The text used in the Literature exam matches the sample exam from Nghe An province.

On the afternoon of June 29th, the Ministry of Education and Training held a press conference to provide information about the 2023 High School Graduation Examination.

One issue that the press is concerned about is the Literature exam, where the questions in the social commentary section are similar to those in the 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi . Meanwhile, the text in the literary analysis section is similar to that in a mock exam from Nghe An province.

The source material for the Vietnamese language exam is the same as the mock exam from Nghe An province; the Ministry of Education and Training has spoken out (Figure 1). — Professor Pham Hong Ha shares information about the exam question setting process (photo source: Ministry of Education and Training).

Regarding concerns about the exam, Professor Pham Hong Ha, on behalf of the exam committee, stated that the exam basically maintained a stable structure, was within the 12th-grade curriculum, did not include any reduced content or content beyond the curriculum, and had good differentiation.

According to Professor Pham Hong Ha, this year, the Ministry of Education and Training is using benchmarking software in the exam question creation process. This process is being applied to 15 subjects.

Regarding the Literature subject, Professor Pham Hong Ha confirmed that there was overlap in the source material with the exam in Nghe An. However, while the source material was the same, the questions were different.

“The 12th-grade literature curriculum includes 17 literary works, of which 15 are used. It is mandatory to use only those 15 works as source material. If each province and city conducts a mock exam, then it is understandable that the official exam uses the same source material. The instructions, or rather the questions themselves, are different,” Professor Pham Hong Ha commented.

Regarding the Hanoi exam, Professor Pham Hong Ha noted that the reading comprehension section and the question types were different. One exam asked about "emotional balance," while the 10th-grade exam focused on mastering emotions.

Also related to the current exam question phenomenon of model essays, which does not stimulate students' creativity, Mr. Ha believes that the reading comprehension and essay writing sections should be improved.

The reading comprehension section allows the use of non-required materials from the textbook. In the reading comprehension section, the test setters always aim for current events and educational topics.

Meanwhile, for the essay writing section, in 2023 and 2024 we will finish the 2006 curriculum.

The 2018 curriculum will be more flexible. There will be no requirement that literary texts in the essay questions must be from the textbook. Currently, this is not possible due to the regulations of the 2006 curriculum.

Further discussing the exam, Mr. Ha also stated that the exam preparation process began in early June, while the Hanoi exam took place afterward. Therefore, the person who created the exam was not aware of the Hanoi Grade 10 Literature exam questions.

Meanwhile, the mock exam set by Nghe An province also lacked data for comparison, and therefore could not detect the cheating.

"Overall, the questions ensured differentiation and did not overlap with previous exams. This is very important," Professor Pham Hong Ha emphasized.

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