More than 3/4 of students at a school choose social subjects for high school graduation exam

(Dan Tri) - Mr. Phan Huu Quyen - Vice Principal of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, Ha Tinh - said that 318/410 12th grade students of the school chose the social subject group for the 2025 high school graduation exam.

2025 is the first year to implement the high school graduation exam according to the 2018 generaleducation program.

Students take two compulsory subjects: math and literature, and two elective subjects out of nine subjects that count for points in the new program, including: foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, economic and legal education, information technology, and technology.

Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (Ha Tinh) has 410 students, of which 318 students chose social subjects as their elective subject in the 2025 high school graduation exam, accounting for 77.5%. Only 22.5% of students chose natural subjects.

For English alone, the percentage of students choosing to take the exam is about 66%, according to information from vice principal Phan Huu Quyen.

"The fact that 2/3 of 12th graders choose English as their graduation exam subject comes from the school's orientation. In university, English becomes a prerequisite subject, so students need to have a foundation in English from high school," said Mr. Quyen.

Regarding the large difference in numbers between the group of students choosing social subjects and students choosing natural subjects, Mr. Quyen said that this is consistent with the students' graduation goals and future career choices.

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam (Photo: Hai Long).

"Every year, the school has about 100 students entering university with the results of the thinking assessment test of Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the capacity assessment of Hanoi National University, about 30 students using international certificates such as IELTS, SAT. Thus, this group of students only needs to ensure graduation conditions, accounting for nearly 1/3 of the total number of students in the school.

In addition, the number of students choosing the traditional D block for university admission is relatively high, so choosing the remaining exam subjects will reduce pressure and be based on their strengths and interests, which is completely appropriate," said teacher Phan Huu Quyen.

Ms. Bui Thuy Linh - Principal of Thach Ban High School, Hanoi - provided more detailed figures.

Accordingly, the school has 732 students, 613 choose English, 298 choose physics, 181 choose economic and legal education (civic education according to the old program), 71 choose chemistry, 19 choose biology, 72 choose history, 27 choose geography, 2 choose computer science and no student choose technology.

Thus, at Thach Ban school, the percentage of students choosing the traditional D block combination (math, literature, English) is the highest at 83.7%. Coming in second place is block A1 (math, physics, English), with a rate of about 40.7%.

Students choosing group A (math, physics, chemistry) had a maximum of 71 students, accounting for 9.6%. Meanwhile, the number of students choosing group B (math, chemistry, biology) had a maximum of 19 students, accounting for 2.5%.

The percentage of students choosing group C (literature, history, geography) is also relatively low, with a maximum of 27 students, accounting for 3.6%.

The principal of another high school in Hanoi also shared a similar rate to Thach Ban school, with about 82% of students choosing to take the English exam and 46.3% of students choosing physics.

"The survey results for choosing high school graduation exam subjects are within the school's predictions. When there are only 4 graduation exam subjects including 2 compulsory and 2 optional, students will choose the subjects in the most popular subject combination, which is considered by the most universities.

At the same time, students can also choose subjects that can combine 2 subject groups, increasing their chances of university admission.

Choosing English and Physics helps students to be admitted to two groups, D01 and A01. These are also two groups with high coverage at universities," the principal analyzed.

He also explained why very few candidates choose to take chemistry or biology exams: "If you register for chemistry or biology, you only have one admission combination, which is the traditional B block. Other combinations may exist, but they are rarely recruited by majors.

Even the professions that are recruited by group B are not as numerous as groups A, D, C, most of them belong to the medical and pharmaceutical groups with high standard scores. Therefore, only students with clear goals of entering medical and pharmaceutical schools choose this group.

In contrast to the group of high schools in the inner city, students of high schools in the suburbs, whose entrance scores to grade 10 are not high, have other choices.

Mr. Dinh Quang Dung - Principal of Lac Long Quan High School, Soc Son, Hanoi - said that the school only has about 70 out of more than 500 students choosing to take the English exam.

Surveying schools in Ba Vi, Ung Hoa, My Duc, the number of students choosing to take the English exam is generally less than 100 students, accounting for less than 1/5.

The number of students choosing social subjects also dominated the number of students choosing natural subjects, with a ratio of 7-3. Of which, the most chosen social subjects were economic education and law. For natural subjects, students chose physics the most.

"Many students at the school only have the goal of graduating, then going to vocational colleges. Therefore, they tend to choose social subjects with the thought of getting good grades.

Besides, although the school focuses on teaching English to students and encourages them to study this subject well, students with low entrance scores in grade 10 are reluctant to study foreign languages. When English is no longer a compulsory subject, they tend to "give up".

This is something the school is very concerned about when innovating the high school graduation exam," said teacher Dinh Quang Dung.

Along with changes to the 2025 high school graduation exam, universities and colleges will have to significantly adjust the subject combinations for admission.

One of the biggest concerns of 12th grade students today is that in addition to the 5 traditional subject combinations (D01, A00, A01, C00 and B00), schools will consider recruiting new combinations to increase candidates' chances of admission.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/hon-34-hoc-sinh-mot-truong-chon-to-hop-mon-xa-hoi-de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-20241202201728404.htm