Midterm math exam but 'at first glance it looks like an essay' makes an impression

Unlike the usual "dry" math problems, right in lesson 1 - the beginning of this exam is a verse:

“In the poem 'Vietnamese' by the late writer, playwright and poet Luu Quang Vu, there is the following verse:

'The earth is rich in many languages

Noble, profound, brilliant, joyful

Vietnamese language vibrates the heartbeat of people

Like the sound of a flute, like the strings of a small blood lute.

The essence of this problem is to calculate the frequency of each type of mark (tone).

Not only that, the exam is also innovated in the direction of integrating knowledge from many fields and subjects such as physics.

Mr. Phi Trung Duc (teacher and also the leader of the 9th grade math group at Trung Vuong Secondary School) said: “The day I was checking the test, the students exclaimed and looked surprised when they read the introduction of the math test as if it were an essay. We included such material to create an exciting and light start for the students, without feeling too burdened.”

Mr. Duc said that the exam questions were developed by the test-making team based on the spirit of innovation and creativity, closely following the 2018 General Education Program and having content to make students excited and realize the practical value of mathematics.

According to Mr. Duc, through the exam, the school not only tests math knowledge but also wants to show students the connection between subjects and fields.

“In lesson 1, we used a poem as the test material but it was still possible to assess students’ math skills. In the following lessons, we also raised issues and events that were close to and practical in life. The test committee consulted to agree on the structure but still ensured the knowledge requirements of the program. The test materials were not just included for fun. Through that, students can understand that they can use math to know whether the use of marks (tones) is balanced or biased in the way they rhyme...”, said Mr. Duc.

According to Mr. Duc, the exam questions tend to use mathematical knowledge to solve practical everyday problems.

In question 2 of lesson 1, in addition to ensuring knowledge about probability is tested, the exam also mentions how to mix/match colors. “This is a very common content in reality. This ensures that it is related to the probability part of the curriculum and also introduces and provides students with additional knowledge about society and painting...”, Mr. Duc shared.

Lesson 3 of the exam mentioned current issues such as land clearance and relocation of households to expand public space, but through that, it required modeling skills and knowledge related to quadratic equations with one variable to solve. Or lesson 5, the exam showed the application of Mathematics to optimally design daily living spaces. "This is a problem that many families encounter in the process of interior design in 'dead corner' areas. Our idea is to provide students with additional optimization skills to take advantage of those spaces," said Mr. Duc.

The teacher said that due to the painstaking search for relevant materials and resources, the school's math teachers built this test within a week to complete it.

After reviewing the math test of Trung Vuong Secondary School, teacher Hoang Lien Nhung (Math - IT - Technology Group of Thai Thinh Secondary School, Dong Da District, Hanoi) said that this is a mid-term 2 test that meets the requirements and also follows the structure of the 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi according to the new general education program.

"The practical problems are used quite well, approaching the right direction to test students' abilities. I think with this question, students will find it interesting and surprising in the statistical question, including the inclusion of a poem. If you read carefully, the inclusion of a poem makes the question strange, but in fact the statistical table has enough hypotheses for students. Whether or not the poem is included does not affect students' ability to do the test. However, when this new element appears, students will find it interesting," said Ms. Nhung.