Highest high school graduation exam score in 5 years

Of these, social sciences (history, geography, civics) - a combination chosen by 66% of candidates - had higher test scores than natural sciences (chemistry, physics, biology). The average literature score also increased by 0.4 compared to last year. More than 687,000 papers scored 7 points or higher, accounting for 64.57% of the total number of candidates, a record high.

Since the exam was focused on admission purposes, the graduation rate has remained stable at over 98%. According to ministry statistics, 40-50% of candidates pass university entrance exams each year using this exam score.

Explaining, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that before 2020, the high school exam still had a "2 in 1" factor - the results were used for both graduation and university admission. Because it had two goals, the exam was difficult to standardize - some years were difficult, some years were easy. For example, the 2018 exam was considered the most difficult, leading to a sharp drop in exam scores.

From 2020, the exam will have only one main purpose: graduation. The graduation exam score is one of many admission methods of universities. When the purpose and content of the exam are stable, teachers and students will have more experience and better preparation, and the results of the following year will be better than the previous year.

"2024 is the last exam according to the old program (2006), perhaps all candidates have the mentality that this is the last chance so they are determined to review and prepare more carefully," he commented.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Chuong, former Principal of Loc Phat High School, Lam Dong, analyzed that the 2024 high school graduation exam score was the highest in the past 5 years thanks to the stability of the exam structure.

"For example, physics has 4 questions from the 11th grade program, which are in some specific content. Thus, when reviewing, it is easy to orient, thereby helping students achieve higher results," he cited.

Therefore, localities are familiar with the exam, from orientation, professional training to organization. Experienced teachers can easily narrow down the knowledge to review for students, leading to improved quality.

The drop in failing scores is one of the signs. The graduation exam usually has 30% recognition questions. A weak student can completely get above 1 point after a few weeks of memorizing some important concepts.

Although the average score is high, 2024 recorded a 33% decrease in the number of 10 points compared to 2023. In particular, the subjects with absolute decreases in scores are biology, physics, civics, especially math with no 10 points.

The highest rate of getting 10 points is still in civics, followed by geography and chemistry.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Chuong said that the total number of 10 points decreased because civics - the subject that usually has the most absolute scores, this year decreased by 1/4 compared to 2023 - from 14,700 to 3,360. Surveying teachers in charge of this subject, he said the common reason is that the exam is longer, some situational questions include many characters and details, increasing the noise. With math - the only subject where no one in a million candidates got 10, there are 4 extremely difficult questions, resistant to calculators.

"Even if students randomly circle the answers, it is difficult to get them absolutely correct," he assessed.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, in the 9 subjects, the score distribution of natural sciences and history subjects has better differentiation, the graph is bell-shaped, and almost reaches the standard distribution. Meanwhile, most social sciences subjects have too many good scores, the score distribution is skewed to the right (except for foreign languages).

According to the standard distribution in statistics, a beautiful score spectrum has a bell shape, showing the classification of candidates between groups of levels: very poor, poor, average, good, excellent, very good. On the contrary, if the score spectrum is skewed, no matter which side, it will make it difficult to determine the level of the candidates, especially when the peak of the score spectrum is tilted more to the right, making it "difficult to choose truly good people".

Comparing between localities, many provinces and cities in the North and Central regions have higher exam scores than the national average in 2024 (6.75 points). Meanwhile, the Northwest and Central Highlands have many provinces with scores below average.

Vinh Phuc leads the country in average scores of all subjects in the 2021-2024 period. This province has ranked first 10 times in physics, history, geography and civic education.

Following is Nam Dinh with 7 times in the top 1 in math, chemistry, and geography. Meanwhile, Hanoi is not in the group of provinces with the highest graduation exam scores, Ho Chi Minh City is only at the top in English.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Chuong is not surprised by this trend, because the top provinces in terms of graduation exam scores all have advanced education. For example, the top 10 localities with the most national excellent student awards in 2024 include 9 provinces and cities in the North and Central regions. Many students participating in international Olympic teams come from Vinh Phuc, Bac Giang, and Bac Ninh.

In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the number of candidates is dozens of times higher than other provinces and cities, so maintaining consistent quality is very difficult. Specifically, Hanoi has more than 109,000 candidates, accounting for about 10% of the country; Ho Chi Minh City has more than 90,000, equivalent to 8.4%. Not to mention, the number of independent candidates in the two cities is more than 10,000, accounting for 22% of the country. This is a group whose quality cannot be controlled by the locality, causing the average score to drop.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, explained that this locality is often not in the top of the graduation exam scores, due to the difference between teaching orientation and exam content.

The city has innovated teaching and learning towards developing students' abilities and qualities for many years now, similar to the orientation of the 2018 general education program. Meanwhile, the graduation exam still follows the old program (2006). In addition, 5 out of 6 subjects are multiple choice, not fully assessing students' abilities, reasoning and thinking.

"Teaching is not just about solving a problem or getting a high score on an exam, it is about making sure that when faced with any problem, students have the mindset to solve it," he said.

After 5 years of stability, from 2025, the high school graduation exam will have many changes. The number of exams will be reduced from 6 to 4. Candidates will take two compulsory subjects (math, literature), two optional subjects (from the subjects they have studied). Instead of simple multiple choice questions, other forms such as filling in the blanks or arranging sentences will be added. The purpose is to help candidates reduce pressure, while more accurately assessing their abilities.

Mr. Chuong hopes that the exam can overcome existing problems, such as rote learning, guessing literature questions; candidates choosing to take social subjects because they think the questions are easy; or multiple choice questions that are too difficult, causing difficulties in classifying candidates... According to him, if the test and assessment of learners' abilities and qualities can be carried out, the exam will have a reverse impact on the learning process in high school, so that teachers and students do not need to "study for the test", but "study to understand".

"These are all things that cannot be done in a short time. I hope that after three years, everything will be stable and have clear results as planned," he said.