Be mentally prepared.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft Circular amending and supplementing the Regulations on Secondary School and High School Admissions to replace the current Circular, which is expected to stipulate a 3-subject exam for grade 10.

Students in Ho Chi Minh City during the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2023-2024 school year. In Ho Chi Minh City, the 10th grade entrance exam is a very stressful exam as only 70% of students pass public schools. Photo: Le Tien

Specifically, the draft outlines two methods for admission to 10th grade: selection based on academic records or entrance examination. For the entrance examination, the draft stipulates three subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and one subject chosen randomly by the Department of Education and Training from the remaining subjects in the lower secondary education curriculum.

In Ho Chi Minh City, mathematics, literature, and English have long been chosen as the subjects for the 10th grade entrance exam. Notably, in September, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training released sample exam questions for these three subjects according to the new curriculum. Prior to this new draft, a reporter from Dan Viet newspaper gathered opinions from students, parents, and teachers in Ho Chi Minh City.

New draft: Supporters and opponents

As a 9th grade student at Phu Tho Secondary School (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City), Nguyen Hai Dang has a different opinion from the majority. Instead of keeping the 3 subjects for the 10th grade entrance exam including math, literature, and English, Dang wants to replace English with another elective subject.

"I really want to be able to take another elective subject, such as the Natural Sciences combination. I feel that the Natural Sciences combination is easier to study, and those are also the subjects I want to focus on for the university entrance exam later. Many of my classmates share the same opinion," Dang said.

Commenting on learning forums, many students in Ho Chi Minh City expressed their desire to keep the 3 subjects for the 10th grade entrance exam as they are. According to a recent survey by Tuoi Tre Online newspaper, 78% of readers agreed to take the 10th grade entrance exam with 3 subjects: math, literature, and English.

Ms. Nguyen Minh Anh (Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City), a parent with a child in 9th grade, said: "My family has invested in my child's English education since a young age. In my opinion, English is a very necessary subject, a solid foundation for children to enter life. Therefore, I don't want to have to change English into another subject."

Sharing with Dan Viet reporter, Ms. Pham Thi Minh Hong - Principal of Nguyen Thai Binh Secondary School said that 100% of teachers in the school agreed to keep the old exam subjects.

"English has long been a subject that Ho Chi Minh City prioritizes for its students, and even parents invest heavily in their children's education. Therefore, for students in Ho Chi Minh City, continuing to take the 10th grade entrance exam in English is not too difficult. Furthermore, this year is the first year students are taking the exam under the new curriculum, and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has already issued the exam structure for these three subjects, so I really hope to keep the exam subjects the same as before," Ms. Hong shared.

You should mentally prepare yourself, even if you have to draw lots for your exam subjects.

To prepare well for the 10th grade entrance exam, students should proactively review knowledge, not learn by rote, not learn lopsidedly, but learn to the point where they are sure. Photo: Le Tien

Instead of choosing to support or not support the new draft, Mr. Khuu Manh Hung - Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 12 (HCMC) said that he has directed schools in the district to be ready for any changes that may occur, not to learn by rote, not to learn in a biased way, but to learn as much as possible.

According to Mr. Hung, no matter which subject students choose, they must study it. In the case of choosing English, the advantage is that this is a subject that is of interest. But if students choose the subject by lottery, they will have to pay attention to all the subjects.

Responding to the question of whether students would be affected by the short preparation time if the exam subjects were chosen by lottery, Mr. Hung said: "If students don't focus on specific subjects but concentrate on reviewing all subjects evenly from the beginning, they won't be significantly affected. They must proactively study before the Ministry announces the elective subjects."

Regarding this issue, Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City expressed his wish that Ho Chi Minh City continue to proactively choose the third exam subject. According to Mr. Minh, each locality will have different strategies and orientations for educational development, depending on actual conditions.

Furthermore, the goal of the 2018 General Education Program is not to assess students based on knowledge of a single subject, but rather on their qualities, abilities, and capacity to apply knowledge to problem-solving. Therefore, regardless of which subject is chosen for the third exam, there is no concern about students focusing only on the exam subjects.

Mr. Ho Tan Minh said that in recent years, the 10th grade exam in Ho Chi Minh City has always been innovative, with the direction of increasing questions applying learned knowledge to solve real-life situations.

For many years now, the city's 10th grade entrance exam has been kept stable with three subjects: math, literature and a third subject: foreign language, and students' learning results have always ensured the goals and orientation of the program.

The Deputy Minister of Education and Training explains why the ministry plans to choose a lottery system for the subjects in the 10th grade entrance exam.

At the regular Government press conference, Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong said that fixing the 10th grade exam subjects could cause cramming and biased learning, so the ministry is considering the option of drawing lots for a third exam subject.

Mr. Thuong said the ministry is researching ways to choose the third subject, maybe this year it will be a social subject, next year it will be a natural subject, and then another subject, or maybe by drawing lots.

According to Mr. Thuong, the Ministry of Education and Training has conducted a comprehensive survey and very thorough evaluation of the entrance examination for 10th grade over the past 10 years.

The ministry's leaders recognized that the third subject selection method is "the most popular". If left to the local authorities, this could be influenced by the subjective will of the leaders, causing many consequences.

Source: https://danviet.vn/boc-tham-mon-thi-vao-lop-10-nen-chuan-bi-tam-ly-san-sang-20241014185043834.htm