University admissions 2025: How do exam subject choices affect the subject combinations for admission?

Candidates gather information at the University Admissions Application Fair organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper - Photo: HA QUAN

According to regulations, students taking the 2025 high school graduation exam will take four subjects, two of which are compulsory: mathematics and literature. The remaining two subjects are optional and can be chosen from a selection of foreign languages, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, economics and law education, technology, and computer science.

However, in reality, students can only choose two subjects out of the four subjects they registered for in 10th grade (in principle, students must study the subjects they chose in 10th grade and cannot change them throughout their three years of high school).

The number of subjects tested does not cover all traditional subject combinations.

In previous years, high school students took four exams, but in reality, there were six subjects: mathematics, literature, a foreign language, and either a combination of natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) or social sciences (history, geography, and civics). Since students had studied these subjects throughout their three years of high school, each student could choose their preferred combination of subjects for the graduation exam.

Meanwhile, with the 2018 General Education Program, students only take four subjects in the high school graduation exam, and moreover, from grade 10 onwards, they can choose elective subjects without being limited to the natural science or social science combinations as before. Not to mention, they can choose entirely new subjects such as computer science, technology, economics education, and law.

Because the number of subjects in the high school graduation exam is fewer, and the combination of all four subjects a student takes in the 2025 high school graduation exam may not cover all the traditional three-subject combinations used for university admissions, not to mention the need to consider the use of new subjects in the admissions process, it would be impractical for universities to continue using only the traditional three-subject combinations for admissions as before.

Previously, although there were nearly 100 combinations of three subjects for university admission, in reality, students only registered for admission based on traditional exam blocks (accounting for about 90% of the total number of candidates) such as A00 (mathematics, physics, chemistry), A01 (mathematics, physics, foreign language), B00 (mathematics, biology, chemistry), C00 (literature, history, geography), and D01 (mathematics, literature, English). Each major usually considered multiple combinations, a maximum of four, and only around these five traditional combinations.

What universities are concerned about is whether a new admissions combination will attract enough applicants to ensure sufficient enrollment. Therefore, universities are still hesitant in announcing the details of the admissions process based on the 2025 high school graduation exam scores.

Dr. Nguyen Duc Nghia

What are the solutions for admissions based on high school graduation exam scores?

Of course, the simplest technical solution for universities to use high school graduation exam scores for admissions is to stop considering each combination of three subjects separately as before, and instead only consider the total score of all four subjects in the high school graduation exam.

Actually, this idea isn't new. According to regulations for 2023 and 2024, when considering university admissions based on various subject combinations, universities will use the combination with the highest score achieved by the candidate for admission, rather than rigidly adhering to only one combination.

However, this admission method will be criticized for diminishing the career guidance significance of the high school stage (grades 10 to 12), which aims to develop abilities according to each student's strengths and aspirations, ensuring students have access to career paths and preparing them for post-secondary education (college and university).

What universities are concerned about is whether a new admissions combination will attract enough applicants to ensure sufficient enrollment. Therefore, universities are still struggling to announce the details of the 2025 high school graduation exam-based admissions process. Currently, there is no statistical data available on students' subject choices in high schools.

And perhaps this is one of the reasons why many universities have already announced their 2025 admission plans, which all reduce the number of places allocated based on high school graduation exam scores, while the Ministry of Education and Training encourages universities to use high school graduation exam scores for admission.

36 ways to choose combinations

According to calculations, with the regulation that students taking the 2025 high school graduation exam will take four subjects, with two compulsory subjects (mathematics and literature) and two elective subjects from the remaining nine, there are 36 ways to choose a combination of four subjects for the high school graduation exam.

However, among those 36 ways to choose the four subjects for the high school graduation exam, some methods cannot lead to a traditional three-subject combination for university admissions, for example, candidates taking four subjects: mathematics, literature, computer science, and technology.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-sinh-dai-hoc-2025-chon-mon-thi-anh-huong-gi-den-to-hop-xet-tuyen-20241018094339758.htm