More than 6,500 candidates must retake the Hanoi University of Science and Technology's thinking assessment exam

According to parents and candidates, the incident occurred at many exam locations such as Thuy Loi University, Bach Khoa University, and Banking Academy.

Nguyen Tuan (name changed), a 12th grader in Hai Duong, said that initially, the test time was extended by about an hour. After that, the test takers continued with the test as usual. But after finishing the math reasoning section, the system crashed, preventing the test takers from continuing with the reading comprehension section.

Some other students said they also encountered errors during the morning exam, but it only took 5-7 minutes, and then they did the test normally.

On the morning of April 29, Associate Professor Dr. Vu Duy Hai, Head of Admissions and Career Guidance Department, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, confirmed that the exam had a problem.

Accordingly, on April 27-28, Hanoi University of Science and Technology organized the 4th round of the thinking assessment exam with a scale of nearly 14,000 candidates at 29 testing locations. The morning exams with more than 7,100 candidates took place normally, the results were recorded by the system.

"Although some candidates made a mistake in opening the math reasoning test, being a few minutes late, it was still within the allowed time frame so it will not affect the results," said Mr. Hai.

For the afternoon exam team, the technical department discovered that the exam platform system was showing signs of instability from 1:50 p.m., 40 minutes before the exam. The exam steering committee decided to postpone the time to check, then reopen at 3:30 p.m.

The math reasoning test went smoothly. But when it came to the reading comprehension test, the system showed signs of instability. Data synchronization services were interrupted, and the candidates’ answers were not updated to the server. Therefore, the exam committee stopped the test at 5 p.m.

According to Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the server resources of the exam platform system were overloaded. The new function to synthesize data, help invigilators screen and detect the risk of exam cheating encountered errors, occupying system resources, creating a chain effect that caused the exam system to hang.

"The school is very sorry and sends sincere apologies to the candidates and parents, hoping to receive sympathy and sharing for this incident," said Mr. Hai.

The examination board has sent an email to all candidates informing them of the incident and providing solutions for candidates to choose from.

Accordingly, the examination board will organize a make-up exam for students in the afternoon shift yesterday on May 19. Students will also be given priority to register for free in the 5th or 6th round of exams taking place on June 8-9 and June 15-16.

For candidates who cannot arrange a make-up exam time, the examination council will refund the exam fee.

From 2023, Hanoi University of Science and Technology will switch from paper to computer-based thinking assessment. The content and format of the test will also be improved, including three parts: mathematical thinking (60 minutes), reading comprehension (30 minutes), and scientific thinking/problem solving (60 minutes). The questions are in the form of multiple choice, including correct answers, true/false, drag and drop, and short answers. The scores of this test are used by 30 universities for admission.

This year, the exam will be held in six sessions. In the previous four sessions, the school did not record any major technical problems, except for one Internet outage that forced 150 candidates to change shifts. Nearly 40,000 candidates successfully completed the exam on computers.