Converting admission scores: How to make it fair?

The number of matches must be large enough

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued guidelines for university and college admissions in 2025, guiding the rules for converting admission scores between admission methods when training institutions use multiple methods at the same time for a training major/group of majors.

The conversion framework provides the score ranges of individual tests such as ability assessment tests, thinking assessment tests (APT, HSA, TSA...) and the score ranges of appropriate high school graduation exam subject combinations according to the percentile method (a quantity used to estimate the proportion of data in a data set falling in a region higher or lower than a given value) based on the analysis of the test results of candidates with individual test scores and corresponding graduation exam subject combination scores in 2025. The score ranges are ranked respectively according to the top 0.5%, 1%, 3%, 5%, 10%...

A competency assessment test at Hanoi National University. Photo: VGP

According to Dr. Nghiem Xuan Huy, Director of the Institute of Digital Training and Testing, Hanoi National University, the Institute proactively collects and analyzes data linked to reality. The Institute has built a data set of tens of thousands of candidates who simultaneously participated in both the competency assessment exam organized by Hanoi National University (HAS) and the high school graduation exam (in 2023, 2024). Because the two exams have different natures, Hanoi National University focuses on the conversion method by percentile (Equipercentile) applied to the same population of candidates who participated in both exams. This method ensures fairness in rankings such as matching the relative positions of candidates on the score spectrum of both exams; handling nonlinearity to accommodate the complex, non-linear relationship between HSA scores and high school graduation combination scores; eliminating bias due to population differences.

Dr. Sai Cong Hong believes that the most important nature of conversion is that the starting points must have the same evaluation purpose.

Hanoi National University will convert according to each combination of high school graduation exam scores to ensure the most accurate and appropriate when schools use HSA results for admission according to the combinations A00 (Math, Physics, Chemistry), B00 (Math, Chemistry, Biology), D01 (Math, Literature, English)... Mr. Huy said that this University will soon announce the HSA exam score percentile table in 2025 so that candidates anduniversities can temporarily estimate or simulate the HSA standard score by comparing percentiles. After the 2025 high school graduation exam results are available, Hanoi National University will announce the final percentile.

No difference compared to before conversion

On May 22, Hanoi University of Science and Technology announced a plan to convert equivalent benchmark scores between the university's admission methods. Hanoi University of Science and Technology enrolls students according to 3 methods: considering talent, considering high school graduation exam results, considering thinking assessment (TSA) results.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Phong Dien, Director of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that the expert team analyzed and statistically analyzed the enrollment data of the past 3 years, different admission combinations, analyzed the distribution of talent admission scores according to the areas, the distribution of TSA exam scores, the distribution of high school graduation exam scores with the original combination of A00 to determine the correlation percentile range.

The percentile table (understood as a form of ranking exam scores divided into ranges) is calculated from the floor score for receiving applications for admission methods to the absolute score of each method. This percentile table is divided by Hanoi University of Science and Technology into 6 ranges (6 score ranges), in which, with the near-absolute score range (around 1, around 2), the division level for high school graduation exam scores is finer than the near-floor score range (around 5, around 6). Range 1, for high school graduation exam scores in the top 0.1%; talent admission score is top 5%; thinking assessment test is 0.5%. For example, with the 2024 high school graduation exam, top 1 is from 28.67-30 points, TSA test is from 83.62-100 points; talent review is from 96.10-100 points... Range 2, the corresponding score levels are 28.04-28.67 points; 87.20-96.10 points; 74.77-83.62 points. Thus, the difference of about 2 points in the graduation exam is only 0.63 points, while the talent selection is 10.90 points, and the TSA is 8.85 points.

Students and parents learn about admission information at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in March. Photo: Duy Thanh

Mr. Dien affirmed that the use of the percentile table in the conversion of scores is to ensure fairness between methods. From this conversion, Mr. Dien believes that candidates participating in the TSA exam is an additional opportunity for admission, not a gift for candidates. Mr. Dien said that, taking the admission data to Hanoi University of Science and Technology in 2024 in the admission methods, applying the conversion formula that has just been announced, the benchmark scores and quota ratios between the methods have no difference compared to the school's admission results.

In 2024, the Computer Science (IT1) major will have the highest benchmark score of 83.82 for the TSA exam score and 28.53 for the high school graduation exam score (this score is around 1, top 0.1% for high school graduation exam scores, top 0.5 for the thinking assessment test). Applying the conversion formula, the benchmark score of 83.82 for the thinking assessment method is equivalent to a score of 28.68 for the high school graduation exam score, 0.01 points higher than the official unconverted benchmark score in 2024 (28.67 points). According to Mr. Dien, the conversion using the high school graduation exam score as the reference system will depend on the differentiation of this year's exam. If the high school graduation exam score is lower than in 2024, the converted score will be lower. It is expected that on July 16, the high school graduation exam results will be announced. Around July 20, Hanoi University of Science and Technology will announce this year's converted scores.

Dr. Le Anh Duc, Head of Training Management Department, National Economics University, said that the school announced the process of building conversion rules in May. Candidates can refer to the 2024 exam score database.

Point Conversion: From Complex to Simple

The equivalence conversion between assessment scales has been carried out internationally, typically the SAT and ACT exams. According to Dr. Sai Cong Hong, Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, the conversion of scores between the SAT and ACT exams is carried out by the College Board (the SAT organizer) and ACT (the ACT organizer) who research and provide a conversion table.

Although these two exams have different structures and scoring scales, their common purpose is to assess students' academic ability and university readiness. Therefore, the most important thing to convert is the same assessment purpose. Not only based on the score ratio, but the conversion is also based on students' performance in actual exams.

The official SAT and ACT conversion tables are based on hundreds of thousands of students who took both tests, over a wide enough period of time (usually the same year or within a few months). However, there are a number of factors to consider: not all students take both tests with the same level of effort; some students prepare well for the SAT but take the ACT just to “try it out,” or vice versa; there are also factors of motivation and timing… This leads to the possibility that one of the two scores does not reflect the maximum ability, thereby affecting the accuracy of the conversion tables. Therefore, the College Board and ACT select a group of students with reliable test results; use statistical analysis to correct for the deviation.

SAT-ACT score conversion is not a simple comparison, but a complex statistical analysis process, using correlation analysis between the two tests; removing outliers; standardizing data; using regression analysis; subgroup analysis to correct for systematic bias; comparing cumulative percentages; from there, a very simple, easy-to-understand conversion table is created, for example, some levels are as follows: SAT 1570-1600 is equivalent to ACT 36; SAT 1530-1560 is equivalent to ACT 35...

Nghiem Hue

Source: https://tienphong.vn/quy-doi-thang-diem-xet-tuyen-lam-sao-de-cong-bang-post1744646.tpo