The number of candidates decreased sharply, the average score was lower than last year.

The Ministry of Education and Training has announced the 2025 high school graduation exam scores of more than 1.16 million candidates. According to VietNamNet newspaper's analysis of traditional university entrance exam blocks such as A00, B00, C00, D01, A01, this year has seen significant changes compared to last year.

Block A00 has 165,467 candidates taking the exam, with an average score of 19.33. Compared to 2024, the number of candidates taking the A00 exam this year decreased by 178,000, with an average score of 1.57 points.

Block B00 has 46,607 candidates taking the exam, only 1/7 of the number of block B00 candidates last year. The average score of block B00 this year is 18.34, down 2.19 points compared to last year.

Block C00 has 310,012 candidates, average score 19.66. Compared to last year with 704,024 candidates, average score 20.95, the number of candidates in this block this year decreased by 400,000 students, average score decreased by 1.29 points.

Block D01 has 360,248 candidates, the average score is 18.62. Compared to last year, there were 902,731 candidates, this year there are 542,000 fewer. The average score is 0.87 points lower than last year.

Ho Chi Minh City High School - Nguyen Hue-3.jpg
Candidates for graduation exam in 2025.

Block A01 has only 148,246 candidates, 180,000 less than last year. The average score of block A01 this year is 18.84, 1.63 points lower than last year.

Multi-block benchmarks drop sharply

Mr. Phung Quan, admissions expert at Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Sciences , said that according to the 2025 high school exam score distribution, only about 12% of candidates scored 7 points or higher in Math, while the rate for Physics was 54% and Chemistry was 34%. Up to 85% of candidates scored below 7 points in English. Math scores decreased sharply compared to previous years, while other subjects fluctuated insignificantly.

In 2025, except for the direct admission method, the remaining methods will all be based on a common score for admission, leading to the possibility of adjusting the benchmark score in many industries.

For the A00 group (Math - Physics - Chemistry), Mr. Quan analyzed that only 8 candidates achieved the absolute score of 30. The 27-30 score level had more than 6,500 candidates, of which the average score was about 27.72. The 24-27 score level had nearly 22,000 candidates, of which the average score was 25.25, which was a highly competitive group. The 21-24 score level had more than 31,000 candidates, which was the most popular group, accounting for a large proportion. The group with less than 21 points accounted for the largest number with more than 102,000 candidates, with an average score of only 16.66.

Mr. Quan commented that for majors with benchmark scores of 28 or higher in previous years, this year's benchmark scores may decrease slightly, but not significantly. Majors with benchmark scores below 28 will tend to decrease sharply, commonly from 1 to 2 points, applicable to most combinations such as A00, A01, B00, D01.

Specifically, for the A00, A01, B00 groups, it is expected to decrease by 1.5-2 points in many majors, especially in the engineering, technology, and medical groups. In the D01 group, it may decrease slightly, about 0.5-1.5 points, but majors such as Economics , Languages, and Law will still maintain their competitiveness if the quota does not increase. The above "hot" majors can still maintain high scores thanks to the combined admission method and other priorities. Other majors will be clearly affected, and the standard score is likely to decrease sharply this year.

Mr. Pham Thai Son, Admissions Director, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, predicts that this year's benchmark scores will decrease by 0.5-1 point for top universities such as Economics, Medicine and Pharmacy, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Meanwhile, middle-ranking universities such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Finance - Marketing, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade may decrease the top majors by a maximum of 1 point, while middle-ranking majors with scores of 22 or lower will remain the same. The remaining universities will keep their benchmark scores the same because this year's high scores, with scores of 8 or higher, are lower than last year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that with the score range like this year, the admission score based on high school graduation exam scores will decrease in all fields. In particular, the fields of admission using the B00 combination (Math - Chemistry - Biology) will decrease sharply, possibly up to 2-3 points compared to 2024.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Mr. Nhan commented that because the admission combinations always have 2 compulsory subjects, Math and Physics, the admission score by this method will decrease a lot, possibly up to 2 points compared to 2024. Especially the Chemistry, Biology, and Environment groups may decrease more, up to 2.5 points.

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/diem-chuan-dai-hoc-nhieu-khoi-se-giam-sau-toi-2-3-diem-2422533.html