More than 11.000 candidates participated in the first round of the Hanoi National University's (HSA) competency assessment exam to get admission results to about 90 schools.
On the morning of March 23, the campus of Hanoi National University was crowded with parents and candidates coming to take the competency assessment test. This is the first HSA exam this year, taking place at 3 testing locations in Hanoi, Thai Binh and Nam Dinh. Compared to last year's first round, the number of candidates is nearly three times as many, mainly taking the exam in Hanoi.
Going to Hanoi with her father early in the morning, Nguyen Thu Hien, a student at Quynh Tho High School, Thai Binh province, kept a comfortable mood. Having taken the reference test, Hien predicted she could score about 90/150 points, enough to be considered for admission to the University of Commerce or National Economics.
At 10:30, after more than three hours of taking the exam, Hien excitedly left the exam area, smiling brightly at her father because she scored 104/150 points. "I didn't expect I could achieve this score," Hien said.
Thu Hien and her father left the test site after completing the HSA test on the morning of March 23. Image: Duong Tam
The HSA test is taken on a computer in 195 to 199 minutes, with a maximum score of 150. Candidates know their score immediately after taking the test.
The test consists of three parts with objective multiple-choice questions (choose answers), fill-in questions in the fields of Mathematics (50 questions, 75 minutes), Literature - Language (50 questions, 60 minutes), Natural and social sciences (50 questions, 60 minutes). Parts 1 and 3 will have 1-3 additional test questions, not scored.
Hien assessed that the exam was not too difficult. The questions are mainly at the understanding and application level, with very few questions at the high application level. Therefore, students who firmly grasp the knowledge can do it. For the Mathematics section, Hien scored 41 points, Literature - Language 38 and the remaining 25 points.
"Like my question, questions about History, Physics and Chemistry are relatively easy to score," Hien commented.
Achieving 93/150 points, Do Manh, a student at Tran Nguyen Han High School, Hai Phong, said the exam was as difficult as he expected.
Focusing on subjects in the A01 group (Math, Physics, English), Manh learned about Hanoi National University's competency assessment exam from the beginning of 12th grade and took an online course to review. This exam alone, along with self-review.
Compared to previous years' graduation exams, Manh said that the HSA exam does not have as many quizzes but the difficulty level is more uniform. As with the Math section, the questions are mainly at the application level, with only 1-2 high application questions.
In the Literature - Language section, Manh scored 42 points, the highest among the three parts of the test. The material in this section is familiar works in textbooks such as "Truong Ba's soul, butcher's skin", "Country" and many short paragraphs with diverse topics.
As for the Natural and Social Sciences section, Manh assessed that the questions were broad and it was difficult for me to grasp all the knowledge to do well in this section.
As for Tran Tien Manh, a student at Bac Ha High School No. 1, Lao Cai, the exam covers a very wide range of knowledge with many questions related to reality, especially the Chemistry and Math sections.
“For me, the exam was quite strange in both the way the problem was asked and the format, so I couldn't do much. I also lost points on questions related to Social Sciences subjects because I did not focus on studying this module," Manh said. The male student scored 78 points, not yet qualified to apply to the Chemistry Department of the University of Natural Sciences.
Candidates after completing the competency assessment test on the morning of March 23. Image: Duong Tam
The competency assessment exam was organized by Hanoi National University from 2015 and 2016, then stopped until 2021 to reopen. This year, the exam is divided into 6 rounds with an expected number of seats of about 103.000, the highest ever.
Exam locations are located in 11 provinces and cities including Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh.
Currently, 90 schools say they use the results of Hanoi National University's competency assessment exam for admission. Of these, 17 military schools are using this exam score for the first time.
Last year, more than 90.000 candidates registered, the number of participants was 87.000, the valedictorian scored 133/150 points. The minimum score for receiving applications using this method for popular schools is from 70 to 85 points.
The whole country currently has more than 10 exams to assess capacity and thinking. Among them, the exams of the two national universities have the largest scale. Last year, the number of candidates admitted and enrolled according to the results of the exam to assess capacity and thinking accounted for 2,57%.
