, a student from Duong Noi Secondary School, said he felt relieved after successfully completing the 10th grade entrance exam.

According to the assessment of the Mathematics teachers at HOCMAI education system, this year's Hanoi Grade 10 entrance exam in Mathematics continues to inherit the innovations from last year's exam. The exam still focuses on evaluating students' thinking skills, ability to apply knowledge and solve problems, rather than just testing their memorization of knowledge, and closely follows the structure of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training's Grade 10 entrance exam.

Compared to the 2025-2026 academic year exam, the exam structure remains largely unchanged, maintaining stability in its assessment methods. The questions are designed to encourage the application of knowledge to real-world situations, thereby comprehensively evaluating students' mathematical abilities. In addition to ensuring basic knowledge and skills, the exam also includes questions designed to differentiate students, contributing to the identification and selection of those with abilities suitable for the next educational level.

Many students have assessed this year's math exam as being of appropriate difficulty but still ensuring a high level of differentiation.

The exam continues to be structured with 5 major problems, each containing several smaller parts arranged in order of difficulty from knowing – understanding – applying, suitable for the 120-minute time limit. This structure allows students to demonstrate their basic knowledge and skills while ensuring the necessary differentiation for the admissions process.

The curriculum covers three main areas: Numbers and Algebra, Geometry and Measurement, and Statistics and Probability, closely following the 2018 General Education Program. The types of math problems remain consistent, helping students to be proactive in their review and problem-solving. Questions with real-world contexts continue to be included at a proportion and difficulty level equivalent to the official exam in the 2025-2026 school year, thereby assessing students' reading comprehension, application of knowledge, and mathematical modeling skills, while ensuring the necessary differentiation for admission purposes.

"Overall, this is a high-quality exam, maintaining structural stability while still demonstrating a spirit of innovation in testing and evaluation. The exam not only meets the admission requirements but also contributes to guiding the teaching and learning process towards developing students' qualities and competencies, in line with the goals of the 2018 General Education Program," the mathematics teachers commented.

The entrance exam for 10th grade in the 2016-2027 school year in Hanoi was conducted safely and seriously.

Previously, the Literature and Foreign Language exams in this year's Hanoi 10th grade entrance exam were also highly praised by teachers for meeting both requirements: being appropriate for students, not overly difficult, but still ensuring the necessary level of differentiation for a highly competitive exam like the 10th grade entrance exam. In particular, the Literature exam, a written test, did not use material from the textbook.

According to many Literature teachers, the requirement to "not use textbook materials" is not only a challenge for exam setters and candidates in a major exam, but also for the teaching process itself. However, this year's exam successfully addressed the requirements, and was praised by teachers and students as "beautiful, well-structured, and balanced." This approach to exam design will eliminate rote learning and passive memorization. It also encourages independent thinking, allowing students to freely express their personal feelings and thoughts.

However, students will also face certain difficulties, as they will need extensive practice and training to build the foundation of knowledge and skills to handle completely new assignments. Teachers will also have to diligently research how to impart knowledge and skills to help students meet the requirements. In the long run, this well-directed innovation will contribute to creating generations of students who think independently, have their own opinions, and use Vietnamese flexibly and creatively.

Four candidates violated the regulations by bringing mobile phones into the examination room.

According to a preliminary report from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, in the Mathematics exam on the morning of May 31st, nearly 124,000 students across the city took the exam in over 53,000 examination rooms at 224 testing locations. The attendance rate was 96.67%; 409 students were absent, and 2 students violated regulations by bringing mobile phones into the examination room. Thus, at the end of the exam, the city had 4 students who violated regulations by bringing mobile phones into the examination room. Previously, there was 1 student who violated regulations in the Literature exam and 1 student who violated regulations in the Foreign Language exam.

Overall, the exam was conducted safely, seriously, and in accordance with regulations. The weather on both days of the exam was also quite mild and pleasant, favorable for students and parents bringing their children to the exam. With the support of the police force, the work of ensuring security, order, and traffic safety at the exam sites proceeded according to plan.

According to the plan, on June 1st, candidates wishing to take the specialized subject exams will take the specialized subject exams in the entrance examination for specialized 10th grade classes.

Huyen Thanh-Luu Hiep

Source: https://cand.vn/de-thi-vao-lop-10-giu-nhip-doi-moi-va-phan-hoa-cao-post812513.html