2025 Competency Assessment Test Results: What is the competitive score?

BELOW AVERAGE SCORE ACCOUNTS FOR 47.5%

Specifically, the first round of 2025 has a more left-skewed score distribution than the first round of last year when the percentage of candidates with below-average scores (from 600/1,200 points or less) was 60,092 people, accounting for 47.5% of the total number of candidates taking the exam.

This is a remarkable number, because in the first round last year, this rate was only 37% (34,787 people), or about 1/3 of the candidates taking the exam that year. Not to mention, this round even had 1 candidate scoring 0 - 50 points, 2 candidates scoring 51 - 100, 3 candidates scoring 101 - 150 and 5 candidates scoring 151 - 200. These are low scores that no candidate scored in the first round last year.

Ho Chi Minh City National University has announced the first round of exam scores for the 2025 competency assessment exam.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

This shows that the first round of the 2025 exam may be more difficult than the first round last year, or it may be because many candidates did not really pay attention to the competency assessment test, said Master Bui Van Cong, an online GCSE teacher in Ho Chi Minh City. However, almost no university considers scores below average, so this milestone does not have much significance in admissions, and candidates only need to care about the percentage of scores above 600.

Specifically, a total of 66,201 candidates scored 600 points or more, 7,163 more than the first batch of 2024 (59,038). Of which, the score range from 751 - 950, the threshold used by many universities for admission, increased slightly compared to the first batch of 2024, which was 5,169 people. However, the score range from 901 - 1,050, the admission threshold for some top majors, saw the number of candidates double compared to the same period last year in all three ranges: 901 - 950, 951 - 1,000, 1,001 - 1,050.

HIGH AND MIDDLE RANGE INDUSTRIES WITH A LOT OF COMPETITION?

It is currently impossible to predict the trend of the benchmark scores for admission methods using the National High School Graduation Exam scores this year, because many candidates will continue to participate in the second round to improve their achievements, and this year's National High School Graduation Exam scores must be converted to a common 30-point scale according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. "The final result is very difficult to predict," said Master Cong.

However, if the second round score distribution is similar, candidates with scores suitable for mid-level majors may face fierce competition, according to Mr. Dang Duy Hung, manager of the Lasan-Helius Education system, which specializes in preparing for private exams in Ho Chi Minh City. That is because there are more candidates in this group than before.

The same will happen in "hot" majors at top schools. For example, in 2024, the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) will have 1,052 points for the advanced program in computer science and 1,032 points for artificial intelligence. Or at the University of Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University), majors such as data science, computer science and software engineering will all have a standard score of over 925 in 2024.

Mr. Nguyen Vo Minh Tam, co-founder of TTE-The Learning Center in Ho Chi Minh City, commented: Another notable point is that the standard deviation index in the first round of the exam was 134.4 points, showing a moderate dispersion of scores, enough for universities to easily screen candidates according to different input levels. According to Mr. Tam, the peak of the score spectrum falls around 551 - 600 (with 17,540 candidates), followed by 601 - 650 (16,741), showing that most candidates only achieved average scores.

The average score of the first round this year is lower than last year.

According to information from Ho Chi Minh City National University, in 126,297 graded exams, the average score of candidates was 618.4 points, 142 candidates scored over 1,000 points. The candidate with the highest score of the exam was 1,060 points and the candidate with the lowest score was 40 points.

Score distribution of the first round of 2015 capacity assessment test

Photo: VNU-HCM

It can be seen that the average score of the candidates taking the first round of exams this year is lower than last year. In the first round of exams in 2024, the average score of 93,828 exams was 643.4 points. The highest and lowest scores of last year were also higher than this year, at 1,076 and 203 points, respectively. However, compared to last year, this year the number of candidates scoring over 1,000 points is higher (this year there were 142 exams while last year there were only 80).

Ha Anh

Advice for the second round of competency assessment

In the context that Ho Chi Minh City National University has not yet announced the formula for converting the National High School Exam scores to the common scale, Master Bui Van Cong advised candidates, especially those who scored from 751 to 950 points, to continue taking the second round of the exam to achieve the most beneficial score when converting. At the same time, because all methods are converted to the common scale, candidates should consider investing all their efforts in one exam instead of spreading it too thin, according to Mr. Cong.

"Through discussions with students, I found that many of them have an unstable approach to the exam and are not well prepared, such as spending too much time on their strong subjects, but in the end not having enough time to do easy questions in other subjects, or not having a solid grasp of some content. These are limitations that can be improved in the next two months," said Master Cong.

Having just scored 1,022 points in the first round of the National High School Exam, Nguyen Nhat Nam, a 12th grader from Quoc Hoc Quy Nhon School (Binh Dinh), said that he does not have any great secret, but mainly comes from consistent efforts. Nam said that in the final stage, he did a practice test every day, and when he finished, he checked the results and summarized the mistakes to fix them. Meanwhile, in the previous months, he also practiced one test every week. "I spent enough time eating and resting, not staying up late to review," Nam said, adding: "When entering the exam room, I prioritized doing my strength in math, then the other parts. As for the subjects I did not study, I only relied purely on my own reasoning and did not need to read more outside knowledge, because the test already gave the formula or content to apply, not giving questions in the direction that if I did not study, I would not know how to do it."

This male student added that during the practice test, he usually had about 20-30 minutes left at the end of the test to review the unfinished questions, but when taking the actual test, he only had 10 minutes left. This is a point that TS should pay attention to in order to allocate the appropriate time to do the test. According to Nam, after finishing each question, he immediately filled in the answer on the multiple choice answer sheet, not waiting until the end of the test to start working.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ket-qua-thi-danh-gia-nang-luc-2025-canh-tranh-o-muc-diem-nao-185250417195107562.htm