IELTS becomes a 'golden ticket' that makes 27 points pass, 29 points still fail

Adding incentive points and converting English certificates has turned IELTS into a 'golden ticket'. This creates a paradox: Some students who scored 27 points on the high school exam passed the university entrance exam, while others who scored 29 points still failed because their preparation scores were "inflated".

Nationwide, there are 9 candidates who scored 30 points, but hundreds of candidates have admission scores of 30.

According to admission regulations, universities are allowed to add bonus points but not exceeding 10% of the maximum score of the admission scale (3/30).

Right from the beginning of the admission season, public opinion was stirred up when many schools added extra points for candidates with IELTS certificates, such as Hanoi University of Culture adding 3 points for IELTS 4.0. Dozens of universities added points for candidates with IELTS certificates at different levels. This policy caused a sudden increase in candidates with IELTS certificates applying to schools this year.

At the University of Economics and Law, 8,849 candidates registered for admission with valid IELTS certificates, an increase of 3.7 times compared to last year. These candidates will be awarded 0.5-1.5 points in all methods, or converted to 8-10 points in English if they register for admission with high school graduation exam results (and take this subject).

In addition to adding bonus points, many universities convert certificates into foreign language scores in the admission combination. IELTS 6.0 and above is converted into 10 points, while this year's English graduation exam is considered very difficult.

Meanwhile, nationwide this year, 6 majors have a benchmark score of 30, including English Pedagogy, Chinese Pedagogy at the University of Foreign Languages ​​- Hue University and the University of Foreign Languages ​​- Hanoi National University, International Relations majors of the Academy of Military Science; Medicine of the Military Medical Academy.

Many majors reached a score above 29, such as Artificial Intelligence - University of Information Technology 29.6; Computer Science advanced program, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Sciences, the benchmark score for block A00 is 29.92; A01, B00 is 29.81; D07 is 29.56. The Artificial Intelligence major has a benchmark score for block A00 of 29.39; blocks A01 and B00 is 29.1...

While the whole country only had 9 candidates scoring 30 points in the A00 and B00 admission groups, the addition of incentive points and conversion resulted in many candidates scoring 30.

Candidates taking the 2025 graduation exam. Photo: Manh Hung

For example, at Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, candidates had a medical entrance exam score of 30, but only 1 candidate achieved a perfect score of 30 in the graduation exam. The remaining 6 candidates all received an additional score of 0.5 to 1.73 points.

Or at Hanoi University of Technology, there are more than 190 candidates reaching the absolute score of 30/30 after including bonus points. Without incentive and priority points, this group of candidates includes students who achieved 27 points or more in the combination of 3 graduation exam subjects, 98/150 points in the Competency Assessment exam, or SAT from 1,440/1,600 or more.

IELTS "golden ticket" creates injustice

Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung, former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, analyzed that many schools apply the conversion of IELTS and TOEFL certificates into English scores when considering admission, according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. Specifically, IELTS from 4.5-5.0 is often converted into 8-9 points in English, even up to 10 points for a higher level (6.5 or more) in some schools such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi Open University or Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education...

The incentive points can be up to 10% of the total score (equivalent to 3 points), and not exceed 50% of the score of the admission subject according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training to ensure transparency. As a result, the benchmark score in 2025 increased to a record high. There were 6 majors in 4 schools achieving 30/30 points while in 2024, no major achieved this level. The main reason is that the number of candidates using IELTS certificates for admission has increased dramatically, pushing the benchmark score up, especially in hot majors such as economics, technology, and foreign language pedagogy. This is a major problem because it creates a gap between urban and rural students, undermining the principle of social justice in education.

According to Mr. Dung, this leads to the paradox that a student who scored 27 points in the high school exam can pass because he/she is not competing with the certificate, but another student who scored 29 points fails because the standard score is "inflated" due to the conversion of the certificate.

This policy creates obvious injustice, especially for students in rural and mountainous areas - those who need university education to change their lives the most - but there are problems such as:

Learning conditions are very different: In rural areas, there is a lack of good English teachers, online learning equipment and test preparation centers. Many students do not have money for extra classes (IELTS training costs can be up to tens of millions of VND) or pay exam fees (about 4-5 million VND/time). Meanwhile, students in the city have easy access to high-quality courses, leading to a much higher rate of IELTS certificate ownership.

The situation of unfairly failing and losing opportunities when places at top schools are taken by students with certificates, despite lower high school exam scores. This is contrary to the goal of fair education. Students in remote areas are often given regional priority with an additional 0.25-0.75 points, but this is too small compared to the 3 points from certificates. As a result, they are pushed out of good schools.

In addition, this policy unintentionally favors students from wealthy families. “This is an unfair race, where certificates become ‘golden tickets’ instead of reflecting real abilities,” said Mr. Dung.

Mr. Dung suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training should tighten things up, for example, only adding a maximum of 1-2 points and not converting more than 8 points for IELTS 5.0. Increase the budget for free English learning programs in rural areas, provide IELTS scholarships, or give priority to candidates in disadvantaged areas such as adding double points if they do not have a certificate.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ielts-thanh-ve-vang-khien-27-diem-thi-do-29-diem-van-truot-2436158.html