Private schools are stable, public schools are anxiously waiting for the third subject.

Private schools favor foreign languages ​​in admissions

Newton Secondary and High School has just announced the 10th grade entrance exam (phase 1) for the 2025-2026 school year. Candidates who are interested can register now and the exam will take place on February 15, 2025.

Admission to grade 10 of private schools basically maintains the same method as last year.

The number of subjects to take this exam will depend on the system the student registers for. For the High Quality system and the Semi-International system (first foreign language: English or Chinese), students take the math and English tests; for the American/Cambridge Bilingual system, students take 3 tests, including: math; English & General English (Math, Science, Language Arts).

In December 2024, a number of private high schools in Hanoi also announced their 10th grade enrollment plans for the 2025-2026 school year. Notably, many schools give special priority to students with foreign language certificates.

Specifically: Ly Thai To Secondary and High School announced the recruitment of 480 10th grade students. Students are divided into 12 classes, belonging to 4 models: international English, high quality, class A and class D. The school directly recruits students in one of three groups: third prize winner of excellent students at district level or higher in cultural subjects; achieving IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL iBT 65, Cambridge PET/PCE 169 or higher; learning and training results at secondary level (except semester II of grade 9) are Good.

The remaining students are considered based on their academic records. The admission score is the total score of 3.5 years of junior high school (maximum 40) + priority points (maximum 6, for students with arts and sports awards at the district level or higher). The school only considers awards in the 9th grade year. If students win multiple awards at the same time, they will be awarded the highest score.

Le Quy Don Secondary and High School recruits 240 grade 10 students with 2 models of class A and class D. The school also directly recruits students who have won prizes for excellent students at district level or higher in cultural subjects; won prizes in math, English, Science and Technology competitions of international units or in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Training ; students with at least two years of excellent academic performance, 4 years of good conduct in secondary school. Students with foreign language certificates (IELTS, TOEFL Junior) according to school regulations receive a 15% - 20% discount on basic tuition fees.

Nguyen Sieu School does not recruit students directly but gives priority to students with IELTS 6.0 or higher. In addition, students with good English skills, academic awards and social projects will be considered for scholarships of 10-100% of tuition fees.

The school recruits students through two methods. With admission, students are evaluated based on their academic records, family wishes, and psychological tests. If they choose to take the entrance exam, they can take the three-subject competency assessment test in math, literature, and English organized by the school; or submit their 10th grade exam scores from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, combined with an English test.

Giving reasons for direct admission and priority for students with IELTS certificates, representatives of the schools' admission committees said that through previous admission courses, students with IELTS certificates have good knowledge and thinking ability; all of these students meet the requirements of the study program well.

Public schools: anxiously waiting for the third exam subject to be finalized

While private schools clearly announce their admission plans, giving priority to candidates with English certificates, public schools are still waiting for the official announcement of admission regulations and are anxious about the third exam subject.

Grade 9 students are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the third subject in the grade 10 exam.

In the draft Circular on high school admission regulations, there are 3 methods of admission to grade 10 high school including: entrance exam, admission review or a combination of entrance exam and admission review. The selection of admission method is under the authority of the locality. In case of organizing entrance exam, 3 subjects will be taken: math, literature and a third subject or a combined exam selected by the Department of Education and Training, the higher education institution with the high school.

The Ministry requires that the third exam subject be selected from among the subjects that are assessed by scores in the general education program at the secondary level. The selection of the third exam subject has changed over the years to achieve the goal of comprehensive education in the basic education stage. The exam is a combination of subjects selected from among the subjects that are assessed by scores in the general education program at the secondary level. The exam plan will be announced before March 31 every year.

Up to now, public opinion, parents, teachers and schools are still waiting for the Ministry of Education and Training to officially announce the high school entrance exam regulations. Regarding the third exam subject, many opinions say that it should not wait until March 31 but can be announced right from the beginning of the school year so that students can have a systematic review process and achieve the best results. In addition, many opinions frankly stated the point of view: the third exam subject should be fixed as a foreign language (mainly English); because English is one of the 8 compulsory subjects for all students; helping to realize the requirement of the Politburo to gradually make English the second language in schools.

Parent Ha Thi Lan, residing in Ba Dinh district, shared: in the period of global integration, foreign language (English) is considered the key. Every year, the English exam scores in high school graduation exams in our country remain low. If English is not considered a compulsory subject in the 10th grade exam, it is unlikely that high school English results will improve.

“The Ministry of Education and Training has just launched a foreign language learning movement. For junior high school students, nothing is more effective than incorporating English into the public 10th grade exam. 2025 is the first year that students will take the exam according to the 2018 general education program with many innovations in exam structure, exam content, especially the literature exam does not use materials from textbooks. I hope that in the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2025-2026 school year, the third exam subject will be English,” suggested parent Nguyen Anh Ngoc, residing in Thanh Xuan district.

According to this parent, with the 10th grade entrance exam, the Ministry of Education and Training should have a clear and unified plan for localities to choose from: option 1 is to have fixed math, literature, and English exams; option 2 is a combined exam (synthesizing knowledge of the remaining subjects).

"In my opinion, it is reasonable to fix the exam plan for math, literature, and English. Although there are still opinions that English is just a language subject and cannot be considered more important than natural sciences or social sciences, it is clear that any student needs English. When fixing these three exam subjects, schools will have ways to test and evaluate to ensure that students have a solid grasp of the knowledge in the remaining subjects after completing junior high school and have enough luggage to enter high school," said parent Nguyen Y Lan, Ha Dong district.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/tuyen-sinh-lop-10-truong-tu-on-dinh-truong-cong-thap-thom-cho-mon-thu-3.html