The subject with the worst average score in 2023: Which candidates will achieve a score of 9-10?

See suggested answers for all 24 test versions of the English exam HERE.

Ms. Nguyen Thi May, Head of the English Department at Lomonosov Moscow State High School, Hanoi, assessed that the 2024 high school graduation exam in English maintained a relatively similar structure to the sample exam published by the Ministry of Education and Training in March 2024, including 50 multiple-choice questions testing comprehensive knowledge of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and sentence writing, mainly from the textbooks studied.

Candidates in Hanoi after the English exam on the afternoon of June 28 (Photo: Manh Quan).

The challenging application-based questions, such as questions 3, 15, and 30, and the refer/not true reading comprehension questions like 42 and 46, account for about 10%, while comprehension and recognition questions make up about 60%.

The knowledge tested in the exam covers almost all the grammatical structures that students have learned in high school.

The application and high-level application questions, designed to differentiate students, are found in the vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms, and inference questions in the seven-sentence reading passage.

The reading comprehension section wasn't too difficult. Firstly, the questions matched the sample test provided by the Ministry: Both passages included questions about the main idea, details, synonyms, and identifying incorrect statements (not true or exact). Question 42 (inference) was always the most challenging for students.

Secondly, the vocabulary is based on topics quite familiar to students: Pollution, technology, and generation. Therefore, students shouldn't have too much difficulty understanding the detailed content of the entire text. It's believed that with good reading comprehension skills, students will easily be able to complete these two reading comprehension exercises.

"This year's exam has a clearer differentiation compared to last year's official exam. The main score range will be around 6.5-7.5 points, average students will get around 5-6 points, good students will get around 7-8 points, and only truly outstanding students can achieve 9-10 points," commented Ms. Nguyen Thi May.

The English exam wasn't difficult, but high scores will only be awarded to outstanding students (Photo: Thanh Dong).

According to experts from the Hoc Mai learning system, the 2024 high school graduation English exam basically follows the structure of the sample exam announced by the Ministry of Education and Training in March 2024, similar to the 2023 high school graduation exam; the exam still includes questions to differentiate candidates and is suitable for the requirements of university admissions.

In terms of structure and scope of knowledge: The exam tests knowledge of phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, communicative functions, writing skills, and reading skills – all of which are familiar question types for candidates during their preparation.

The knowledge tested is primarily within the Grade 12 English curriculum and familiar to the candidates.

Regarding the difficulty level of the exam: Approximately 75% of the questions are at the knowledge and comprehension levels, while the remainder are application and higher-level application questions. The exam's differentiation still focuses on vocabulary and reading comprehension questions.

Many teachers estimate the current English exam score range to be around 5.5-6.5 points (Photo: Manh Quan).

+ Questions at level 7+ such as: pronunciation, stress, comparative grammar questions, tag questions, articles, parts of speech, adverbial clause reduction, prepositions, pronouns, verb tenses, adverbial clauses of time, conjunctions, gerunds and infinitives, conversational sentences, synonyms and antonyms, synonymy, sentence connection, phrasal verbs, collocations, pronoun questions and detailed information in reading comprehension, easily confused words.

+ Questions at level 8+ include: words with similar meanings, vocabulary in fill-in-the-blank reading passages, and finding synonyms in reading comprehension exercises.

+ Questions at level 9+ include: advanced vocabulary, idioms, main idea/best title questions, and inference questions in reading comprehension, as these questions require candidates to have a rich vocabulary, understand multiple layers of meaning, and possess high-level reasoning skills based on the information in the reading passage.

For example: question about idioms, question 6, code 408; advanced vocabulary question, question 8, code 408. Questions about main idea/best title, such as question 36, code 408; reasoning questions in reading comprehension, such as questions 41 and 42, code 408.

However, these questions are not overly difficult; candidates can rely on the information in the reading passage and use the process of elimination to choose the most likely correct answer.

Experts from this system estimate that the average score for English this year will likely fall between 5.5 and 6.5; there will be a high number of scores of 9+, concentrated among students in the humanities/social sciences group or those who choose English as a subject for university entrance exams.

In the 2023 high school graduation exam, English was the subject with the worst average score (Photo: Thanh Dong).

Starting in 2025, English will become an optional subject in the high school graduation exam.

In the 2023 high school graduation exam, 876,102 candidates took the English exam. This subject had the lowest average score, only 5.45 points, with the most common score being 4.2.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/mon-co-diem-trung-binh-tham-nhat-2023-thi-sinh-nao-se-dat-diem-9-10-20240628170556912.htm