Over 1.1 million Vietnamese students take high-school graduation exam with new format, challenges

The exam will last one and a half days, making it the shortest in the past decade. Most of the candidates are from the first cohort following the new high school curriculum introduced in 2018.

Over 26,700 students are following the old curriculum (2006). For this group, the Literature exam will still use textbook content.

This year, the national high school graduation exam consists of four subjects. Mathematics and Literature are compulsory, while students choose from a variety of elective subjects including Foreign Language, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Informatics, and Technology.

Since the exam involves both old and new curricula, extra attention has been given to training exam staff, as there are different regulations for each group. For instance, students following the new curriculum are not allowed to bring geography atlases into the exam room, while those following the old curriculum can.

Regarding the exam content, a ministry representative emphasized that the goal is to stay aligned with the curriculum while introducing some differentiation to aid universities in their admissions processes.

The Literature exam takes place on Thursday morning, starting at 7:35 a.m.

At 6:30 a.m., student Mach Van Chi at the exam center of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School in Hanoi shared she felt more at ease because she was allowed to take the exam at her school. While she was not too worried about the Literature exam, given her usual score above 8 (out of 10) in mock exams, the inclusion of external content made her a little nervous.

"I'm afraid of poetry, because I might not fully understand the meaning or fail to capture what the author intended. If the test is based on a short story or an essay, I think I can do better," Chi said.

Chi has registered for English and Physics as her elective subjects.

In Vietnam, the national high school graduation examination also serves as the primary entrance exam for universities. Students' scores from this exam, along with high school grades and potential bonus points, determine university admissions.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Hoang Nam from Gia Dinh High School high-fived his friend before the exam, wishing each other good luck.

Nam shared that, besides Math and Literature, he chose English and Physics as his electives, aiming for admission to the University of Science and Technology and the University of Natural Sciences in HCMC.

"Literature is not my strong suit, so I just hope I don't go off-topic and score above average," Nam said.

Also in HCMC, Nhu Y from Le Quy Don High School lit incense at the statue of the great scientist in the school yard before entering the exam room, praying for good results.

Y chose English and Economic-Legal Education as her electives to apply for an English Teacher program at several universities. Thanks to strong results from the University of Da Nang and HCMC University of Pedagogy’s aptitude tests, she felt more at ease before the exam.

"I’ll do my best in the graduation exam to have more options, but I’m not under too much pressure because I’ve already prepared some alternative plans," she shared.

Although this was her first year with the new curriculum and Literature was not her strength, she was not nervous. She hoped the reading comprehension and literary analysis sections would feature poetry, as that would allow her to express her emotions more effectively.

Students stand in line to complete procedures before entering their exam rooms at Le Quy Don High School in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung

In the afternoon, students will take the Math exam, which includes 22 multiple-choice questions in three formats: A, B, C, D options; true/false answers; and short-answer questions. In previous years, the exam only included multiple-choice questions with multiple answers.

The grading method for multiple-choice questions has also changed. For true/false questions, students can earn 0.1 points for correctly answering one part of a question, 0.25 points for two parts, 0.5 points for three parts, and 1 point for answering all parts correctly.

Students will take the tests for their remaining two subjects on Friday morning. Each subject will have 48 different codes, double the number of previous years. Students will be organized by subject to prevent movement between exam rooms.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, nearly 2,500 exam centers across the country are hosting over 50,000 exam rooms, with about 200,000 staff, teachers, and security personnel involved.

This is also the first year the ministry has transmitted exam papers to localities via secure encrypted channels provided by the Government Cipher Committee.

The results of the 2025 high school graduation exam will be announced on July 16. Students can begin registering and adjusting their university application preferences from July 16 to 28.