High School Graduation Exam Scores 2025: Local Rankings Change

The 2025 high school graduation exam takes place in a special context when the 2018 General Education Program is applied and coincides with the time of provincial merger. A parallel comparison of the old and new administrative units is necessary to clearly distinguish the impact of the exam and the merger.

From there, we can correctly identify the current situation, creating a basis for improving the quality of sustainable education in the future.

The article will present two types of comparison. First, keeping the old administrative unit for analysis helps maintain the continuity of the data series. For many years, the high school graduation exam results have been compared according to 63 provinces and cities. If changed immediately after the merger, the data will be discontinuous, making it difficult to compare and evaluate trends. To accurately analyze the impact of the 2025 innovation exam, it is necessary to compare with the 2024 data on the same reference system. The next step is to compare the 34 new provinces and cities. The comparison is not for competition or reward but is an objective indicator system to help localities and schools clearly identify the current situation, thereby adjusting policies and methods accordingly.

Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

Average score in 2025 decreased, many big changes in rankings

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the average score of the 2025 high school graduation exam will be 6.172, down 0.578 points compared to 2024 (6.750). All 63 provinces and cities (old) will have lower scores, with many localities seeing sharp decreases such as Ninh Binh (down 0.983 points), Vinh Long (0.947), Son La (0.917), Bac Ninh (0.901), Binh Duong (0.840), An Giang (0.808), Nam Dinh (0.807). These are all provinces that used to have high achievements but may be having difficulty in implementing the 2018 General Education Program (GEP) in a synchronous manner. On the contrary, some localities will have lower scores such as Quang Tri (0.175), Quang Nam (0.364), Nghe An (0.370), Hanoi (0.375).

The decrease in average scores does not reflect a decline in the quality of education, but mainly because the 2025 exam was designed to assess real abilities, increase differentiation, and limit the situation of "raining high scores". Math had the lowest average score (4.78), reducing the national average score, but there were still 513 exams with a score of 10, showing that the exam still created conditions for excellent students to shine.

Based on the average score data of the Ministry of Education and Training, the ranking of localities (old) in 2025 recorded many major changes. Vinh Phuc maintained the top position for both years. Some provinces increased significantly in rank such as Quang Tri (up 34 places), Quang Nam (24), Hau Giang (17), Hanoi (15), Ca Mau (14), Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue (all 10 places), Quang Ninh (8), Hung Yen (7). On the contrary, many localities dropped sharply such as Vinh Long (29 places), Hoa Binh (19), Lam Dong (12), Kon Tum (11), Son La and Yen Bai (10), Da Nang, Tra Vinh , Bac Ninh, An Giang (all 9 places).

Education experts believe that this fluctuation is influenced by four factors: the tendency of students in disadvantaged areas to switch from foreign languages to subjects with higher scores; choosing subjects that match their strengths; university admission policies that do not consider early admission, and consider transcript scores must include the second semester of grade 12; and different levels of adaptation to the 2018 General Education Program and the way of testing and assessing capacity.

The 2025 high school graduation exam marks a shift from assessing knowledge to assessing student capacity. The exam has three main objectives: to consider high school graduation; to provide reliable data for universities and vocational training institutions to recruit students; and to serve as one of the bases for assessing teaching quality. Thus, the exam results are not the only criteria reflecting the quality of education, but need to be combined with other factors such as the teaching staff, teaching conditions, learning environment, etc.

Based on the average test scores, we arranged the localities from high to low and temporarily divided them into 3 groups: the top 20 localities, the middle 23 localities and the bottom 20 localities. These are indicators that help localities determine their position, thereby finding solutions to improve quality.

TOP 20, MIDDLE 23, BOTTOM 20 AVERAGE EXAM SCORES

Notably, in the leading group, there are new localities such as Nghe An, Hai Duong and Hanoi in the top 10. Vinh Phuc continues to maintain its impressive performance with 6 consecutive years of ranking increase, from 9th place (in 2020) to No. 1 in the last 3 years.

Source: Data published by the Ministry of Education and Training and author's calculations

Nghe An, a province with 11 mountainous districts, rose strongly from 38th place (2020) to 12th place (2024) and 2nd place (2025). Hai Duong made steady progress, from 13th place (2024) to 8th place (2025). Hanoi jumped from 22nd place in 2024 to 7th place in 2025, thanks to 43% of students not taking foreign language exams and choosing the right subjects for university admission. Thus, the 2025 exam has created opportunities for both disadvantaged and advantaged localities to improve their positions, if they know how to effectively respond to the 2018 General Education Program and innovate testing according to competency assessment, linked to practice and not closely following textbooks.

Source: Data published by the Ministry of Education and Training and author's calculations

In the group of 23 middle-ranking localities, there are some localities with outstanding progress in rankings, such as Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh...

Source: Data published by the Ministry of Education and Training and author's calculations

The bottom 20 are mostly mountainous areas in the North, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta. However, there are some favorable localities but their rankings have dropped sharply, such as Da Nang from 45th in 2024 to 54th in 2025, Vinh Long from 16th to 45th and Dong Nai from 41st to 49th.

Comparing average exam scores of 34 new provinces and cities

Based on data from the Ministry of Education and Training, we ranked 34 new provinces and cities according to their average scores. The results showed that 17 localities had an average score above 6.0 and 17 localities had an average score below 6.0.

The top group includes: Nghe An (1), Ha Tinh (2), Ninh Binh (3), Phu Tho (4), Hanoi (5), Hai Phong (6), Thanh Hoa (7), Ho Chi Minh City (8), Hue City (9), Bac Ninh (10). Meanwhile, the bottom 10 localities include: Quang Ngai (25), Lao Cai (26), Khanh Hoa (27), Tuyen Quang (28), Lang Son (29), Dien Bien (30), Dak Lak (31), Lai Chau (32), Cao Bang (33), Son La (34). The North Central localities show clear progress, while the northern mountainous localities still face many difficulties.

Source: data published by the Ministry of Education and Training and author's calculations

The 2025 high school graduation exam shows a positive change in assessment: the number of exams scoring 10 points has increased, the level of differentiation is higher, reflecting the quality of teaching and learning more accurately. In particular, for the new provinces after the merger, this year's ranking of 34 localities is the beginning of a series of continuous comparisons in the future, contributing to a deeper identification of the level of each region, serving as a basis for building sustainable development policies.

The comparison data also reflects the conditions for implementing the 2018 General Education Program such as staff, facilities, teaching equipment and the effectiveness of support policies.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/diem-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-2025-thu-hang-cac-dia-phuong-thay-doi-18525072221114117.htm