Reduce exam stress.

Directive No. 20/CT-TTg, recently issued by the Prime Minister on organizing the 2026 high school graduation exam and university and vocational education admissions, continues to emphasize the requirement to "maintain stability, reduce pressure, and reduce costs," while ensuring honesty, objectivity, and accurate assessment of students' abilities.

The 2026 high school graduation exam and university entrance exam will be organized in a way that maintains stability, reduces pressure, and lowers costs. (Illustrative image).

In reality, over the years, the pressure on graduating high school students doesn't just come from the High School Graduation Exam. A student can simultaneously study for the graduation exam, prepare their academic transcript for admission, participate in aptitude and thinking skills assessment exams, and even compete for foreign language certificates.

While the diversity in admission methods has a positive aspect, expanding choices, it also leads many families into a prolonged and costly cycle of preparation, both in terms of time and money. Meanwhile, many universities are making changes to subject combinations, score conversion methods, or admission procedures close to the admission deadline.

Therefore, the demand for reducing pressure and costs will only be truly meaningful if it is concretized through more comprehensive solutions in the admissions process. This includes organizing safe exams, streamlining administrative procedures, limiting changes to admission methods too close to the registration deadline, ensuring transparency in score conversion, and reducing the complexity of admission combinations.

Another noteworthy point is the requirement to construct exam questions with appropriate differentiation, accurately assessing students' abilities. This is a difficult task in the context of the current exam system, which simultaneously serves multiple purposes: graduation assessment and providing data for university admissions. If the exam is too easy, its effectiveness in filtering candidates will be limited; but if the differentiation is too high, the pressure for extra tutoring and exam preparation will immediately increase.

Society is expecting a more reliable examination system, reflected in the quality of exam questions, grading, data transparency, and the ability to relatively accurately reflect students' abilities after 12 years of secondary education. Directive No. 20/CT-TTg, which calls for accelerating digital transformation, 100% online exam registration, digital diploma issuance, and the preparation of a roadmap for computer-based testing, also shows that the education sector is gradually adapting to the demands of modern governance. However, along with the benefits of efficiency and transparency, this process also poses numerous challenges regarding technical infrastructure, data security, and the gap in access to technology between different regions.

It can be seen that Directive No. 20/CT-TTg does not introduce radical changes, but rather focuses on tightening discipline and stabilizing the system in the context of education having undergone many years of continuous reform. With a national exam affecting millions of students and their families, stability is sometimes the most important condition for building social trust. What students need is a safe, serious exam, along with a less stressful, transparent, and fair examination environment where all their academic efforts are recognized appropriately.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/giao-duc/202605/giam-ap-luc-mua-thi-a5f130e/