Block C suddenly 'disappeared'

Many candidates of group C were suddenly confused when at least 5 major universities in the North unexpectedly removed the C00 combination (literature, history, geography) from many admission majors.

Candidates participating in the 2025 Hanoi National University of Education's competency assessment exam - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

In just 20 days, the 2025 high school graduation exam will officially take place. This is the first exam for students following the 2018 generaleducation program. However, many candidates in group C are suddenly confused when at least 5 major universities in the North unexpectedly remove the C00 combination (literature, history, geography) from many admission majors.

Instead, schools consider many new combinations, but candidates taking the two elective subjects of history and geography cannot access these combinations.

Some schools even "say no" to C00 completely, causing many candidates to fall into a passive position, facing the risk of "failing before taking the exam" because their chosen exam block is no longer suitable for the new admission criteria.

To explain why schools eliminate block C00, we can look at the implementation of the new general education program as well as the reality of university admissions over the past years.

In the high school graduation exam in recent years, social science subjects are still chosen by candidates significantly more than natural science subjects.

In 2024, the number of candidates in block C00 will increase by about 20,000 compared to 2023 and will also be the year that records many high school graduation exam scores in this group. That is the reason why the benchmark scores of many majors and many schools that recruit block C00 have increased rapidly.

From 2024, all levels of general education will follow the 2018 program, with the orientation of this program being greater flexibility for students in choosing more subjects. Candidates have the ability to choose 1 of 26 subject combinations completely freely.

According to the survey results, students nationwide have a very diverse choice of subject combinations. The number of students studying subjects in the traditional combinations at the same time is very small, but spread across all subjects.

In fact, all schools now consider a wide variety of subject combinations, not just the traditional combinations of the past.

There are majors that recruit with the C block combining many different subjects: C01 (literature, math, physics); C02 (literature, math, chemistry); C03 (literature, math, history), C14 (math, literature, economic education and law); C08 (literature, chemistry, biology)...

Thus, the diversification of subject combinations by schools, especially adding math and English, helps select candidates with a comprehensive knowledge base, meeting the requirements of modern fields of study and the trend of internationalization.

But the announcement of the change in admission combination 20 days before the exam has put candidates at a disadvantage because with the 2018 program, students had to choose elective subjects from grade 10, which was 3 years ago.

In this year’s high school graduation exam, considering both independent candidates and 12th graders, in addition to the two compulsory subjects (literature and mathematics), the number of registrations for social sciences subjects is overwhelming compared to the remaining subjects. Of which, history and geography subjects have nearly 50% of candidates choosing to take the exam.

The above figures show the current trend of students choosing subjects and majors. The business and management group has continuously held the top position for many years in terms of the number of candidates admitted and enrolled in university.

With the way of examination and admission in recent years, students choosing business and management majors often invest in math, English and social sciences.

In fact, students tend not to choose engineering and technology majors (excluding information technology, the percentage of students majoring in engineering and technology is only 12%, very low compared to other majors).

While our country is oriented towards developing science and technology and industrialization, the labor market, especially in the engineering and technology sector, is seriously lacking in human resources.

The development of science and technology threatens the development of the country because the perception of the profession is distorted.

Given the current reality, it is necessary to review the admission thinking and have policies to adjust. The selection of admission combinations should be based on the thinking ability requirements of the field of study, not simply on memorizing knowledge of a subject.

Instead of recruiting students by considering exam scores according to subject combinations, recruiting students by considering the results of competency and thinking assessment exams would be more appropriate.

The competency assessment test includes a section on scientific thinking. It will assess logic, data analysis and scientific reasoning through solving practical problems, problems about science, technology, society, economics, law, etc.

Thus, all candidates do not necessarily have to study in depth physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography... but can still use their reasoning ability and scientific thinking ability to do the test.

The Ministry of Education and Training should create conditions for universities to focus on assessing candidates’ actual abilities through exams or other assessments, instead of relying on traditional exam blocks. This change in admission methods can benefit the education system.

Back to topic

TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khoi-c-bat-ngo-lan-mat-20250607080538865.htm