With her first son taking the 10th grade entrance exam this year, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa* (Hanoi) has been having headaches for the past few days with the "green application" - the application form for 10th grade admission for the 2025-2026 school year in Hanoi.

Too worried, before signing her application, Ms. Hoa called all her acquaintances, even the “educators” in her mind. She was even more worried when her son was not considered a bad student but not yet an excellent one to reassure his parents. Her son is studying at Ngo Si Lien Secondary School - a top secondary school in Hanoi and really likes Viet Duc High School.

“My child did very well in grades 6, 7 and 8, but in grade 9 he seemed to decline a bit,” said Ms. Hoa.

Ms. Hoa shared that in the recent test and mock tests, her child got about 23 points, meaning an average of 7.7 points per subject. Meanwhile, the standard score to get into Viet Duc High School last year was 41.25; meaning an average of at least 8.25 points per subject.

“My biggest concern and worry is that my child is still very confident and says that it is only the result of the mock test; the total knowledge he has in the three subjects is 25-26 points. According to him, the times he did the tests at home in previous years according to his ability, he was very good, he could get an average of 8.5 points; but in the survey test, he only got an average of 7.7 points. I don't know if it is because the survey test is difficult or not to his strengths or if his exam mentality is weak,” Ms. Hoa confided.

According to the comments of the teachers at school and the tutor, her son's knowledge is considered to be good. However, at this moment, if she registers her first choice at Viet Duc High School according to her son's interests, she is not assured and lacks a sense of security.

Now, Ms. Hoa feels more clearly that studying at a famous middle school in the district does not bring much spiritual meaning and the opportunity to be admitted before the threshold of grade 10.

Hoa and her husband are both ordinary civil servants with average incomes in Hanoi, so the pressure on their children to get into public schools is even higher, making it difficult to think about private schools.

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Students taking the 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi. Photo: Hoang Ha

Although many acquaintances have suggested and analyzed, the final decision still has to come from your family and your child. If your child is very keen to register for the first choice at Viet Duc High School, more than anyone else, he or she must be very determined and the whole family must accept "open-mindedness" in thinking and thinking that "if you fail, happily study at the second choice high schools" with lower entrance requirements such as Dong Da High School or Quang Trung - Dong Da High School.

On the contrary, if you choose the safe option, you can register your child for schools with a standard score every year slightly lower than Viet Duc High School, such as Tran Phu High School - Hoan Kiem.

But to do this, Ms. Hoa continues to face calculations: Register 2 or 3 wishes because of the school registration regulations according to the enrollment area. If registering 3 wishes, according to the regulations of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, wishes 1 and wishes 2 must be in the same enrollment area. If the student only registers 2 wishes, then wishes 1 is a school in the enrollment area according to regulations but wishes 2 can be in any enrollment area.

Ms. Hoa said that before that, she and her daughter had to sit down together again to unify their thoughts. Ms. Hoa's story and concerns are probably the same as the situation of many parents and families in Hanoi before the 10th grade exam which is always heated every year.

Mr. Luu Van Thong, Principal of Cau Giay Secondary School (Hanoi) said that registration wishes need to be agreed upon between candidates and parents.

“There were years when we had to deal with cases where parents wanted one school, but their children wanted another. Then the parents signed their children’s signatures to submit to the teachers. However, the school always printed the wishes after entering them into the system for the children to sign to confirm. At that time, the students discovered that it was not their wish and expressed their opposition. Therefore, before registering, the family had to sit down together to reach an agreement,” Mr. Thong said about his time as a manager at Dich Vong Secondary School.

Mr. Nghiem Van Binh, Deputy Head of the Examination Management and Education Quality Assessment Department (Hanoi Department of Education and Training) also said that candidates need to consider carefully when registering their wishes. In addition to ability, capacity also depends on the conditions and circumstances of the family to choose the appropriate school to register. "It is not suitable according to the majority, according to friends, according to 'trends' or tastes, but must be suitable for the students' own abilities, suitable for the current conditions of the family", Mr. Binh said.

*Character names in the article have been changed

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nguoi-me-tran-tro-truoc-gio-ghi-don-xanh-nguyen-vong-thi-lop-10-cho-con-2392471.html