In 2025, nearly 68,000 candidates registered to take both rounds of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's capacity assessment exam.
PHOTO: NHAT THINH
According to statistics, this year the number of candidates registering to retake the exam is 2.4 times higher than in 2024, at 28,013 people, and this number is also a record high in the history of organizing the competency assessment exam of Ho Chi Minh City National University. The retake registration rate in previous years was 71.7% (2024), 64.7% (2023), 65.1% (2022) and about 50% (2019).
In 2022 and 2021, Ho Chi Minh City National University could not organize the second round due to Covid-19, and in 2018 - the first year of organizing the competency assessment exam - this unit only organized one round due to the limited number of candidates participating.
Causes of spike
Speaking to Thanh Nien on June 1 at the exam site of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Nguyen Lac Thuong Mien, a student at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (Ho Chi Minh City), said that in his class alone, 80-90% of his classmates participated in both rounds of the competency assessment exam, except for a few cases where they were "sure" of being admitted to university and did not continue to register.
"According to last year's statistics, the average score in the second round was higher than the first round, so I think this is the reason why many students, including me, want to try again in the second round to improve their scores," the female student shared. "This time, because I'm already familiar with the way the questions are done, I personally feel that it's 'easier' than the first round."
Another reason is that this year, 12th graders are taking the high school graduation exam for the first time under the 2018 GeneralEducation Program (new program). "We don't know how difficult the exam will be, so we'd rather take it again for the second round to have more options for university admission," Doan Do Quang Minh, a student at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (HCMC), said, adding that he is currently researching how to convert the scores of this exam to a common scale.
"I feel that the Ministry of Education and Training has carefully calculated how to convert scores to a common scale, so I believe all admission methods are relatively fair," Minh added.
Candidates leave after the second round of the competency assessment test on June 1.
PHOTO: NGOC LONG
Sharing the same opinion, Tat Thai Thanh Tam, a student at Luong The Vinh High School (HCMC), said that many students "are afraid of the new high school graduation exam program" so they have turned to competency assessment exams to reduce pressure. Ngo Quoc Hung, a student at Nguyen Cong Tru High School (HCMC), confided: "I am also a bit worried about whether my competency assessment exam score will be competitive with the high school graduation exam score."
Nguyen Thien Nhan, a student at Nguyen Thi Dieu High School (HCMC), informed that although the major he plans to apply for does not consider the results of the competency assessment exam, he still registered to take the exam twice to "gain experience" and get used to the new exam format according to the new program.
The proliferation of exam preparation courses is also a factor.
Organizing the competency assessment test since the exam began to be held until now, Master Bui Van Cong, a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, was also surprised by the number of candidates taking the second round of the exam after taking the first round in 2025. "The number has increased dramatically," said Mr. Cong, adding that at present, many candidates are discussing more about the career that suits their interests and scores.
According to the male teacher, there are 3 factors that have caused the number of candidates retaking the exam to increase sharply this year, including the fact that the second round of 2024 has a "more right-skewed" score distribution and that they themselves are also worried about the upcoming high school graduation exam, as the candidates mentioned above. "These are psychological factors, especially when in the first round, many students registered to 'take the exam for the sake of it', received the results and then seriously reviewed," said Mr. Cong.
Another reason, according to Mr. Cong, is the proliferation of services and centers for training to assess capacity, both online and in person. This is the "team" that helps to strongly spread the image of the capacity assessment exam and its advantages compared to the high school graduation exam, thereby contributing to increasing the number of candidates. "Advertising for the course is also advertising for the exam," said Mr. Cong.
Experts predict that the score distribution of the second round of the 2025 competency assessment exam will "skew right" similar to 2024.
PHOTO: NGOC LONG
According to the male teacher, the difficulty of the second round of the competency assessment test is only equal to the first round, but because the candidates have practiced from the first round and reviewed to improve, many students will do the test smoothly and evaluate the second round of the test as "easier" than the first round. That is also the basis for Mr. Cong to predict that the score distribution of the second round of the exam will tend to "shift to the right" compared to the first round (ie the total number of candidates with high scores will be higher), similar to 2024.
According to Ho Chi Minh City National University, the second round of the competency assessment exam had 92,272 candidates, concentrated in 11 provinces and cities from the Central to the Southwest regions. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh, Director of the Center for Testing and Training Quality Assessment (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that in 2025, there will be 155,556 candidates taking the exam and the results of the second round are expected to be announced on June 16, one week before the high school graduation exam.
In 2025, 111 universities and colleges registered to use the results of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam for admission. Previously, in 2024, the exam helped Ho Chi Minh City National University recruit more than 9,200 new students and accounted for more than 38% of the total enrollment target of the entire system. The maximum score of the competency assessment exam is 1,200, with each question having a different weight depending on the difficulty of the question.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thi-danh-gia-nang-luc-ly-do-thi-sinh-thi-lai-dot-2-cao-ky-luc-185250602142251181.htm
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