The "hundred billion" competency assessment exam and questions about organizational loopholes

(Dan Tri) - With a "hot" growth scale and total revenue of hundreds of billions of VND, the capacity assessment exam chaired by Ho Chi Minh City National University is facing doubts about its organizational capacity and problem-solving ability.

The Competency Assessment Test (ĐGNL) organized by Ho Chi Minh City National University is considered an exam that plays an increasingly important role in university admissions. However, a series of recent incidents are raising big questions about the organizational capacity of this large-scale exam, with nearly 775,000 candidates taking the exam over the past 7 years and earning hundreds of billions of VND.

Continuously increasing in size and influence

Not only being an exam for university entrance examination, the university entrance examination organized by Ho Chi Minh City National University over the past 7 years has partly affirmed its influence by continuously increasing in scale and coverage in university entrance examination.

Launched in 2018 with about 4,550 candidates and a fee of 200,000 VND, the National High School Exam has quickly affirmed its position and continuously expanded its scale.

After just one year (2019), the number of candidates taking the exam in both rounds increased more than 10 times, reaching about 49,000. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of candidates continued to increase sharply, recording about 53,000 (in 2020) and 70,000 (in 2021) exam takers, respectively.

In particular, 2025 witnessed record growth with about 218,000 candidates taking the exam in both rounds, an increase of more than 1.6 times compared to 2024 and nearly 48 times compared to the first year.

The National High School Graduation Exam has grown strongly from about 4,550 candidates in 2018 to about 218,000 in 2025. This is an increase of nearly 48 times after 7 years of organization (Chart: Huyen Nguyen).

The aggregated data is based on the official report of the number of candidates taking the exam published by Ho Chi Minh City National University at: https://vnuhcm.edu.vn/dao-tao/33376864/306864/336864. The number of candidates registering and paying fees may be higher.

According to information from Ho Chi Minh City National University, in 2024, the exam expanded to 26 provinces/cities, attracting nearly 107,000 candidates (an increase of more than 21 times compared to 2018) and more than 100 universities and colleges used the exam results for admission. The exam helped Ho Chi Minh City National University recruit more than 9,200 students, accounting for more than 38% of the enrollment target for 2024.

This year, the number of candidates continues to increase and reaches a record of about 218,000 in both rounds. This number is 1.6 times higher than in 2024 and nearly 48 times higher than in the first year.

The amount of fees collected also increased along with the number of candidates registering for the exam. In total, within 7 years, the total number of candidates taking the exam was nearly 775,000 with the amount of fees collected being about 200 billion VND.

Revenue from exam fees over the years, highest at over 65 billion in 2025 (Chart: Huyen Nguyen).

The exam is important because more than 100 universities and colleges use the exam results for admission, many candidates consider this an important opportunity to get an early place in university. Many schools, especially in the Ho Chi Minh City National University system, have reserved a large number of admission quotas for this method.

Repeated incidents, lessons not learned?

In 2025, both rounds of the National High School Exam recorded regrettable errors, affecting the rights of candidates and raising concerns about the organization and training of officers/invigilators for this exam.

Specifically, in the second round, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City's High School Examination Council had to hold an extraordinary meeting to handle reports about the incident at Examination Cluster 9 (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - HUTECH).

There were two incidents recorded. In examination room P42, examination site 17, the candidate was delayed for about 30 minutes because the invigilator heard the wrong bell and did not allow him to take the test on time.

In exam room P39, candidates were not given scratch paper because the invigilator did not fully check the materials.

A total of 75 candidates were affected by losing about 30 minutes of exam time or not having scratch paper. Although the Examination Council and Cluster 9 admitted that the error arose from carelessness and lack of timely reporting by the invigilators, Ho Chi Minh City National University said there was no basis to add or compensate points for these candidates.

According to Dan Tri 's private source , HUTECH has made two proposals: either adding points to affected candidates or re-organizing the exam for these candidates. However, the above proposal was not approved by the Council.

The examination council has proposed the following handling measures: Assign the leaders of examination cluster 9 to contact the affected candidates, have the examination council representative directly apologize to the candidates, and support the candidates to overcome the consequences (financially).

The leaders of examination cluster 9 are responsible for verifying the individuals involved, applying appropriate handling measures, and reporting to the Examination Council.

The examination council is reviewing and improving the organization of the exam to prevent similar incidents in future exams.

“The National University of Ho Chi Minh City's High School Examination Council is committed to maintaining transparency, fairness and constantly improving the exam organization process in a more professional and effective direction,” said a representative of the Examination Council.

Despite the commitment, it is worth noting that this is not the first time such an incident has occurred. In the first round, in March this year, an invigilator at An Giang University also distributed the exam papers late, and candidates reported that they lost about 20 minutes of time on the test.

At that time, the representative of the Examination Council apologized and committed to creating favorable conditions for candidates to participate in the exam, with free exam fee for the second round (VND 300,000).

The examination board also said that it would review and improve the organization of the examination to prevent similar incidents in future examinations. However, shortly after, the error of the examination supervisor once again affected the candidates, but on a larger and more serious scale.

In 2024 (2nd round), candidates discovered that 2 questions in the exam were wrong, forcing the Examination Council to give the candidates full marks.

In 2023 (first batch), the answers to 120 multiple-choice questions were spread online despite regulations prohibiting the exam from being taken out of the exam room.

In 2022 (first round), many candidates reported that the exam had at least 2 incorrect questions (missing data or duplicate answers). The examination board then had to calculate the absolute score or remove that question for all candidates.

In addition, the 2024 and 2025 exams have caused controversy as they do not accept candidates who have lost their ID cards/passports to take the exam even if the candidates wish to take other identity verification measures.

Responding to Dan Tri reporter about the above incident, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh, Director of the Center for Testing and Training Quality Assessment, Ho Chi Minh City National University, said that this was an unexpected and risky incident.

Although the incident always causes certain losses, the organizers will try their best but certainly can never fix it 100%.

“There is no scientific basis for adding points to students who have problems. The Council has worked with them and feels that they have been disadvantaged, but it does not affect their future too much. Because they still have many other opportunities. They are still confident that they can do the test despite being affected,” Mr. Chinh affirmed.

Mr. Chinh said he has proposed spiritual compensation for disadvantaged candidates, such as coordinating with exam cluster 9 to apologize and financially compensate them.

The director also added that the exam was being held for the eighth year and that mistakes were “extremely few”. He said that the organizing committee would try to ensure that there would be no more mistakes in the future.

A whole future is returned 300,000 VND

Although Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh shared that, many candidates felt indignant and disappointed.

One of the 75 candidates who suffered losses contacted Dan Tri reporter and begged for a retake of the exam. This candidate said that the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) had contacted him to apologize and refund the exam fee.

HUTECH also offers a 50% scholarship for the entire course if the candidate wishes to register and be admitted to the school. However, my only wish at this time is to retake the exam to ensure fairness for my results.

My first wish is to enter Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. The admission formula based on the percentage of the National High School Exam score is too high, so I put all my faith in this exam. But now, I think the possibility of being admitted is extremely difficult. I am very desperate.

Candidates affected by the incident lost about 30 minutes to complete the assessment test.

According to the candidate, these past days he has been living in sadness because he has spent more than a year studying for the National High School Exam.

Many candidates said they disagreed with the way the organizers handled the problem: "I feel unsatisfied that my whole year of studying was handled so carelessly," said a male student.

Four days ago, candidates received a refund of 300,000 VND for their exam fees. Many people expressed their indignation.

“I feel very indignant. I didn’t want to lose 30 minutes. It was the invigilator’s fault, but I was affected. The compensation won’t help me at all. My whole future is being refunded the exam fee of 300,000 VND along with a worthless apology,” a candidate shared.

Many candidates exclaimed: "There is no miracle" after receiving their exam fee refunds.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, a physics lecturer at Hanoi University, commented that the incident in the National High School Exam was something no one wanted, especially from the organizing unit. However, he emphasized that the responsibility for organizing the exam without ensuring the implementation clearly belongs to the exam organizing unit.

“Given the importance of the National High School Exam for university admission, not having the full time to complete the exam could lead to undesirable results. This is a huge disadvantage for the students. The responsibility of the exam organizer is also very clear,” Mr. Nam emphasized.

Candidates taking the second round of the competency assessment exam of Ho Chi Minh City National University (Photo: VNUHCM).

The leader of a school that organizes an exam cluster said that the National University of Ho Chi Minh City's High School Graduation Examination Council seemed "a bit rigid" when organizing this exam.

This person said that there was a precedent for considering adding points for candidates in Ho Chi Minh City who lost 20 minutes of time doing the test in the 2024 high school graduation exam, or it is completely possible to calculate the ratio of affected time to the score ratio to come up with a suitable point-adding plan for candidates.

Many opinions also believe that if the National University of Ho Chi Minh City's exam questions are truly standardized, it will not be difficult to re-organize the exam for candidates. Because the National University of Ho Chi Minh City exam uses an objective multiple-choice format, based on a standardized question bank.

Raising the issue of fairness between the exam sessions in 2025, the university leader said that in the first session, when an incident occurred that caused candidates to be late for the exam, Ho Chi Minh City National University created all conditions to support candidates to be allowed to take this exam in the second session of 2025.

However, in the second round, the same error still occurred and the organizing unit apologized to the candidates but did not offer a plan for the candidates to retake the exam. This raises questions about the principles of fairness and prestige of the exam in the same year.

* Number of candidates: A candidate can take the exam 2 times

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/ky-thi-danh-gia-nang-luc-tram-ty-va-cau-hoi-ve-lo-hong-trong-to-chuc-20250616041331497.htm