High School Graduation Exam 2025: Notes on elective subjects

NO CHANGE OF SELECTED SUBJECTS AFTER REGISTRATION

From April 21 to 5:00 p.m. on April 28, candidates officially registered for the high school graduation exam on the exam management system of the Ministry of Education and Training after 4 days for candidates to try registering.

Teachers guide 12th grade students to register for the 2025 high school graduation exam

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

The Ministry of Education and Training said that 785,305 candidates have registered to take the online high school graduation exam on the exam management system, with 766,586 candidates currently in grade 12, accounting for 97.62%; 18,719 candidates are independent, accounting for 2.38%. Of which, 15,516 candidates are independent under the 2018 GeneralEducation Program, accounting for 1.98%; 3,204 candidates are independent under the 2006 General Education Program, accounting for 0.4%.

Speaking to Thanh Nien reporter, Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training), commented that although trial registration is not mandatory, this year the number of registrations is significantly higher than last year (in 2024, about 700,000 candidates registered for trial). This shows that students and schools are interested and have prepared carefully for the upcoming exam. The trial registration process shows that basically candidates did not make any significant mistakes, and the new exam management system also operates smoothly and conveniently.

Director Huynh Van Chuong emphasized that 12th grade students need to pay special attention when registering for elective exams. Students must choose a maximum of 2 subjects from the subjects they have chosen and have the results of their studies in 12th grade; choose the right subjects according to their wishes for the high school graduation exam and university and college admissions. They cannot choose subjects that they did not study in 12th grade. As for foreign languages, students can choose to take a foreign language exam different from the foreign language they studied in high school. For example, students who study English can choose to take a foreign language exam in German and vice versa...

"Once you have chosen and officially registered, you will not be able to change the exam subjects. Therefore, candidates must consider carefully during the exam registration process," Mr. Chuong noted. Foreign language certificates for exemption from graduation exams or university admission must be valid until June 25. The Ministry of Education and Training will issue a document guiding candidates on the use of foreign language certificates in university admission.

Is there a dominant trend of choosing social sciences subjects?

Although high school students are allowed to choose 4 subjects in addition to the compulsory subjects, when registering for the high school graduation exam, students should note that they can only choose 2 elective subjects in addition to the 2 compulsory subjects: literature and math. Compulsory subjects in high school are also included in the list of elective subjects such as history and foreign languages.

Candidates officially registered for the 2025 high school graduation exam from yesterday (April 21) to 5:00 p.m. on April 28.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Surveys in some localities show that the number of 12th grade students choosing to take history and geography for their high school graduation exams often accounts for 40-50%, overwhelming compared to natural science subjects.

In Hanoi , Mr. Ha Xuan Nham, Head of the Secondary Education Department (Hanoi Department of Education and Training), informed: the survey was held at the end of March with more than 117,000 12th grade students, showing that the subject chosen by most students was English with 61,000, equivalent to 52%. Next was history with 47,500 (40%) and geography with 45,000 students taking the exam (38%). The number of students choosing these subjects overwhelmingly dominated the natural group, such as physics with nearly 33,000 students choosing, accounting for 28%; chemistry was 13% and biology was 3%.

There are also very few candidates registering for the subjects that are taking the high school graduation exam for the first time this year, such as information technology with 483 candidates choosing, technology ( agriculture ) with 3,456 candidates, technology (industry) with only 13 candidates registering. "However, this is only the number of students registering for the survey, not necessarily the number who will register for the official exam," said Mr. Nham.

In Bac Giang, the Department of Education and Training counted the subjects chosen by students in pairs. History and geography were the most chosen combination with more than 7,300 students, accounting for 31%. Physics and chemistry ranked second with 15%, the rest were mostly pairs of social subjects, such as geography - economic and legal education (13%), history - foreign languages, history - economic and legal education (6% each pair)...

This trend also occurred in Hue City. In the graduation mock exam held on April 10 and 11, nearly 38% of 13,400 students chose to take the history exam; 34% chose English and 31% chose geography. In the natural science group, over 30% of students chose physics, 22% chemistry and 8% biology.

The difference between the number of students choosing social subjects compared to natural subjects for graduation exams has been going on for many years. In 2024 alone, about 63% of students chose the social science combination, the highest in the past 7 years. This year, with the permission to teach elective subjects in high school, choosing graduation subjects instead of combination exams, the Ministry of Education and Training hopes that the trend of choosing natural sciences will increase.

Grade 12 students register for the high school graduation exam on the exam management system of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

TO AVOID CONFUSION WHEN ONE EXAM ROOM HAS MANY SUBJECTS AT THE SAME TIME

For candidates taking the 2018 General Education Program, each candidate will take 3 exams in the same exam room. Therefore, according to the Ministry of Education and Training, in one exam room, candidates can take 5 subjects at the same time. Therefore, the organization of the 2 elective exams this year will have many more complicated changes than before, but according to Mr. Huynh Van Chuong, the goal is to create the most favorable conditions for candidates. Specifically, students will have to take fewer exams, do not have to move or change exam rooms according to the elective exam.

"A subject can be tested in both shifts for different examination rooms, so candidates must be isolated for both shifts and the exam codes for each shift must be increased from 24 to 48. Candidates taking the first shift will be given exam codes from 1 to 24, and candidates taking the second shift will be given exam codes from 25 to 48," said Mr. Chuong.

According to Mr. Chuong, an examination room can have a maximum of 24 candidates and can have a maximum of 5 different exam rooms. The Ministry of Education and Training said that it has calculated the distance between 2 subjects to suit the time of distributing the exam papers for up to 5 subjects so as not to affect the candidates' exam time.

The Ministry of Education and Training also requires that the papers be collected by exam room, not by subject like previous years. Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training, said: "We have conducted tests and simulations of up to 5 different exam subjects in 1 exam room at 2 time slots, showing that it can still be handled."

Does the end of the ministerial inspection affect the exam inspection?

The Prime Minister has requested to rearrange the organization and personnel of the inspection apparatus on the basis of ending the activities of 12 ministerial inspectors and department and district inspectors.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuong, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Education and Training, said that this year, at the time of the exam and related activities, the Ministry Inspectorate is still a unit of the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Department Inspectorate is still a unit of the Department of Education and Training. Therefore, the model of the inspection and examination plan will basically remain stable as the model and organization of inspection and examination activities for the 2024 high school graduation exam.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-nam-2025-luu-y-ve-mon-tu-chon-185250421233838921.htm