What should candidates pay attention to in the first year of the 10th grade entrance exam under the new program?

lớp 10 - Ảnh 1. — English review session of class 9/5 at Kim Dong Secondary School (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) preparing for the 10th grade entrance exam - Photo: NHU HUNG

On exam days, students must keep a relaxed spirit, not stay up late, eat hygienically and have enough nutrients. Before the exam, they must fully prepare pens, rulers and necessary study tools according to the requirements of each subject. Parents need to accompany, encourage and motivate their children, and should not put pressure on them.

Teacher KIEU TUAN HUNG

In more than a week, the 10th grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City will take place with 83,154 candidates taking the exam for regular, specialized and integrated classes. Soon after, many other localities across the country will also organize the 10th grade entrance exam.

What should candidates pay attention to in order to achieve high results in this year's 10th grade entrance exam?

* Mr. Vo Kim Bao (head of literature group, Nguyen Du Secondary School, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City):

Literature: review by topic

This year is the first year that students nationwide take the 10th grade entrance exam according to the 2018 GeneralEducation Program. There are many differences between the old and new exam questions.

The new program focuses on developing the learner's qualities and abilities. Therefore, students need to practice a lot and develop their true abilities instead of coping by memorizing. The exam will certainly not have any content that can be memorized.

For literature, students should review by topic, not by order. When reviewing by topic, students will have a comprehensive view, connecting knowledge between lessons and knowledge learned in grades 6, 7, and 8.

Below are some suggested topics such as: Story topics (short stories, legends, Nom poems, detective stories); Poetry topics (knowledge about poetry in general, free verse, six-eight verse); Informational text topics (pay attention to how information is presented); Argumentative text topics (pay attention to the relationship between elements in an argumentative text).

In addition, students need to review the basic knowledge learned in grades 6, 7, and 8 such as rhetorical devices, ways of presenting information in informational texts, artistic forms in literary texts, etc.

lớp 10 - Ảnh 5. — 10th grade entrance exam schedule in Ho Chi Minh City - Graphics: NGOC THANH

To complete a social argumentative essay well, students need to read more newspapers, follow official news from the media to have a correct and appropriate perspective and collect a certain amount of evidence that can be used in their writing.

To achieve high scores in the exam, students need to note: Present clearly, do not be arbitrary in presenting the work, avoid reversing the order of questions. Basic rules such as indenting the first line when starting a new paragraph, a new line, underlining to highlight the topic... are rarely noticed, causing difficulties for the grader.

In addition, many students have difficulty reading their handwriting, and many careless handwritings can also create spelling mistakes. Because of that, students lose points regrettably.

Before starting to write, students need to read the question carefully, read the whole question once and then re-read the first sentence to do the test. Reading the whole question helps students visualize the main idea of the test and have a reasonable connection during the test.

Reading the entire question also helps students avoid being subjective, not reading the question completely and then starting to work, causing students to get off topic and not answer fully.

lớp 10 - Ảnh 3. — Truc Vy and Da Yen (Nguyen An Ninh Secondary School, District 12) after the literature exam for the 10th grade entrance exam in 2024 - Photo: NGOC PHUONG

Remember the rule: The previous question is the foundation for the next question. Students should avoid reversing the order of the questions. That will destroy the logic in thinking. Especially the questions in the reading comprehension section are suggestions for the questions in the writing section.

In the reading comprehension section, students need to present questions briefly and clearly, but must write answers in sentences with complete subjects and predicates. Do not write answers too briefly, and avoid using strange symbols to mark answers such as * or arrows.

* Mr. Le Minh Chau (deputy head of English group, Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, Ho Chi Minh City):

English: two new types of questions

The structure of the 10th grade English entrance exam consists of 40 questions in essay and multiple choice format.

This year's exam includes two new questions on writing appropriate phrases based on given information. This question tests the ability to read dictionary notes to find linguistic information and apply knowledge.

In this section, you are given a dictionary entry with a familiar topic. You will find information in the dictionary image to complete two sentences in the text. You only need to fill in 2 to 3 words.

This is an entrance exam, of course, there will be high differentiation. You must study carefully the knowledge that teachers have taught in the program.

In the phonetics section at the comprehension level, the sentences will be at the basic level, for example, pronouncing the ending ED, ending S/ES, distinguishing simple sounds in English. Stressed sentences identify stress in 2-3 syllable words.

Grammar, vocabulary, communication: Grasp grammar structures and use vocabulary in the right context. You need tenses, conditional sentences, passives, relative clauses, comparison structures...; Learn vocabulary by topic; Practice short communication sentences, common situations in exams; Practice reading notices and signs.

Reading Comprehension: You must read quickly, understand the main idea and find detailed information. During the past few days, read a short passage (100-150 words) every day, underlining key words. Study carefully the conjunctions and phrases that help you guess the meaning from the context. Expect one advanced question in this section.

Writing section: Word transformation, writing sentences with correct grammar and context. Word transformation section: students must master the rules of word usage, in the blanks need nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs to fill in appropriately. It is expected that this section will have 1-2 advanced questions.

Part of writing appropriate phrases according to the given information: students get familiar with how to read common dictionary notes, and know how to identify word usage through the "example" section in the dictionary.

Sentence writing: Students practice writing simple sentences with correct structure. Usually English tense structure, comparison, relative clauses, conditional sentences... These are the knowledge that students have learned in the program.

While doing the test, you should read carefully, check the answers carefully, and avoid doing it hastily. The time to do the test is quite flexible, so you do not need to rush. When you study carefully, grasp the structure of the test, understand the lesson, and do the test carefully, 8-9 points are completely achievable.

* Mr. Kieu Tuan Hung (head of math - IT group, Nguyen Van To Secondary School, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City):

Math: master the structure of the questions

To do well on the math test, students need to have a solid grasp of math knowledge and skills and a strong mentality when taking the test. To do so, students must master the structure of the test by practicing topics on each type of math in the test structure.

Through that, students will grasp basic knowledge, common questions in math, and prepare well for the problem solving step.

Students should try to solve sample tests and practice tests provided by teachers. Note that when solving the tests, students should not learn by rote or mechanically and should learn from experience after each attempt.

Students also need to practice taking mock tests to know how to allocate time when doing the test, and to practice good psychology when facing the real test. Students can also do these mock tests at home.

When taking the math test, you need to read the questions carefully to classify the easy and difficult questions and do the easy questions first, the difficult questions later, and be sure of which questions you can do. In the first 60 minutes, you should do all the easy questions (ideally get 6-7 points), then focus on doing the difficult questions to improve your score.

For presentation: do not abbreviate, do not abbreviate, present clearly, need to have a conclusion for each sentence in the actual problem. The score is up to 0.25, so you need to make the most of your knowledge to apply to the test in order to get the best score according to your ability.