English Spectrum: A beautiful chart but… only beautiful on paper?

(Dan Tri) - The English score distribution in this year's high school graduation exam is a beautiful bell-shaped graph from a technical perspective, but analyzing the score distribution is not just a technical task.

Is the bell-shaped score spectrum good for assessing general output standards?

A lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education commented that the English score distribution in the 2025 high school graduation exam is really a beautiful chart if viewed from a technical perspective.

The distribution is approximately normal, with the peak concentrated in the range of 5.0–5.4, the standard deviation is 1.45, the mean score is 5.38 and the median is 5.25. The number of 10 points is very small, only 141 out of more than 350,000 candidates, showing that the test is not easy to get a perfect score.

The English score distribution of the 2025 graduation exam is a very beautiful bell shape (Source: Ministry of Education and Training ).

At the same time, only 2 candidates received a score of 0, reflecting that the test was not too challenging or “trapped” for students. Such a score range is often assessed by measurement experts as having good differentiation, showing that the test was designed systematically and reasonably.

But she questioned whether an exam that produces such a wide range of scores can be considered good in all cases? Especially when this exam is also called “graduation”?

According to this lecturer, score spectrum analysis is not only a technical task but also reflects theeducational philosophies behind it.

Score distributions tell us a lot about test difficulty, differentiation, teaching quality, and sometimes unusual signals.

A score distribution that closely approximates a normal distribution such as a bell curve is often considered ideal if the goal of the test is to classify students according to ability, for purposes such as admissions or class placement.

In the case of English this year, the score distribution shows that the test is not too easy, not too difficult, and can assess ability at many levels from weak to good.

But when we look back at the nature of the graduation exam, which is intended to test the minimum standard, that "beautiful" score range becomes controversial.

If we accept that the score distribution of an exam should follow a normal distribution, that is, that students' scores should fall into a symmetrical bell shape, then by default, about half of the students will score below average.

The problem is, in a graduation exam to confirm that students have completed the general education program, is it reasonable for half of the students to "fail" (if 5 is the passing mark)?

Basic statistical index of English test scores for high school graduation exams in 2024 and 2025 (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).

Is this a sign that students are weak or a warning that the educational program has failed in its basic task of equipping learners with minimum competencies?

The answer, he argues, depends on how we understand and use the score distribution. If the goal of the test is to differentiate for admission, as in the university entrance exam, then a bell-shaped score distribution is desirable. The test must be sufficiently differentiated to help universities select the right people.

But if the main function of the exam is to assess general output standards, the ideal score distribution is not a beautiful bell shape, but a right-skewed score distribution, where the majority of students score average or above.

The score distribution becomes a mirror, not a place to "criticize" students.

The female lecturer said that general education is the foundation and graduating from high school should be something that the majority of students can do, if the education system is to be truly effective. A general education system cannot be satisfied if year after year, more than half of the students drop out before graduating.

Candidates in the 2025 high school graduation exam (Photo: Manh Quan).

From here, another question arises: If the test is really designed according to the required competency standards but the students' results are low, what does it mean? We cannot blame the test, because it does its job. We also cannot blame the students, because they do not study on their own in the program.

At that time, the cause may come from a series of problems such as the program being too heavy or far from reality, inappropriate teaching methods, dishonest assessment during the learning process, or an unmotivating learning environment.

In this case, the score spectrum becomes a mirror not to "criticize" students, but for the entire education system to reflect on itself.

On the contrary, if the test is designed unreasonably, too easy or too difficult, not closely following the ability to be tested, then no matter how "beautiful" the score distribution is, it will not reflect the actual level of the students. In that case, the score distribution can be misleading, causing teachers and students to feel disoriented in adjusting their learning goals and methods.

The spectrum can tell a lot, but what matters is how we understand it and how we use it.

If we know how to look at the score spectrum as a source of data for analysis, to adjust the test to suit the assessment goals, and to reorient the teaching and learning methods, it is a useful tool.

Top 10 provinces with the highest average English scores and 10 provinces with the most English 10s in the 2025 high school graduation exam (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).

If we only view the score spectrum as a formal achievement or a result to report, its practical value will not be fully exploited.

The female lecturer emphasized that what is important is not whether the scores are "good" or "bad", but how each person involved in the educational process, from the learner, the teacher to the examiner, thinks and acts from those numbers.

Good score on paper

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thuy, a professor of educational linguistics at Hanoi University, shared that the English score distribution of this year's high school graduation exam is beautiful, but beautiful in the sense of classifying candidates - meaning that this result is only suitable for university admission purposes, not graduation exam purposes.

This score range is only good on paper but not good in reality when students using this subject for university admission will have to compete with at least 4 groups such as the group applying for group A or C, the IELTS conversion group, the group using other foreign language test results (higher scores) and the group taking last year's English test.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thuy analyzed that the total number of candidates taking the English exam in 2024 and earlier was nearly 3 times larger than this year - that is why the score distribution has 2 peaks. These 2 peaks mean that there exists a group whose English proficiency is higher than the general level of society, accounting for about 30%.

Many candidates may have difficulty using their English scores in the high school graduation exam for university admission (Photo: Trinh Nguyen).

In 2025, English will become an elective subject, the number will decrease by about 1/3, it can be inferred that the top students are the ones who register for English for the graduation exam.

Comparing the charts, it can be deduced that the second peak of the chart of the previous 3 consecutive years (around 8.5-9) is the average score of the top 30% group nationwide. This level is the level that needs to be compared with the average score of 2025, not the level around 5 points of the total of more than 900,000 candidates last year.

In other words, the average score of the good English group every year is 8.5-9 (high score inflation), but the average score of the good English group this year is more than 5 points. This average score shows that the exam is much more difficult than every year.

Dr. Thuy emphasized that this score range applies to the top English group nationwide and this score range shows that only a small number of students have reached C1-C2 level, the majority are still around B1-B2, meaning that the top of society is only at the level of the Ministry's expectations.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/pho-diem-tieng-anh-mot-bieu-do-rat-dep-nhung-chi-dep-tren-giay-20250718071002077.htm