Editorial: After the Ministry of Education and Training announced the 2025 high school graduation exam score distribution, besides the positive aspects, there are still many concerns about the actual assessment of teaching and learning quality as well as candidates' abilities.
Below is the opinion of Dr. Sai Cong Hong, expert of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges.
From 8:00 a.m. this morning (July 16), candidates nationwide will be able to look up their 2025 high school graduation exam scores.
Candidates can look up their exam scores on Dan Tri HERE.
Failing scores in math increased 10 times: Exams no longer "redeem points" for weak students
The results of the math score distribution in the 2025 high school graduation exam showed a clear leftward trend, with an average score of only 4.78; median 4.6 and more than 56% of candidates not achieving the average score.
Meanwhile, perfect scores were rare, with only 513 candidates, while failing scores skyrocketed, reaching 777 students - the highest in many years.
The fact that nearly 800 candidates received a failing score (1 point or less) is, in my opinion, an indicator that the slope of the exam needs to be seriously considered. While in 2023 there were only 63 candidates with failing scores, in 2022 there were 423. This shows that the 2025 exam has an unusual screening level for students who need to be protected at a minimum threshold.
Math score distribution for high school graduation exam 2025 (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).
Basic statistical indicators of math scores in 2024 and 2025 (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).
Although the score distribution statistics only recorded 6 absolute zero scores, the 777 failing scores reflect that the problem does not lie in “absentees” but in the inability to pass the basic threshold.
This year's exam was designed using expert methods, not based on a standardized question bank. This makes indicators such as average score, standard deviation, etc. seem to be only descriptive, not clearly demonstrating a scientific reflection tool.
The lack of difficulty and discrimination testing also makes the difficulty score spectrum an accurate reflection of teaching quality or the level of conformity to requirements.
In addition, the technique of dividing the point spectrum is noisy and easily misleading. Specifically, the point spectrum is divided into small bands of 0.2 points, leading to many artificial sub-peaks, making the graph jagged and easily misinterpreted as a stratified spectrum.
The score spectrum only reflects correctly when presented with more reasonable ranges (0.5 or 1.0) and accompanied by a smoothing curve.
Nearly half below average English, test "out of sync" assessment?
The 2025 high school graduation exam will see a major change in the question-making method. Instead of using a standardized question bank, the Ministry of Education and Training will switch to creating exam questions using expert methods.
With English, an optional subject that attracted more than 351,000 candidates, this change clearly showed its impact through the score distribution, most notably the number of 46.68% of candidates who did not achieve the average score.
This is not simply a technical result, but a profound warning about stability, fairness and the ability to accurately assess students' abilities when the exam has received many doubts about not being standardized enough.
The difference compared to the previous exam is that English is one of the elective subjects of the graduation exam, not compulsory like math and literature. That means, the group of students taking this exam mostly: Have orientation for group D, international majors; have better English ability than the average; avoid other social or natural subjects because of lack of confidence...
English score distribution for high school graduation exam 2025 (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).
Basic statistical indicators of English scores in 2024 and 2025 (Source: Ministry of Education and Training).
However, this year's score distribution shows that more than 164,000 candidates, accounting for nearly half, did not achieve the average score, despite having the advantage of selection. The average subject score was 5.38, median 5.25; standard deviation 1.45; while only 141 candidates achieved a score of 10, accounting for less than 0.05%. Thus, the exam not only made it impossible for weak students to pass, but also made it difficult for good and excellent students to break through.
The lack of standardization of test questions can easily lead to unreliable score distributions. In national exams, score distributions are often used to reflect test difficulty, classification ability, and teaching effectiveness.
However, this is only true when the test is built from a standardized question bank that has been pre-tested for: Difficulty level of each question, discrimination, reliability, knowledge coverage, reusability and comparison standards over time.
With the 2025 exam, because it was built entirely by a group of experts (without being tested with empirical data), the score distribution no longer ensures the role of scientific reflection. Assessments such as: "difficult exam", "suitable or not", "decreased student quality" ... are only relative feelings, without a standardized comparison platform for verification.
Deviating from graduation goals, leaning towards enrollment
The main purpose of the high school graduation exam is to evaluate students' learning outcomes according to the requirements of the high school program, thereby recognizing high school graduation for students.
In addition, the results of this exam are also one of the bases for universities and colleges to use in admissions. With the current score distribution, the English and Math exams in 2025 do not serve both of these goals well.
Data and presentation show that the 2025 math exam is more suitable for university admission goals. The score range is highly differentiated, with few high scores but still enough to screen out good and excellent students.
However, with more than 56% of students below average and hundreds of failing grades, the goal of graduation recognition is no longer guaranteed.
Candidates taking the 2025 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Trinh Nguyen).
With the goal of graduation, nearly half of students do not achieve the average score in English, which is too high, not suitable for the requirements of ensuring basic output. If not adjusted, the risk of students "failing to graduate" because of elective subjects is real.
For admission purposes, the exam does not create a clear stratified score spectrum, and there are too few high scores, making it difficult to use to screen good candidates for universities. Schools will be forced to use additional criteria or combine multiple years of academic records – which are inherently uneven.
In order for the high school graduation exam to properly assess the quality of general education output, the exam needs to combine expert methods with a standardized question bank, which must be tested before being applied, and the score distribution needs to be presented in a scientific and easy-to-understand manner.
Dr. Sai Cong Hong
Expert of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/diem-liet-toan-tang-diem-thi-tieng-anh-giam-ket-qua-co-qua-khac-nghiet-20250715234300560.htm
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