Controversy erupts over why an off-topic essay on the 10th grade entrance exam still received a grade.

Ho Chi Minh City – The fact that the 10th grade entrance exam in Literature requires candidates to analyze poetry, but the grading guidelines stipulate that analyzing short stories will still receive points, is causing controversy regarding fairness.

In the Literature exam for admission to 10th grade in public schools in Ho Chi Minh City, question 1 (candidates can choose one of two questions) in the literary analysis section required writing an argumentative essay on a stanza or passage of poetry that made you reflect on the patriotism of the Vietnamese people and want to express your admiration for that love. From there, explain the impact of that stanza or passage on you.

The answer key recently released by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training notes that in cases where candidates choose to analyze a story, the examiners will still evaluate and score the skills and thematic accuracy as agreed upon by the examination board.

Answer key and scoring rubric for essay section 1 of the Literature exam for 10th grade entrance in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

This saved data sparked controversy on student forums in Ho Chi Minh City.

Minh Khoa, a candidate from Thu Duc City, expressed his dissatisfaction that candidates who answered incorrectly were still given points. According to Khoa, the exam clearly required an analysis of a stanza or passage of poetry; choosing a story that was clearly off-topic and irrelevant to the question was unacceptable.

"In an entrance exam, where candidates compete for every 0.25 point, and those who answer incorrectly still receive points, I think it's unfair to those who answer correctly," Khoa said. This candidate argued that incorrect answers could be graded based on skill or given "consolation" points, and should never be graded the same as answers that were correct.

An anonymous account suggested that choosing the wrong genre of work could be a mistake due to exam stress, and that these candidates should be given a chance if they analyze the topic correctly.

Having spent many years grading Literature exams, a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City believes that the questions are very clear, so it is unacceptable for candidates to make mistakes, especially in an entrance exam.

According to the teacher, grading the Literature exam based on skills and content that is relevant to the topic is reasonable. However, the grading method and the maximum score compared to a perfect score need to be clearly announced.

"I understand the students' frustrations. The Department should clearly announce how the grading will be done to avoid creating a sense of complacency where students think they can still get points even if they write off-topic answers," the teacher said, adding that this is the first time the grading rubric has been used for students who wrote off-topic answers; there have been no such cases in previous years.

A teacher involved in grading this year's exam said that for papers with incorrect answers, grading based on skills and presentation is normal because the answer key has separate scoring sections for these areas.

Off-topic answers will not receive full marks.

Speaking to VnExpress , Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh, a specialist in Literature at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, confirmed that candidates who chose the wrong genre – analyzing a short story instead of a poem – were still graded on the skills and presentation section of the exam.

Specifically, these essays are graded based on their argumentative structure; adherence to spelling, word usage, and sentence construction rules; and creative expression and insightful thinking on the topic. This skill section is awarded a maximum of 1 point.

However, according to Mr. Thanh, the judges will consider the overall quality of the candidate's work to award points, not just the form. For example, an essay may have three parts—introduction, body, and conclusion—but each part must fulfill its intended purpose to receive the maximum 0.5 points. If the essay is only formally correct in terms of introduction, body, and conclusion but written superficially without fulfilling its function, the candidate will not receive the maximum score.

"Furthermore, candidates who choose to analyze a story with a patriotic theme will be considered for points by the examiners because the argumentative content is relevant to the topic. Therefore, even well-written essays that deviate from the prompt will only receive a maximum of 1.5/4 points," Mr. Thanh said, adding that the detailed answer key and scoring rubric for the Literature exam were announced and specifically guided to each examiner.

The Department's staff also added that the grading guidelines for the Literature exam in Ho Chi Minh City this year are similar to those for the high school graduation exam, still awarding points for skills and correct topic even for candidates who choose the wrong genre. In previous years, these cases would have received 0 points.

Candidates take the Literature exam for admission to public high schools in Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of June 6th. Photo: Quynh Tran

According to the grading regulations of the Department of Education and Training, exam papers are graded independently in two rounds by examiners from two different teams. In cases where the scores of the two examiners differ, there are very detailed instructions on how to resolve the discrepancy and reach a consensus.

Before grading begins, the head examiner will meet with the team leaders to discuss the answer key, grading guidelines, and jointly grade at least 5 sample exams. Afterward, each grading team will also jointly grade at least 5 exams to ensure all members understand the process.

The Department announced that it mobilized more than 2,500 teachers to grade the 10th grade exams from June 12 to 17. The 10th grade exam results for Ho Chi Minh City will be announced on June 20.

In early June, nearly 96,000 students took exams in Literature, Foreign Language, and Mathematics to compete for a place in 10th grade at public high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. The total enrollment quota for the city's 108 public high schools is 77,300, with an acceptance rate of approximately 80%.

Many teachers believe the Literature and Math exams were stable like in previous years, while the English exam was quite easy. Therefore, the cut-off scores for 10th grade in Ho Chi Minh City this year could be above 25 points for top-tier schools, 16-22 points for mid-tier schools, and above 11 points for schools in the suburbs. This is an increase of 0.5-1 point compared to last year.

Le Nguyen

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