The incident where the invigilator took 30 minutes of the candidates' time to complete the 2025 Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam - considered the largest university entrance exam in the country - is strange not only in the way the incident unfolded but also in the way it was resolved, which was... nothing was resolved.
According to the candidates' feedback, in the second round of the competency assessment exam held in early June, when the bell rang at 8:30 a.m., the invigilator confirmed that this was the time to read the questions and asked the candidates not to hold a pen.
Candidates in the second round of the 2025 capacity assessment exam of Ho Chi Minh City National University (Photo: VNU).
Over the next 30 minutes, candidates repeatedly reminded the supervisor that it was time to do the test, but were ignored. Some students picked up a pen and were immediately reminded, and the supervisor repeated that it was time to read the questions.
Not knowing the time, the exam regulations, and the reactions of the candidates, the invigilator still did not bother to review or recheck. Only when the clock struck 9 o'clock, when checking again, did the invigilator realize that the exam time was 30 minutes late and hurriedly let the students take their pens.
In an exam, which is an extremely important exam in a student's life, 1 minute is extremely valuable to the candidates. Here, all candidates in an exam room spend 30 minutes, which means 1/5 of the exam time (the exam time is 150 minutes).
This incident could have been handled on the spot by flexibly giving the students extra time to complete the test. But no, as the incident turned out, the candidates were unjustly deprived of 30 minutes of time to complete the test.
According to information from the Ho Chi Minh City National University Competency Assessment Council, the incident was caused by the exam supervisor mishearing the bell. This was due to the subjectivity and errors in professional coordination of the exam supervisor.
The incident was resolved at the level of the examination cluster directly contacting and apologizing to the affected candidates as well as making some suggestions such as providing mental support to the candidates such as refunding the examination fee, and at the same time considering appropriate handling for the related invigilators.
Many opinions say that the candidates who were wrongly accused in this incident need to have their test scores added or their test scores changed because the fault was not theirs.
However, the representative of this exam confirmed that the test results will not change, no points will be added or points will be changed for the candidates' test.
The incident of the candidate losing 30 minutes of the exam was resolved with an apology. The invigilator made a mistake but the candidate was the one who suffered the consequences. The consequences were rushed exams with half an hour less time, exams that made the candidate feel anxious and insecure…
Among them, there are candidates who spend money and time taking the exam a second time in the hope of getting better results to be considered for university admission. When encountering problems that are not their fault, some students fall into depression.
A lecturer at a university in Ho Chi Minh City shared that it is rare for a supervisor to lose 30 minutes of time on an exam due to a mistake. According to this person, when the supervisor realized the time was wrong, he could have quickly reported it to the examination board to make up the time for the students.
When this step has been skipped, the solution should be to address the rights of the candidates. It could be in some way such as allowing them to retake the exam if they need it, adding points or recalculating the total score of the exam for the affected students to be lower than 1/5 of the original total score - equivalent to the time they lost - to ensure their rights.
Even one case needs to be resolved, not just an entire exam room.
And here, according to this lecturer, the candidates in this incident were not only forgotten in the exam room, right in front of the invigilator, but once again they were forgotten in the way the incident was resolved, which was not resolved at all.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/thi-sinh-mat-30-phut-o-ky-thi-vao-dai-hoc-lon-nhat-nuoc-xin-loi-la-xong-20250610145810367.htm
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