The English test in the high school graduation exam is considered "unprecedentedly difficult", even many candidates who scored 9.0 in IELTS reading comprehension said they did not fully understand the English test.
Mr. Hoang Cong Dinh, an IELTS test preparation teacher in Hanoi, was surprised by the difficulty of this year's high school graduation English exam, "equally equal" to the IELTS or TOEFL exam.
Although the test questions are not as routine as previous ones, the language used in the test is taken directly from newspapers, real life, and real conversations... instead of situations and paragraphs purely from textbooks like before. Therefore, the vocabulary in the test is more difficult and requires candidates to read a lot and know a lot of real English to be able to do it.
Looking at the 40 questions on this year's exam, about 10 are grammar questions, which students can do without too much challenge. There are about 25 questions that focus on vocabulary. In particular, the reading passage requires filling in phrases and vocabulary that are very difficult and the complexity of each question is very high.
'IELTS 8.0 is still frustrating with English questions, what should candidates in remote areas do?' (Illustration photo)
"I rate the vocabulary in this reading passage at English level B2 or higher and equivalent to the IELTS test. Only very good students dare to confidently do this reading passage," he said, worried that the questions are too difficult, causing students who have achieved IELTS 8.0 to shake their heads in frustration when doing it, while candidates in disadvantaged areas with few opportunities to practice English certainly cannot do it.
Another example, the reading passages from questions 7 - 14, and questions 20 - 29 of test code 1105 are very difficult and even teachers will not easily get them 100% correct.
Ms. Le Bich Huong, lecturer at Hanoi University, an IELTS preparation teacher, assessed that the questions in this year's graduation English exam had high differentiation.
Candidates who want to complete this test well with a score of 8 or higher are required not only to have a solid knowledge of grammar and vocabulary but also to have a lot of background knowledge and understand the true nature of the information in the passage, especially with the type of questions that require filling in the blanks to match the passage.
Candidates need to grasp critical thinking and clearly understand the context of the text to be able to choose the most suitable sentence for the blank rather than just memorizing and choosing answer tips.
The female lecturer analyzed that the topics of this year's reading covered many diverse areas of life: personal finance, tourism, technology in agriculture , environment and climate change. Among them, there is a very topical reading about greenwashing (fake environmental branding), which is critical and requires candidates to have critical thinking. The section on digital agriculture provides many specialized terms, testing candidates' ability to read and understand technology and processes.
This year's English test is somewhat similar to the IELTS test, focusing on skills and practical assessment. "With this test format, candidates with IELTS 7.0 or higher will find it difficult to pass 100%," the female lecturer frankly assessed.
>> Answers to the 2025 high school graduation English exam, all exam codes
Surprised by the difficulty of the English test, Ms. Nguyen Hoang Chi, a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, shared that a student in her class had an IELTS certificate of 7.0 - 8.0, but after completing the graduation exam, he only estimated to have scored about 8 points.
The female teacher is concerned that it will create an unfair situation in university admissions between candidates who take a combination of English subjects and those who convert from IELTS certificates. With the same graduation exam score, candidates with an international language certificate will be considered for admissions with a higher score than candidates without a foreign language certificate.
Specifically, candidate A and candidate B both scored 8 points in English on the high school graduation exam, and were both admitted to Ho Chi Minh City National University in group D. However, because A has an IELTS certificate of 7.0, he is given 10 points in English; B does not have a certificate, so his English graduation exam score is still 8.
"The boundary between passing and failing university entrance exams was originally decided by only 0.1 points, but now the conversion rate is 2 points higher, which is very unfair to candidates," Ms. Chi further analyzed.
Explaining the difficulty of the Math and English graduation exams, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the structure and content of this year's exam have completely changed compared to previous years. Candidates who have prepared thoroughly during their study and review will meet the requirements of the exam better than other candidates. The difficulty of the exam has been discussed and thoroughly understood by the national steering committee before taking the exam.
"Before the exam council started working, the Ministry of Education and Training conducted a large-scale test in all three regions, essentially to assess the candidates' abilities in order to adjust the difficulty of the exam," Professor Ha emphasized. The Ministry of Education and Training's viewpoint is that in the first year of innovation, the status will not change suddenly, including the difficulty of the exam.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ielts-8-0-con-ngao-ngan-voi-de-tieng-anh-thi-sinh-vung-kho-phai-lam-sao-ar951639.html
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