There are many changes to the 10th grade entrance exam that candidates need to pay special attention to.

With only three days left until nearly 103,000 students in Hanoi take the entrance exam for 10th grade in public high schools, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training is paying special attention to several changes directly related to the rights of the candidates.

IMPORTANT NOTES TO AVOID VIOLATING RULES AND LOSING POINTS

At the conference on guiding the 10th grade entrance exam organized by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training on the morning of June 3rd, Mr. Nghiem Van Binh, Head of the Examination Management and Quality Assurance Department (Hanoi Department of Education and Training), summarized the notable changes in the 2025 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi.

Hanoi students participate in the 2024 public high school entrance exam. This year, the percentage of students entering public high schools in the city will be higher.

PHOTO: TUAN MINH

Hanoi has the highest number of candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam in the whole country.

The entrance exam for 10th grade in Hanoi for the 2025-2026 school year will be held on June 7th and 8th; the specialized school exam will be on June 9th. Hanoi has the highest number of candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam nationwide, with a total of 115,951 registered candidates (including 102,860 candidates for non-specialized public schools and 13,091 candidates for specialized schools).

The city has arranged 4,411 examination rooms, 201 reserve examination rooms; and 201 examination centers across 30 districts, counties, and towns.

The Department of Education and Training has deployed 15,173 officials, teachers, staff, and police officers to participate in organizing and supervising the exams at the testing sites; and more than 2,000 officials and teachers to participate in the grading process.

These changes directly affect candidates, such as: the specialized subjects of chemistry, physics, biology, history, and geography are no longer listed; instead, there is a natural science subject (with content areas for candidates applying to specialized physics, chemistry, and biology classes), and history and geography subjects for candidates applying to specialized history and geography classes.

Regarding the exam format, candidates taking the natural science specialized subjects will answer directly on the exam paper; in previous years, only the foreign language specialized subjects followed this method. The time allotted for all specialized subjects is 150 minutes. Thus, the time for chemistry and foreign languages ​​has increased by 30 minutes compared to previous years.

The items that candidates are allowed to bring into the exam room include: pens, rulers, pencils, erasers, set squares, graphing rulers, drawing tools, and handheld calculators without text editing functions or memory cards. Compared to last year, Mr. Binh noted that the list includes drawing tools and graphing rulers; while removing geographical atlases, periodic tables, and solubility tables (used in chemistry).

Items that are not prohibited for candidates to bring into the examination room include wristwatches, water bottles, etc., but they must not contain any devices or materials used for cheating.

Mr. Binh also emphasized the requirement that candidates must be reminded twice to check their registration number, the information on the exam paper, and the test code on the multiple-choice answer sheet. Once before starting the exam and once 5 minutes before submitting the paper, a regulation that was not in place in previous years.

Some remaining changes relate to the responsibilities of invigilators, such as how to distribute exam papers, how to draw lots to assign registration numbers, sealing and safeguarding exam papers... Mr. Binh requested that teachers strictly adhere to the regulations and principles of exam supervision, avoiding negligence, complacency, and independent handling of situations.

"Any feedback regarding the exam questions and any unusual incidents in the examination room must be reported immediately to the head of the examination center, through the supervisor," Mr. Binh emphasized.

For candidates who commit violations warranting a reprimand or warning, representatives from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training instructed that a report should be filed, but the candidate must still be allowed to continue taking the exam; the exam score will be deducted according to the regulations regarding the severity of the violation, ensuring that the candidate's exam time is not wasted.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CANDIDATES IN THE EXAMINATION ROOM

Regarding the responsibilities of candidates in the examination room, Mr. Nghiem Van Binh reminded them to write down their registration number correctly, carefully check the number of pages, the quality of printing, and the exam code. If they detect any abnormalities in the exam paper (torn, missing pages, printing errors, smudged, etc.), candidates must immediately report it to the invigilator, no later than 5 minutes from the start of the exam. "After these 5 minutes, if candidates do not report anything, they will be responsible for the exam paper they receive," Mr. Binh noted. In addition, candidates are allowed to submit their papers after 2/3 of the time has elapsed for essay-based subjects. When collecting exam papers, invigilators must ensure that candidates do not make mistakes in writing or filling in their registration numbers, or forget to sign when submitting their papers…

Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, said that despite repeated reminders, Hanoi still experiences instances of candidates inadvertently bringing mobile phones into exam rooms every year, while many other provinces and cities report no violations of this regulation. "Perhaps our process of reminding candidates before the exam day and before the exam time hasn't been thorough enough," Mr. Cuong said, suggesting that to ensure candidates don't unfairly fail, families and invigilators should pay attention to this issue.

At the conference, representatives from the Hanoi City Police guided participants on how to identify high-tech devices that could be used to cheat in exams and requested that if a candidate is found bringing a mobile phone into the examination area, in addition to issuing a report and suspending the exam, the head of the examination center should immediately inform the police force to promptly investigate, identify, and quickly prevent the dissemination of exam questions and answer sheets to the outside, thus preventing leaks or breaches of exam questions…

The entrance exam for 10th grade in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is always a heated affair, receiving great attention from parents.

Photo: Tuan Minh

REDUCING PRESSURE ON CANDIDATES THROUGH QUESTION DESIGN

The requirement to "conduct the exam seriously but without creating pressure" was emphasized by the Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training at the conference. Supervisors need to demonstrate strictness in their supervision, but still maintain a gentle and friendly attitude, creating a stable psychological environment for the candidates. Handling unusual situations must be based on regulations and guidelines, ensuring maximum protection of the candidates' rights, and avoiding unnecessary stress.

In further discussion with reporters about the exam, Mr. Tran The Cuong affirmed that the official exam will follow the exact structure and format as the sample exam published by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training at the beginning of the school year. The exam content will ensure it is not overly challenging, does not go beyond the curriculum that students have learned in junior high school, and mainly focuses on the 9th grade curriculum.

Notably, Mr. Cuong stated that the city will soon issue decisions to establish three more public high schools. The Department of Education and Training will allocate additional enrollment quotas of approximately 10 classes per school, with a total projected enrollment of 1,500 students. These schools are Do Muoi High School (Hoang Mai District), Phuc Thinh High School (Dong Anh District), and one school in Cau Giay District. When the three schools become operational, it is expected that in the first year they will be able to recruit students based on regional preferences, instead of the zoning and exam registration system used by other schools.

Mr. Cuong also stated that the percentage of Hanoi students entering public high schools in 2025 will increase by approximately 3% compared to the 2024-2025 school year, reaching 64% of junior high school graduates. When the three public high schools become operational and are allocated enrollment quotas, the percentage of students entering public high schools in the city will certainly be even higher.

Changes to the method of calculating and announcing the cutoff scores.

Mr. Tran The Cuong pointed out a major challenge in this year's 10th grade admissions: according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, exam scores and cut-off scores must be announced at the same time, unlike in previous years where exam scores were announced first and cut-off scores were announced later.

"In recent years, announcing the cutoff scores one day after the exam results were released required a great deal of effort. Now, announcing both the exam results and the cutoff scores simultaneously will certainly require those in charge to work day and night to meet this requirement," Mr. Cuong said, adding that despite the difficulties, they will be overcome.

In addition, Mr. Cuong also noted that the method of calculating the admission score this year has changed. In previous years, Hanoi calculated the scores for Literature and Mathematics with a weighting of 2, and the third subject with a weighting of 1 for admission to non-specialized high schools. However, according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, from this year onwards, all three subjects will be weighted equally with a weighting of 1. Therefore, there will no longer be admission scores exceeding 40 points as in previous years, because the highest total score for the three subjects will only reach 30.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhieu-thay-doi-ve-thi-lop-10-thi-sinh-can-dac-biet-ghi-nho-18525060322124853.htm