Adapt to suit the circumstances.

Go Vap District (Ho Chi Minh City) awarded certificates of merit and commended students who won prizes in the city-level Grade 9 excellent student competition for the 2023-2024 school year. Photo: Phan Ny.

The exam consists of two parts: compulsory and optional.

Immediately after the start of the school year, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (DOET) issued guidelines for organizing the city-level selection exams for gifted 9th and 12th grade students in the 2024-2025 school year. Accordingly, the city-level gifted 9th grade exam will include the following subjects: Literature, History and Geography, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Informatics, English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Technology (industrial orientation), and Technology ( agricultural orientation). The exam duration is 120 minutes. The exam date is March 14, 2025.

The Natural Sciences subject has two parts: a compulsory part (30% of the total score) covering general knowledge; and an elective part (70% of the total score) where students can choose one of three content areas: Matter and its transformations, the Earth and the sky; Energy and its transformations, the Earth and the sky; Living things, the Earth and the sky. For History and Geography, students can choose one of two sub-disciplines: History or Geography. In Informatics requires a computer programming test. Foreign language subjects include a listening comprehension test.

Regarding the percentage of students winning prizes, Ho Chi Minh City stipulates that it should not exceed 60% of the total number of participating students (with first prize winners not exceeding 5% of the total number of prize winners) and the ranking criteria require a score of 10 points or higher.

For Khanh Hoa province, the junior high school gifted student selection exam includes 7 subjects: Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Literature, English, French, Informatics, History, and Geography. For the integrated subjects, the exam will be designed to include knowledge from each sub-discipline with an appropriate number of questions. There will be two parts: a compulsory part (accounting for 60% of the total score) and an optional part (accounting for 40% of the total score)...

Early information allows for proactive action.

Speaking with a reporter from Dai Doan Ket Newspaper, Mr. Ha Xuan Nham, Head of the Secondary Education Department (Hanoi Department of Education and Training), informed that the Department is currently developing a plan for the 9th-grade gifted student competition, which will be announced soon so that schools can proactively prepare for teaching and review. The number of subjects for the competition will be based on the subjects included in the 2018 General Education Program.

Regarding the structure of the integrated subject exam, which includes a common section and an optional section as announced by some Departments of Education and Training, Mr. Ha Xuan Nham stated that when the exam plan is announced, details of the exam structure will also be released. The exam content is based on the 2018 General Education Program, oriented towards assessing students' thinking skills and practical application abilities, as set out in the Program's objectives. Schools will use this as a basis for organizing review and teaching, conducting assessments, and selecting outstanding students to participate in the exam.

Thus, unlike the provincial and city-level gifted student selection exams for junior high schools in previous years, which only tested single subjects, this year, 9th-grade students have been studying under the new General Education Program issued in 2018 with integrated subjects. Therefore, many localities have decided to organize exams in integrated subjects. This impacts the curriculum and exam question design, as well as the methods of selecting gifted students in schools. While waiting for guidance from the Department of Education and Training on how to organize the 9th-grade gifted student exam, many schools have already begun selecting gifted students for further training.

The challenge for the integrated subject is determining the best approach for selecting the team. Should students take the exam in a single subject or an integrated subject format? Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. For example, a single-subject exam would provide a basis for identifying individual strengths, but if the official provincial/city-level exam is an integrated exam, this approach might not be ideal. Conversely, if an integrated exam with optional sections is organized, it would also be difficult to clearly identify each student's strengths for targeted training.

Mr. Huynh Duy Linh, Principal of Nguyen Luong Bang Secondary School (Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City), said that the Natural Science textbook is organized according to a linear thematic structure. Therefore, by looking at the curriculum structure, schools can proactively develop plans for training gifted students under the 2018 General Education Program. To ensure sufficient review material, the school plans to have 3 single-subject teachers to provide training for Natural Science. Similarly, History and Geography will be taught by 2 teachers each.

This is also the approach currently being implemented by many schools, given that teaching integrated subjects in junior high schools is still handled by 2 or 3 teachers, even though training and professional development have been provided. However, this has not yet been able to fill the gap in previous single-subject training, and teachers need more time to familiarize themselves with the new approach and to self-learn and supplement their knowledge.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Head of the Secondary Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training), the Ministry of Education and Training currently only regulates gifted student competitions at the high school level, and there are no regulations at the junior high school level. The subjects to be tested, the time, location, invigilation, and grading are all within the authority of the provinces; the Ministry does not interfere. If gifted student competitions are organized, the provincial Departments of Education and Training can organize them according to the subjects in the curriculum. Therefore, with the 2018 curriculum, competitions in integrated subjects can assess students' overall abilities.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/thi-hoc-sinh-gioi-cap-thcs-thay-doi-de-phu-hop-10290919.html