Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: THANH HIEP
The 2025 high school graduation exam with the innovation of the test set of 11 subjects is considered by some experts to be a 'push' to change the way of teaching and learning in high schools. But this rather strong 'push' is making many teachers and students 'dizzy'.
Impact on teaching and learning
In 2024-2025, the Ministry of Education and Training organized many training sessions related to high school graduation exams (two sessions in February 2024 and February 2025) for key teachers in all 63 provinces and cities. On the positive side, the announcement of reference exam questions and the directional instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training have more or less impacted teaching and learning at high school level.
This is most obvious in literature. Not to mention the structure and question formats, just one change of "not using textbook materials" has created a "whirlwind".
Instead of just listening to lectures, memorizing lectures, and even sample essays related to more than a dozen literary works in the high school curriculum (mainly grade 12), within about a year of understanding the exam policy, grade 12 students have to read 3-4 times more new types of texts than before to "practice reading comprehension skills".
Before the exam, when sharing with Tuoi Tre, Ms. Hoang Anh - a teacher at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted ( Hanoi ) - said: It is true that teachers and students have to work harder to adapt to the innovation, especially the time for 12th graders to adapt is only during the school year. But the positive changes are clearly seen: Students are forced to read a lot, are forced to pay attention to different topics in life, even current affairs, and students must learn to have writing skills, must practice writing more.
After the exam, although the literature subject was still considered long and difficult, it brought a sense of relief and excitement to most candidates as the open-ended questions allowed candidates to express their independent thoughts.
The math, physics, chemistry, English exams... are of varying degrees of difficulty according to teachers and candidates, and there are also many conflicting and harsh opinions.
Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Quoc Trung - senior lecturer of the Chemistry Department at Hanoi National University of Education - shared about the 2025 chemistry graduation exam: "There has been a strong shift from assessing knowledge to assessing learners' abilities thanks to changes in the structure of the exam, based on a matrix built to assess the components of chemistry ability, the questions are built based on meaningful contexts in learning and life.
The physics and chemistry exams of the recent exam were also highly appreciated by many high school teachers for both their suitability and the change in assessment goals.
Even in the math problems that are controversial in terms of difficulty, some teachers also highly appreciate the fact that "the problems not only test theoretical knowledge and pure math solving skills, but also put students in situations close to real life such as apps to manage advertising messages on phones, the amount of residual drugs in water in the aquaculture industry, mathematical modeling in observing the movement of an object in space, optimization problems in economics or problems calculating the volume of a decorative object".
"With the direction of the high school graduation exam this year, specifically in chemistry, I think high school teachers will understand what they should do and how to change their teaching methods," said teacher Vu Quoc Trung.
The validity of the test is very important.
Many high school teachers of English and math when discussing this year's math exam all agreed that the exam was difficult.
Sharing about this, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan - Universityof Education , Hanoi National University - analyzed: Many students found the math questions strange and shocking, perhaps because they were not familiar with the new test formats.
In addition, some questions, although the mathematical nature is not new compared to the content learned, the form of the questions is new. This shows that the teaching and learning methods need to continue to change. However, Mr. Tuan also said that the math test had some difficult questions that normal students would struggle with, but this percentage is not high.
"To most accurately assess how the difficulty of the exam affects the candidates, we need to wait until the exam scores and analysis of the score spectrum are available. If the exam results show that the percentage of candidates scoring above average is low, it proves that the exam is more difficult than the average level of high school students," a math expert shared his opinion.
This expert also said: The reasonableness (with the exam's objectives and the exam subjects) of this exam is important. Creating good questions is not difficult for the test makers, but creating them in a way that is within the test taker's ability and yet has enough to positively impact teaching and learning in general education is the difficult thing to do. And when the exam is assessed as difficult (based on the exam results), two factors need to be reviewed. The first is the responsibility of the test maker, the second is the responsibility of the teacher and the learner.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Anh, a member of the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development of Vietnam, expressed her opinion: "I support the innovation of this year's exam. The 2018 general education program is built with the goal of developing learners' qualities and abilities, so the exam needs to be built in accordance with the goal of assessing students' abilities.
The innovation in the way questions are set in the 2025 high school graduation exam will create positive changes, promoting innovation in teaching methods, testing and assessment in schools."
However, Ms. Thu Anh also emphasized that the reasonableness and appropriateness of the test for students need special attention, especially for an exam that is both for graduation and for university admission.
"I hope that high school teachers who participate in the exam committee will boldly contribute their opinions on the appropriateness of the questions to the actual level of students. The 'difficulty' or 'novelty' of the exam can gradually increase, but it must be at a level that motivates teachers and students, not become pressure," she said.
Teachers instruct candidates at the exam site of Lak High School (Dak Lak) to receive exam cards - Photo: Minh Phuong
Stabilize the exam matrix
Mr. Vu Quoc Trung believes that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to stabilize the exam matrix (with subjects that have been tested for reasonableness from the last exam) in the next high school graduation exams. It is necessary to maintain and increase questions related to experiments and reality, the questions need to closely follow the requirements to be achieved and aim to assess which competency components.
Along with that, according to Mr. Trung, high schools need to continue to change the way they organize teaching and evaluate the process in a way that closely follows the requirements set out in the subject curriculum.
Diversifying teaching methods is appropriate to the requirements because students' abilities are only formed and developed through teaching activities (experiences in class through learning activities, real life, in laboratories, in factories, enterprises, fields, research activities...).
Assessment of students must also be diverse, combining regular assessment (through teaching activities, from classroom interactions, presentations, research products, experiments, individual assessment, peer assessment) of students, combined with periodic assessment (mid-term, final).
"Increasing the connection between practice and lessons, closely following the requirements set out in the subject curriculum also helps students develop their abilities, and is also a journey to help students become more confident and achieve better results in the high school graduation exam," said Mr. Trung.
Clear orientation of capacity assessment
Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu - Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School, Ho Chi Minh City - commented: "First of all, it cannot be denied that the structure of this year's exam clearly shows the orientation of assessing capacity instead of reproducing knowledge.
The exam questions are designed in a three-part structure, corresponding to three levels of awareness - understanding, application and high application. This approach requires learners to not only memorize but also understand deeply, analyze, argue and solve problems - the core competencies that the 2018 program emphasizes.
Practical questions are enhanced, contributing to stimulating students' creative thinking and connection to life, while gradually eliminating the situation of rote learning and mechanical memorization, which has been a chronic disease in education for many years.
Mr. Phu said that this year's high school graduation exam is a strong push to promote innovation in teaching and learning in general schools. Over the past years, the Ministry of Education and Training has persistently implemented the 2018 General Education Program with the orientation of developing students' qualities and abilities through active teaching methods, diverse and substantive assessments.
This year's exam is a clear step forward in that spirit - no more room for rote learning, but rather encourages thinking, creativity and the ability to apply knowledge into practice.
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training commented: "Many candidates and teachers said that the math and English exams were too difficult, the content was not in the textbooks, candidates could not understand the exam, and were unable to read and understand the issues raised in the exam...
This has proven that although the program is new, the teaching method is new, but the teaching method of a part of teachers is still the old way (ie conveying content). And the result is that students cannot solve the exam questions.
The content of the exam is designed to apply the knowledge learned to solve practical problems, so in addition to mastering basic knowledge, students also need to be trained in how to analyze, synthesize, and apply knowledge. This is the work that teachers must do when implementing the new 2018 program" - an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training affirmed.
Similarly, Mr. Le Minh Chau - Deputy Head of the English Department at Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, Ho Chi Minh City - admitted: "It is true that this year's English exam was a bit too much for some candidates. If the vocabulary level was a bit lighter, the candidates would be more excited and the 10 points in English would be higher.
However, the test makes it difficult for candidates to get 9 or 10 points, but if they study and understand the lesson, and know how to apply the knowledge in practice, the average level can still achieve 4-6 points to graduate from high school. Only candidates who study in the old way, memorize, and learn how to do the test by "tricks" will definitely not be able to do the test.
Resolutely "change the path"
"Through the 2025 high school graduation exam, the lesson learned is that management levels need to give more drastic direction so that schools can "break out of the rut". Teachers need to radically change teaching methods, diversify assessment forms, teach students to read and understand open-text materials, and develop learners' abilities. Students need to proactively learn and develop their abilities.
In the current period with the rapid development of technology, not changing teaching and learning methods not only stagnates education. Moreover, the future workforce will not be able to meet the needs of the times" - an official of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City affirmed.
Create an environment that encourages teaching innovation
According to Ms. Thu Anh, the results of this year's high school graduation exam will be an important basis for adjusting and strengthening professional guidance in teaching activities in high schools.
In addition to building a more effective professional management mechanism, experts say it is necessary to create a supportive environment with all the necessary conditions to encourage teachers and students to proactively innovate teaching and learning methods.
There should be no 2 in 1 exam.
Candidates at the exam site of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School (Hanoi) check and fill in personal information in the exam room - Photo: NAM TRAN
In fact, the "two-in-one" goal of the high school graduation exam - both for graduation and university admission - has revealed unreasonable issues that have lasted for many years. The graduation exam needs to ensure general high school output standards, while university admission needs a separate assessment mechanism, suitable for the characteristics of each industry and each school.
Trying to combine two goals into one exam inadvertently reduces the value of both, causing confusion in students' learning orientation and school's teaching organization orientation.
As in the recent exam, when the questions were highly differentiated to serve the purpose of university admission, the advanced, applied, and interdisciplinary content that was incorporated exceeded the minimum level required for a graduation exam. This unintentionally created pressure for high school students and gave rise to the mentality of chasing after exam preparation and extra study. Therefore, it is necessary to frankly acknowledge that the slogan "study what you pass" cannot be applied to an exam whose goals are still ambiguous.
The Ministry of Education and Training has made remarkable progress in terms of question-making techniques and assessment orientation, but to truly innovate, we need to courageously separate the goals. Only then will teaching, learning and testing be truly synchronized, not forced by slogans, but create an honest, scientific education and sustainable capacity development for the young generation.
Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu (Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School, Ho Chi Minh City)
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-2025-tao-dong-luc-doi-moi-thay-vi-ap-luc-20250701083144432.htm
![[Photo] Standing member of the Secretariat Tran Cam Tu chaired a meeting with Party committees, offices, Party committees, agencies and Central organizations.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/1/b8922706fa384bbdadd4513b68879951)
Comment (0)