Consequences of difficult exams: 'Stimulating' negative extra study and teaching

TP - The 2025 high school graduation exam has two subjects that are considered difficult, including Math and English, which has made many parents worried. The new school year has not yet begun, but an underground race to find extra study places has already begun.

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

No extra classes, no success

Right after the Math exam ended, a teacher in Hanoi called a reporter to express her concerns. As a Math teacher assigned to be the supervisor of an exam site in the Cau Giay area, the female teacher said that the exam site included students from top high schools in Hanoi such as Chu Van An High School for the Gifted and Yen Hoa High School. But when the time was almost up, many candidates in the exam room had not yet reached part III (short answer section) of the exam.

When she got home and had time to go online to read the exam questions, she felt indescribable. Because according to her, some of the exam content was not included in the previously announced exam matrix, and there were more practical problems than the sample questions. She affirmed that the math exam score this year would not be high.

Also having a child entering grade 12 this year, she plans to find extra classes from now to take certificates such as SAT, Hanoi National University's capacity assessment so that her child has a higher chance of being admitted than the high school graduation exam score. She said that the two generations of students born in 2008 and 2009 both had 9 years of studying the 2006 education program, only 3 years of studying the 2018 program. Meanwhile, the Ministry just announced the exam structure in early 2024, and in October 2024, the sample exam was announced. This is too short a period of time for students to get used to the new multiple choice question formats, the exam content requires capacity, different from the 2006 program that assesses knowledge. From this analysis, she affirmed that parents will find ways to increase their children's extra classes in the new school year.

Taking advantage of parents' confusion and anxiety, some online exam preparation centers have also begun to "herd" candidates with "sensational" messages such as: 2k8 alarm (students born in 2008, entering grade 12 next school year), the opportunity to pass the top university does not wait for slow people... The exam is long, highly differentiated, many questions challenge both thinking and speed. 2k8, what are you waiting for? If you haven't started this summer, you are pushing yourself behind in the university race".

Or “2k8, don't make the same mistake as the 2k7 guys, not taking the separate exam, hesitating to leave early…”.

These topics "hit" the psychology of parents in the context of the exam being considered difficult, causing some parents to waver, from "staying calm" to rushing to find extra classes for their children from now on. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (Dinh Cong ward, Hanoi) said that the group of parents of the class is rushing to find extra Math and English classes for their children entering grade 12 this year. Many parents are worried that they will not be able to take extra classes at school in the new school year, will not have the conditions to let their children take extra classes outside, and next year's exams will risk their children not having a high chance of being admitted to the desired university.

Reporters' observations show that in the first one or two months after the circular on extra teaching and learning took effect, general schools stopped teaching supplementary classes (a form of extra teaching) in schools, and teachers "stayed still". But after that, teachers "circumvented the law" by gathering teachers in the school and teaching cross-teaching at outside centers. Therefore, many centers seemed to open to serve only teachers from one school teaching outside. This does not violate the regulations on extra teaching and learning of the Ministry of Education and Training and it is still possible to use "soft" power to force students to take extra classes.

Ms. Tran Phuong Nhi (Long Bien, Hanoi) said that after the exam, the homeroom teacher "wound up" the spirit of the class. She warned that the exam was difficult, requiring students to achieve many abilities, and the knowledge in the textbooks was not enough. She advised parents to have guidance for their children.

The exam was compressed too tightly.

Associate Professor Dr. Bui Manh Hung, former Chief Coordinator, General Education Program Development Board 2018, Editor-in-Chief of Vietnamese Language - Literature textbooks (series "Connecting knowledge with life") affirmed that making the exam questions too difficult will force parents and students to find ways to study more in the hope of getting 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 combining two goals in one exam (graduation and university admission) is an idea worth considering. To achieve this goal, according to Mr. Hung, the number of questions and time for each exam subject need to be increased.

He shared that in the process of developing the 2018 education program, the Program Development Board had the opportunity to exchange and consult with many international consultants of the World Bank, including Professor Eduardo Cascallar, an expert in education assessment (Professor Eduardo Cascallar has a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin (USA), was a Professor at KU Leuven University, Belgium and a consultant of the World Bank for decades). Professor Eduardo Cascallar said that there are assessment tests based on taught content (assessment of output standards, such as the high school graduation exam - PV), and there are assessment tests to predict future learning ability (assessment of input standards such as university admission - PV). Although there is a correlation between the two results, this correlation is not enough to combine them into one test. Tests should be designed according to specific goals. However, Professor Eduardo Cascallar affirmed that it is possible to combine these two exams if one exam is designed with about 200 questions/subject.

At the press conference of the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Committee, the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed to the leaders of press and media agencies as follows: the 2025 high school graduation exam will increase the number of questions that have a differentiating nature. There is some information that the exam is difficult, especially for the Math and English exams, which may be due to many reasons, but we need to wait until the exam results are available to determine clearly.

According to Mr. Hung, perhaps Professor Eduardo gave the number of 200 questions with the implication that designing a test with two goals is not feasible, but certainly not just 40 questions to be done within 50 minutes like the English test in this year's high school graduation exam. "The capacity of what is considered a "question" in Professor Eduardo Cascallar's interpretation and in the English test may be different, but the time to do the test of 50 minutes is an objective measure to assess the length of a test, through which it can be seen that the recent English test was "compressed" too tightly", Associate Professor Manh Hung assessed.

He believes that if the 2-in-1 exam policy continues and the test time is reduced to save on many things, the English test committee (and many other subjects) in the high school graduation exam in the following years will find it difficult to complete their tasks. Because in this case, reducing the test time is actually increasing the pressure on the test committee and on the candidates.

NGHIEM HUE

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