10th Grade Exam at Gifted High School: Content that left many candidates 'frozen'

Candidates after completing the non-major English and literature test

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

At the exam site of the Practical High School (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City), Dang Nguyen Minh An, a student of Nguyen Binh Khiem Secondary School ( Dong Nai ), said he was quite impressed with the material provided in the entrance exam for grade 10 of the Gifted High School, which was the fairy tale The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen - a Danish writer famous for his works The Little Match Girl , The Little Mermaid , The Brave Tin Soldier ...

About the Nightingale , this is a story about an emperor who loved the sound of birdsong but because he received a gift of a mechanical bird, he forgot about the real nightingale that used to be his friend. Later, the fake bird was broken and the emperor became seriously ill. The nightingale knew this so it returned to the palace to sing for him, helping him recover. "Through this story, the topic asks many questions such as comparing the real and fake nightingales' songs, what is 'missing' in the mechanical bird's song...", An recalls.

With the paragraph writing part, from the story The Nightingale , the question asked about the attitude of "having the new replaces the old", having to take responsibility for the past, according to An. Meanwhile, with the English subject, the male student was "frozen" at the word form (form of words) and rewriting sentences. "I read but didn't understand anything", An confessed. "We are from the province so we didn't have much contact with the test format of Ho Chi Minh City. Generally, we did well on any question we could."

Minh An (middle) and a group of friends from the same school moved from Dong Nai to Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of May 23 to prepare for the entrance exam to the Gifted High School.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

An was accompanied by two other friends from the same school and all three took the bus to Ho Chi Minh City last night. In the group of friends, two people registered for the IT specialized class and one person chose to take the math specialized class. "In class, we only learned the basics, so to prepare for the Gifted High School exam, we registered for extra classes outside. If we don't have the opportunity, we will continue to take the exam for Luong The Vinh Specialized High School (Dong Nai)," the group of friends shared.

Nguyen Luu Ngoc Tu, a student at Truong Chinh Secondary School in Ho Chi Minh City, commented that the non-major English test was "a bit difficult" because there were many "strange words", especially in the word form section. These are words that students do not encounter in class or if they do, they are only in reading comprehension passages that not many students pay attention to, according to Tu. "I think only the word form is difficult, the other sections are at an acceptable level, the difficulty is quite moderate", the female student said.

Regarding literature, Tu added that he was quite impressed with the essay writing question because of its familiarity. Specifically, the question raised the fact that many people tend to use artificial intelligence (AI) to create artistic products such as paintings. However, this also raises the issue of ethical violations, when AI will refer to the artist's existing drawings. From there, the question asked the candidate's thoughts on the above story.

This year, more than 3,500 candidates took the entrance exam to grade 10 at Gifted High School.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

Vuong Thanh Truc, a student at Nam Sai Gon Secondary and High School in Ho Chi Minh City, chose topic number 1. In this topic, the question is how we can preserve animals and plants. "This topic is quite easy for me," the female student said. "Specifically, I developed my writing in the direction that animals love each other, animals love humans, and finally humans love each other."

With the English test, Truc was confident with the word form part, but had a lot of trouble when it came to rewriting sentences. "I was 'out of sync' because I focused on reviewing other parts but not this part," Truc said.

This afternoon, 9th graders will continue to take the non-math exam for 120 minutes. Tomorrow (May 25), they will try their hand at the specialized subjects they have registered for. The English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and IT exams will be in the morning, and the Literature and Math exams will be in the afternoon. The specialized subjects will have a common test time of 150 minutes.

Parents and students take advantage of the lunch break right next to the school to prepare for the afternoon exam.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

Compared to the 2024-2025 school year, this year's entrance exam of the Gifted High School has a lower competition rate, with the highest competition rate in grade 10 specializing in math and English. According to the school's regulations, after the entrance exam, the school will announce the official questions and answers for all subjects. In previous years, the school usually announced the questions and answers about 10 days after the exam.

The leaders of the Gifted High School said that it is expected that on June 9-10, the school will announce the exam scores and admission scores. In the 2025-2026 school year, the school's enrollment target is 595 students, with a total of 3,509 students registering for the exam. This is also the only school in Ho Chi Minh City that organizes its own entrance exam, independent of the 10th grade exam organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thi-lop-10-truong-pho-thong-nang-khieu-co-noi-dung-khien-nhieu-thi-sinh-do-nguoi-185250524150108051.htm