Consequences of difficult exams: 'Stimulating' extra tutoring and negative consequences of private education.

TP - The 2025 high school graduation exam includes two subjects considered difficult: Mathematics and English, causing considerable anxiety among parents. Even before the start of the new school year, a silent race to find extra tutoring has already begun.

Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam. Photo: NHU Y

You ca n't succeed without extra tutoring .

Immediately after the Math exam, a teacher from Hanoi called a reporter to express her concerns. As a math teacher assigned to supervise an exam center in the Cau Giay area, the female teacher stated that the exam center included students from top high schools in Hanoi, such as Chu Van An Specialized High School and Yen Hoa High School. However, near the end of the exam, many candidates in the exam room had not even reached Part III (the short answer section) of the test.

When she got home and had time to read the exam questions online, she felt an indescribable sense of unease. According to her, some of the exam content wasn't included in the previously published exam matrix, and many of the problems were more practical than the sample questions. She asserted that the math scores this year would not be high.

With a child entering 12th grade this year, she plans to start looking for extra classes now to prepare for exams like the SAT and the National University of Hanoi's aptitude test, giving her child a higher chance of admission than a high school graduation exam score. She noted that both the 2008 and 2009 graduating classes had nine years of the 2006 curriculum and only three years of the 2018 curriculum. Meanwhile, the Ministry will only announce the exam structure at the beginning of 2024, and the sample exam in October 2024. This is too short a time for students to familiarize themselves with the new multiple-choice question formats and the exam content that requires competence, unlike the 2006 curriculum which assessed knowledge. Based on this analysis, she asserted that parents will seek ways to increase their children's extra tutoring in the new school year.

Taking advantage of parents' anxiety and worry, some online test preparation centers have started luring students with sensational messages such as: "Alarm for 2008 students (those born in 2008, entering 12th grade next year), opportunities to get into top universities don't wait for those who are slow... Long, highly differentiated exams with many challenging questions testing both thinking skills and speed. What are you waiting for, 2008 students? If you haven't started this summer, you're falling behind in the university race."

Or, "Hey 2008 graduates, don't fall into the same trap as the 2007 graduates, don't skip the separate entrance exam, don't hesitate to start early…".

These topics directly target the psychology of parents and students, especially in the context of the perceived difficulty of the exam, causing some parents to waver, rushing to find extra tutoring for their children from a state of composure. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (Dinh Cong ward, Hanoi) said that the group of parents in her class are frantically searching for extra math and English classes for their children entering 12th grade this year. Many parents worry that without supplementary classes at school, their children will not have the means to attend extra classes outside of school, and that next year's exams will put their children at a higher risk of not being admitted to their desired universities.

Reporters observed that during the first one to two months after the circular on supplementary tutoring came into effect, high schools stopped providing supplementary classes (a form of extra tutoring) within the school premises, and teachers remained inactive. However, teachers subsequently circumvented the regulations by gathering other teachers from their schools and offering cross-training at external centers. As a result, many centers appeared to operate solely to serve teachers from a single school providing extra tutoring outside the school. This did not violate the Ministry of Education and Training 's regulations on supplementary tutoring and allowed teachers to continue using "soft power" to pressure students into attending these extra classes.

Ms. Tran Phuong Nhi (Long Bien, Hanoi) said that after the exam, the homeroom teacher boosted morale in the class group. She warned that the exam was difficult, requiring students to demonstrate a wide range of skills, and that the knowledge in the textbooks alone was insufficient. She advised parents to provide guidance for their children.

The exam questions were too "compressed".

Associate Professor Bui Manh Hung, former Chief Coordinator of the 2018 General Education Curriculum Development Board and General Editor of the Vietnamese Language and Literature textbooks (the "Connecting Knowledge with Life" series), affirmed that overly difficult exam questions will force parents and students to seek extra tutoring in order to achieve high scores. This is an inevitable need.

However, Associate Professor Bui Manh Hung analyzed that, in the current context, the Ministry of Education and Training's idea of ​​combining two objectives in one exam (graduation assessment and university entrance) is worth considering. To achieve this goal, according to Professor Hung, the number of questions and the time allotted for each subject need to be increased.

He shared that during the development of the 2018 education program, the Program Development Board consulted with many international experts from the World Bank, including Professor Eduardo Cascallar, an expert in educational assessment (Professor Eduardo Cascallar holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin (USA), was formerly a professor at KU Leuven University, Belgium, and a World Bank consultant for decades). Professor Eduardo Cascallar stated that some assessments are based on the content taught (assessing learning outcomes, for example, the high school graduation exam), while others assess to predict future learning abilities (assessing learning outcomes, such as university entrance exams). Although there is a correlation between the two outcomes, this correlation is not sufficient to combine them into a single exam. Therefore, the exams should be designed according to specific objectives. Nevertheless, Professor Eduardo Casscalar asserts that it is possible to combine the two exams if a single exam is designed with approximately 200 questions per subject.

At a press briefing held by the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department, the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed to leaders of media agencies the following: the 2025 high school graduation exam will include an increased number of questions designed to differentiate candidates. While some assessments suggest the exam will be difficult, particularly in Mathematics and English, this may be due to various reasons; however, a clear assessment can only be made after the grading results are available.

According to Mr. Hung, Professor Eduardo's suggestion of 200 questions, implying a design with two objectives, might be impractical, but it certainly wasn't just 40 questions to be completed in 50 minutes, as in this year's high school graduation English exam. "The length of what is considered a 'question' in Professor Eduardo Casscalar's interpretation and in the English exam may differ, but the 50-minute time limit is an objective measure of the exam's length, and it's clear that the recent English exam was 'compressed' too tightly," Associate Professor Manh Hung assessed.

He argued that if the policy of a 2-in-1 exam and reducing exam time to save resources continues, the English exam committee (and many other subjects) in the high school graduation exam in subsequent years will likely struggle to fulfill its nhiệm vụ. In this case, reducing exam time actually increases pressure on the exam committees and the candidates.

NGHIEM HUE

Source: https://tienphong.vn/he-luy-cua-de-thi-kho-kich-cau-hoc-them-day-them-tieu-cuc-post1756892.tpo