Test scores decrease, benchmark scores still increase, what do experts say?

Up to now, most universities in the country have announced their admission scores. Initial assessments show that although this year's high school graduation exam scores were low, admission scores at many schools have still increased.

A group of students from An Lac High School in Ho Chi Minh City look at the admission scores of universities - Photo: NHU HUNG

Tuoi Tre records opinions, analysis, and comments of some admissions experts on this year's benchmark scores.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. BUI HOAI THANG (Head of Training Department, University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City National University):

Unexpected increase

We predicted that this year's benchmark scores might decrease, but the results showed that most majors had benchmark scores increase, with only a few majors having scores decrease. This shows that although high school graduation exam scores decreased, there are still very good candidates applying for "hot" majors.

In which, computer science and computer engineering continue to attract many good candidates and the benchmark scores have increased compared to last year. In particular, the microchip design major taught in English, which was newly opened this year, has attracted a large number of good candidates, making the benchmark score among the top in the school.

Statistics show that about 50% of candidates applying to the school have a score of 900 or higher on the aptitude test. This is a very high score. This shows that "hot" majors still attract a large number of good candidates to register, leading to an increase in the standard score.

Meanwhile, a few industries have seen their benchmark scores decrease, but the decrease is not as great as the construction industry. This is an industry with a large demand for human resources when infrastructure construction booms, but the benchmark scores have decreased due to a decrease in the number of candidates registering.

MSc. CU XUAN TIEN (Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City National University):

Convert points to increase standard score level

General assessment of university benchmark scores, universities using many admission methods have relatively high benchmark scores.

This comes from the conversion based on the national percentile, converting the scores of other methods to a 30-point scale. Meanwhile, universities that consider fewer methods or only consider high school graduation exam scores, the standard score level will be lower.

At the University of Economics and Law, the school received 65,089 wishes from 28,114 candidates registered on the Ministry of Education and Training's admission portal, an increase of nearly 71% compared to 2024.

Notably, this year, a total of 8,849 candidates registered for admission to the school and submitted valid IELTS certificates, an increase of 3.7 times compared to last year (of which 182 candidates had IELTS 8.0 or higher).

Surprisingly, in the admission method based on high school graduation exam results and capacity assessment in 2025, the highest admission score belongs to the international business major - major in supply chain management and international logistics (28.08 high school graduation exam points, 989 capacity assessment points).

This is a new major opened this year but has attracted many candidates. In addition, in the admission method based on the results of the National University of Ho Chi Minh City's capacity assessment exam, there are 20 majors/training majors with an admission score of over 900 points, and in the method of considering the results of the high school graduation exam, the school has nine majors with a standard score of 27 points or more.

To be admitted to the University of Economics and Law, candidates must have an average score of three subjects of at least excellent (8.3 points/subject or higher).

Mr. CHU DUC TRINH (Principal of University of Technology, Vietnam National University , Hanoi ):

Fairness in Admissions

Right from the moment I looked at the high school graduation score distribution, I realized that this year's benchmark score would increase, because all majors at the school are very attractive, increasing by at most 0.5 points depending on the major. The lowest major has a benchmark score of 22, a score that is enough to meet the learning requirements.

Fairness in admission when schools set out regulations and scoring formulas in advance, then candidates choose to apply to the school.

Each school is proactive in coming up with a standard score calculation formula to suit each school's training conditions and input requirements, which is suitable for each school. The conversion may make the virtual filtering process a bit complicated as in the past, but these problems can be overcome.

In previous years, there were many inappropriate admission methods, leading to poor student quality. This year, the Ministry of Education and Training wants to have a common standard when converting scores between methods and combinations, creating fairness and ensuring quality.

When converting scores, the implementation of the admission system must be refined, and the admission plans of schools must be adjusted. This makes schools work harder, candidates have to wait, but quality is guaranteed.

Mr. LE DINH TUNG (Vice Principal of Hanoi Medical University):

Need to issue training program standards

This year's exam is well differentiated, the equivalent score between groups is a big problem.

It is necessary to unify a scale of scores and knowledge areas for each field and group of industries; remove the concept of subject combinations and replace it with knowledge and skill areas.

For example, candidates who want to study medicine must have knowledge related to health sciences, life sciences, natural sciences, quantitative thinking, language thinking, problem solving, etc.

To do this, it is necessary to issue training program standards and output standards before building subject combinations and knowledge levels.

MSc. NGUYEN QUANG TRUNG (Deputy Head of Training Management Department, University of Commerce):

Big difference

This year, the standard score range between majors has a large difference. For example, at the University of Commerce, the highest major is 27.8, the lowest major is only 22.5. Most schools have such a score range.

In previous years, schools were allowed to consider admission early, so when the admission scores were announced based on high school graduation exam scores, the admission scores for each major were quite close.

When converting points, the University of Commerce will analyze students' academic results to know which admission method has more favorable conditions for students, helping students have more good learning conditions, and from there, provide a score conversion table.

The score conversion table itself also shows which method the university is choosing and preferring candidates. Before there was no conversion table, schools could reserve many quotas for their preferred method. When there was a conversion table, schools had their own calculations to choose many good candidates but had to ensure fairness.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. NGUYEN NGOC KHOI (Head of Training Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City):

Steady decline as expected

The benchmark scores for all majors this year have decreased compared to last year, which is not unexpected as the number of candidates taking the biology exam this year has decreased sharply compared to last year. This affects the recruitment source of medical schools, which mainly recruit based on the combination of math - chemistry - biology.

The school's quota this year is the same as last year. Meanwhile, the new major of social work has a low admission score, possibly because not many candidates know about this major of the school.

The benchmark score of many schools is almost reaching 30.

That is one of the notable points in the announcement of the benchmark scores on August 22. In general, majors with benchmark scores of nearly 30 are all "hot" majors at "hot" universities.

Most of the benchmark scores for majors entering the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) based on high school graduation exam scores range from 20 to nearly 30. The major with the highest score is computer science (advanced program) with 29.92 points for block A00, 29.81 points for blocks A01 and B00.

Ranked second is artificial intelligence with 29.39 A00 blocks. Some other "hot" majors include microchip design with 28.27 A00 blocks, data science with 28.5 A00 blocks, electronic and telecommunications engineering with 26.6...

At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), journalism has the highest admission score. Based on the high school graduation exam score, journalism has a admission score of 28.55 (combined literature - history - geography). Thus, if there is no priority score, candidates must achieve more than 9.5 points in each subject to be admitted.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, the English pedagogy major (trained in Vietnamese) has the highest score, 29.57 points. Other majors in the school's pedagogy block also have quite high benchmark scores. For example, the technology pedagogy major (trained in Vietnamese) has a benchmark score of 26.79.

In Hanoi, considering the B00 group (math, chemistry, biology), the medical major of Hanoi Medical University has the highest standard score of 28.13, followed by dentistry - maxillofacial - facial at 27.34 points. Meanwhile, Foreign Trade University announced the standard score, the highest level is 28.5 with the condition that the high school graduation exam score is 9.5 points/subject.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/diem-thi-giam-diem-chuan-van-tang-chuyen-gia-noi-gi-20250823085947978.htm