Anxiously awaiting the third exam, Hanoi students are exhausted from the pressure.

Without knowing the third subject for the entrance exam to public high schools, many students in Hanoi are struggling and exhausted from studying too much to prepare for the upcoming high-pressure exam.

This year's 9th graders are the first group of students to take the exam under the new curriculum. Therefore, the changes to the entrance exam are causing great anxiety among students and parents.

What worries many students and parents is that "the third exam subject has changed over the years" and the announcement time is quite late (according to the Ministry of Education and Training's proposal, it should be before March 31st each year). The Ministry of Education and Training's choice of "a third exam subject that changes over the years" aims to achieve comprehensive education goals during the basic education stage.

Since the beginning of the 9th grade school year, there has hardly been a night when Dieu Nghi (9th grade, Nguyen Huy Tuong Secondary School, Dong Anh, Hanoi) has been able to eat dinner before 8 PM because of her packed schedule of extra classes. Many days, with so much homework, she has to eat dinner while studying. Dieu Nghi says that the third exam subject doubles the pressure for students preparing for the 10th grade entrance exam.

"Because we don't know what the third exam subject will be, our studies are very demanding. Besides focusing on Math, Literature, and Foreign Language, which already takes up a lot of time, many students have to take extra classes in Physics, Chemistry, or Biology. I myself have to take extra Chemistry classes in the evenings because I'm afraid the third exam will be that subject. Ninth-grade students like me are very stressed and anxious. If the third exam subject is Natural Sciences , students who lean towards Social Sciences will be caught off guard because the knowledge in Natural Sciences is very difficult. If the third exam subject is Social Sciences, the knowledge is very broad, requiring a lot of memorization. Most of us hope the third exam subject will be Foreign Language," Diệu Nghi said.

Parents and students are stressed and exhausted by the entrance exam to Hanoi's public high schools.

As this is the first year of the new curriculum, ninth-grade students are under immense pressure because they "don't know how to practice with exam questions." "Besides the 'Wings of the Kite' textbooks we use at school, we also have to study additional material from the 'Connecting' and 'Creative Horizons' textbooks because we don't know which textbooks will be used in the exam. Unlike previous years, where students could use old exam papers for practice, this year we can't. The teachers are working very hard, constantly creating new exam questions for us. We have to take mock exams every month. Before one exam is even finished, we're already preparing for the next. The continuous stream of exams keeps us stressed and exhausted. I hope the third exam subject will be announced soon so we can focus our studies instead of being spread too thin and ineffective like we are now. I think the third exam subject doesn't help students develop comprehensively but instead puts more pressure on them," Diệu Nghi said wearily.

Like many parents with children born in 2010, Ms. Nguyen Minh Loan (Dong Da District, Hanoi) is also very worried about the "third exam subject." "Changing the third exam subject each year only creates pressure on 9th-grade students, forcing them to study more subjects and practice more exam questions. We shouldn't expect all children to excel in all subjects. Their studies are already very stressful. If they spread their education across all subjects, the quality will suffer. Everyone only has strengths in certain areas. If the Ministry of Education and Training wants students to excel in all subjects, they should use the scores of all subjects as a criterion for graduating from junior high school, while the selection process for high school should focus on specialized subjects to ensure high-quality entry. I hope the Hanoi Department of Education and Training will decide on three fixed subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and Foreign Language for the 10th-grade entrance exam. A third subject, Foreign Language, would be in line with the general trend in the context of international integration," Ms. Minh Loan shared.

Besides the concern about the annual changes to the third exam subject, many parents are also anxious about the late announcement of the third subject, which further increases academic pressure on students. "The third exam subject should be announced at the beginning of the 9th grade school year so that both teachers and students can plan their studies and exam preparation effectively, without excessive pressure. This ensures that students have three years of normal study and absorb a relatively large amount of knowledge in all subjects. In the final year, which is the crucial period for exam preparation, it's impossible to force students to excel in all subjects. Announcing the third exam subject only two months beforehand makes the 'final sprint' very tiring for students, especially those who don't excel in that subject," said Ms. Vu Thuy Ha (Ha Dong District, Hanoi) indignantly.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/thap-thom-cho-mon-thi-thu-3-hoc-sinh-ha-noi-met-moi-vi-ap-luc-20241205220658544.htm