Stirring up the difficulty of the 2025 high school graduation exam, excellent provincial students also cried

(PLVN) - The 2025 high school graduation exam has just ended, but the echoes about the difficulty of the exam have not yet subsided. On social networks, two open letters are attracting special attention from public opinion.

A letter expressing the concerns of a parent whose son, a provincial-level math student, burst into tears after taking the exam. The other letter is from a gifted student in Hanoi who is facing the risk of saying goodbye to his dream of studying abroad...

Tears of excellent students at provincial level

The first letter from a parent, titled “To the test makers – A provincial excellent student, a broken dream”, tells the story of her child who won the provincial Math award, studied hard with the goal of entering the Foreign Trade University, but burst into tears after the exam because he found the questions too difficult and not consistent with what he had learned for 12 years.

In this letter, the parent did not ask for a grade, nor did he request for an easier test. The only thing emphasized was a request toeducators : “If the exam is an advanced level test for grading, have a separate exam. If it is a graduation exam, please let students be evaluated according to what they have been taught.”

The anxious and heartbreaking confessions of that parent quickly spread, attracting tens of thousands of shares and comments. Many parents, even teachers, shared the same concern about the exam, which was said to be surprisingly difficult. Many people asked why the exam was so highly classified if it was a graduation exam.

Original confession of a parent on social network (Screenshot)

Specifically, below the post, Khanh Tran commented: "The article expresses all the feelings of parents and students. Math is too difficult, and English is as long as a newspaper article."

Sympathizing with the concerns of the above parent, the UL account wrote: "Thank you to the author for expressing the feelings of many parents with children born in 2007. I hope that the Ministry of Education will consider when making the questions so that those who need a high school diploma to apply for a job can also do it. If it is necessary to assess capacity, there should be a separate exam."

"Education is the foundation of human life. I hope the Ministry of Education and Training will consider the general knowledge that high school students learn in textbooks. If the questions are open, why not teach in an open way, but change many sets of textbooks continuously?", an account named Hanh Bui asked.

"The questions should be close to the curriculum and what students learn so as not to put pressure on students, teachers and families," commented netizen Le Thi Anh Giang.

As a teacher, an account named Nguyen Xuyen expressed his opinion: "I understand very well what students want. I just hope that the teachers who are selected to create questions for students must ensure basic knowledge so that average and weak students can get 5-6 points, good students must get 7-8.5 points, and excellent students can get 9-10 points."

"Insider" writes heartfelt letter

After finishing the subjects in the recent graduation exam, many candidates expressed surprise and disappointment because the exam, especially Math and English, was considered much more difficult than the sample exam and the curriculum. Many students left the exam room in tears. Many teachers also commented that the exam was relatively difficult and had a high level of differentiation.

In response to feedback from students and parents, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that this year's exam was designed in the direction of assessing capacity, closely following the 2018 general education program. The exam was designed based on practical surveys and testing, to ensure objectivity, fairness and classification of students. In addition, the Ministry also announced the reference exam at the beginning of the year so that students and teachers have time to get acquainted...

"This way of making questions ensures objectivity, because teachers and students cannot predict in advance. This is also a way for students to ensure they study for real, take real exams, and not have to learn to cope, and anticipate important areas of knowledge to focus on studying," explained a representative of the Ministry of Education and Training.

However, a candidate who has just come out of the exam has also "spoken up". On social networks, a long letter from a language major student in Hanoi is attracting the attention of the online community.

Sharing of a candidate who just finished the 2025 high school graduation exam (Screenshot)

In the article, this candidate said that he had studied hard for three years and received a conditional offer from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). However, after completing the 2025 high school graduation exam, he was worried that the difficult exam could put him at risk of saying goodbye to his original dream of studying abroad.

This candidate reflected that the official exam questions for the two subjects Math and English were very different from the sample questions of the Ministry of Education and Training. The Math exam no longer focused on 12th grade knowledge but leaned towards puzzles, heavily classifying specialized students. Similarly, the English exam used many difficult vocabulary words that were far beyond the B1 - B2 level, causing confusion and injustice for candidates.

In the letter, this candidate also mentioned the feedback from the Ministry of Education and Training leaders after the exam: "If many candidates scored 9-10 points but it was not their real ability but the test was easy, would they be happy? If many candidates scored 6-7 points but it was their real ability, the candidates would have mature steps. Then it would be more fun." The candidate shared that to be admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he needed to score 6.5 or higher for each subject and an average of 8.0 or higher for 4 graduation subjects. If he wanted to receive a full scholarship, the average score had to be 8.2 or higher. However, with the difficulty of this year's exam, he might not meet the requirements, which means he would have to give up his dream of studying abroad even though he had paid a deposit to reserve a seat in advance.

Unable to hide his anxiety after the exam, the candidate wrote: "I am feeling very uncertain because I do not know where to go or where to return. If I stay in the country, I am not sure if my score is high enough to compete with other students who have an international certificate (SAT) or those who have high scores on the ability assessment exam. And if I study abroad, it is now too late for me to apply for this fall semester at any university in the world."

These shared lines not only reflect personal sadness, but also the common mood of many candidates coming out of this year's graduation exam. The worries do not stop at the score, but also the feeling of disorientation about the future, when the door to university or studying abroad becomes more distant.

Many students, parents, and teachers have raised the question: Is this year's graduation exam going beyond the "graduation" aspect, causing heavy pressure even for excellent students who study seriously and have a clear direction? Is the high school graduation exam deviating from its original goal? What parents and students expect at this time is not an easier exam, but an exam that follows the curriculum and is fair to all candidates.

Minh Trang

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/xon-xao-do-kho-de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-2025-hoc-sinh-gioi-cap-tinh-cung-khoc-post553404.html