Grade 10 Admissions: Exam or Review?

10th grade admission, if viewed comprehensively over the past many years, is a contrasting picture. On one side, there is quite fierce competition for 9th grade students in many localities. On the other side, there are many places where the benchmark scores are low, even the average score for each subject is less than 1 point, but they are still admitted to 10th grade public schools.

In big cities and top schools, for many years now, there has been a situation like the one stated by a delegate discussing at the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly : "The 10th grade exam is creating heavy pressure, making students lethargic, even desperate if they fail the exam." That is why many opinions say that the 10th grade entrance exam should be abolished as a "miniature national exam."

In big cities and top schools, for many years now the 10th grade exam has been extremely fierce.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

On the contrary, for schools with low entrance scores, there are also opinions that with such low benchmark scores, why organize entrance exams, it is costly and puts pressure on the organizing school, and only eliminates candidates with failing scores.

The contrast in the 10th grade entrance scores of high schools

The benchmark scores for grade 10 admission in high schools in recent years in different provinces and cities have always had a very clear contrast. There are many schools with extremely high benchmark scores but there are also schools with very low benchmark scores even though they are located close to each other.

In fact, the high or low standard score in the 10th grade entrance exam, in addition to the quality and reputation of high schools, also depends on the number of candidates registering for the exam, whether large or small, and the quality of the candidates taking the exam.

There are many high schools that have affirmed their brand and reputation and are located in a favorable area, so there are often many candidates with good academic performance taking the exam and the number of candidates registering for the exam is also higher than other schools.

Newly established schools or schools that have been around for a long time but do not have high quality training will have lower number of candidates registering for the exam. This leads to different high and low benchmark scores for each school.

In particular, there are many schools in disadvantaged areas, where the population is sparse, where the number of admissions and the number of candidates taking the exam may be equal. Some schools even have higher admission quotas than the number of applicants, so candidates only need not to have a failing score to be admitted.

Therefore, in recent admission seasons, we have seen schools that set admission scores of less than 1 point per subject. This has led to skepticism in training.

Should combine both exam and selection methods

However, if the 10th grade entrance exam is completely eliminated, there will be more problems, especially for high schools in urban areas. Because eliminating the entrance exam will lead to the situation where middle schools increase the scores of their students to have a higher chance of being admitted.

Removing or keeping the 10th grade entrance exam has long been a controversial issue.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

The 10th grade entrance exam for the 2025-2026 school year is the first year of implementing Circular 30/2024/TT-BGDDT on the Regulations on Secondary and High School Admissions, so all non-specialized schools calculate the coefficient of 1 for exam subjects. Therefore, the 10th grade benchmark scores of most high schools in the provinces have long been calculated with a coefficient of 2 for literature and math, this school year looks lower than previous years.

However, in reality, there are many schools with very low admission scores, leading to public doubts because the entrance exam organization has many different stages that only eliminate students with failing scores.

Therefore, it is probably most feasible for education departments to flexibly combine both entrance exams and 10th grade admissions to ensure the number of admissions and avoid wasting the efforts and money of the state and parents.

It can be implemented in the following direction: Teaching and learning in secondary schools still take place normally with a proactive attitude and teachers guide students to the 10th grade entrance exam to improve the quality of training. The Department of Education and Training still issues the normal 10th grade admission plan but proposes an admission plan that combines both entrance exams and selection.

After students register for the 10th grade entrance exam, the Department of Education and Training will compile and count the number of registrations for high schools. From there, they will have directions and notify schools about which schools will take the entrance exam and which schools will consider admission.

For schools with a much higher number of registered candidates than the number of students admitted, the entrance exam will be the safest and most objective option. After the exam, the schools will base on the test scores of each candidate and take from top to bottom until the quota is met.

For schools with a lower number of candidates registering for the exam, or equal to the number of admissions, or even slightly higher, considering academic results and training scores is a suitable option.

Conducting this form of admission to these schools will reduce pressure on students and high schools. Moreover, admission will reduce many costs from the budget and reduce the burden on parents.

Therefore, the Departments of Education and Training should base on the actual situation of the number of candidates registering for the 10th grade entrance exam to combine both the entrance exam and the selection process to ensure fairness and convenience for all candidates in each province and city at present.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tuyen-sinh-lop-10-thi-hay-xet-18525120709571423.htm