Bringing it back to a common scale can create injustice in the selection process.
According to the 2025 University and College Admissions Regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, schools using multiple admission methods must determine the equivalent conversion rules for the entrance threshold, admission scores of the admission methods, admission methods, and admission combinations according to the general instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training.
In the draft university admission guidelines, the Ministry of Education and Training provides a formula for converting scores of admission methods for schools to refer to. Schools use data from high school graduation exam scores or high school learning results as the basis for developing conversion rules. In addition, schools base on statistical data, analyze the learning results of students admitted by each method in previous years (at least two consecutive previous years), and the learning results of each student.
Many admissions experts believe that converting scores from different university admission methods to a common scale could create more unfairness in university admissions.
Mr. Phung Quan - Head of Administrative Organization Department, Admissions Consultant of University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) said that currently, schools use many admission methods, raising the question: If scores are not converted between methods, will it be unfair to candidates?
According to Mr. Quan, each method is a separate reference system, with different goals and assessment structures. Specifically, the high school graduation exam is nationally standardized. The report card score depends on the teacher, school, and region. The exams assess capacity and thinking skills, focusing on reasoning and synthesis skills. Therefore, when there is no common standard, comparing these methods is lame.
Mr. Quan believes that if the conversion is not standardized, it will easily create injustice because many schools currently convert scores between methods based on statistical correlation, lacking a solid academic foundation. This can be disadvantageous for candidates taking the high school graduation exam - the method with the highest level of standardization, creating a sense of unfairness.
“If not seriously standardized, score conversion can become a tool to legitimize inequality in admissions. In fact, if schools conduct independent admissions according to each method, publicly announce quotas, clear criteria and organize at the same time, candidates can still compete fairly in each separate playground.
“Fairness does not depend on the conversion of scores, but on transparency and scientific organization of admissions,” Mr. Quan said, emphasizing that if the conversion is not standardized, it can create greater injustice. True fairness comes from standardization, transparency and a reasonable design of the admissions system, not just from the conversion numbers.
Aneducation expert said that converting scores does not comply with the science of testing and evaluating student results because each exam, test, and subject has different purposes, goals, and ways of using results.
"The main purpose of the high school graduation exam is to consider high school graduation, so only 5 points per subject is needed to graduate and according to a different standard (5 points or more is passed, so 5 points is the same as 10 points if only for high school graduation). The exam assesses capacity and thinking with the purpose of university admission and also has factors to assess specific capacity for each major at university level. The report card score is assessed according to the learning process and progress of the learner, so it is different from the purpose of the graduation exam which is a final assessment," he said.
This expert also said that the conversion of scores according to the current instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training is linear and one-way. For the ability assessment tests, thinking assessment tests... when converted according to the high school graduation exam scores, the conversion selection model does not ensure representativeness. If considering the influencing factors to make a correlation, it does not ensure fairness because the special reason of the 2018 general education program is that students study and take the high school graduation exam without all the subjects according to the admission combination of schools that use the ability assessment test scores for conversion. Therefore, using 3 high school graduation exam subjects for conversion does not ensure comprehensiveness and equivalence in terms of ability to ensure fairness in conversion.
"Many candidates who have taken the competency assessment and self-assessment exams and have good results are confident that when they take the high school graduation exam, they will not do their best (they only need a score of 5 to graduate), so these are also large errors in the conversion according to the method instructed by the Ministry of Education and Training," he said.
Schools are autonomous in enrollment, the Ministry only needs to supervise.
The admissions director of a university in the South agreed that the exam should be converted into one so that candidates can understand it easily and the admissions board can save time when considering admissions. However, according to him, to do so, the high school graduation exam must be remade to have more differentiation.
“This conversion does not show anything because the specialized competency assessment test scores are different from the competency assessment of Ho Chi Minh City National University and the high school graduation exam scores. The purpose of the graduation exam is to evaluate the learning outcomes of high school students, whether they pass or fail, while the competency assessment is different. If we convert them to the same level, it will be very confusing,” he said.
Not discussing the score conversion formula, this person said that first of all, we must clarify what such conversion means, is it easy to manage, easy to understand or easy to do...? Meanwhile, currently, universities are completely autonomous in enrollment, if they have to follow the Ministry's regulations, it will be a bit difficult.
Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education (Ministry of Education and Training), said that the best solution now is to let schools be autonomous in recruiting students by determining their own recruitment methods and determining the recruitment rate according to the method.
Students take the exam in any way that ensures fairness. After having the data, schools will consider which method students study better and must publicly announce the admission rate in a transparent manner. The Ministry of Education and Training only needs to monitor and supervise closely.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/quy-doi-diem-de-tao-ra-bat-cong-lon-trong-xet-tuyen-dai-hoc-2025-2387164.html
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