More than 1.1 million candidates kick off historic graduation exam with major milestone

(Dan Tri) - From 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, candidates taking the 2025 High School Graduation Exam will go to the exam site to complete exam registration procedures and listen to the regulations before officially entering the exam on June 26-27.

Three special milestones

The 2025 high school graduation exam is a special and historic exam as it is both the first year of taking the exam according to the 2018 generaleducation program and ensures the exam for students taking the exam according to the 2006 general education program.

This is also the largest exam ever, with the participation of more than 1.1 million candidates across 63 provinces and cities, held at 2,493 exam locations with more than 50,000 exam rooms.

It is expected that about 200,000 personnel will be mobilized to participate in the organization of the exam, such as officials, teachers in the education sector, police, military, medical , electricity forces, etc. The Government and the Prime Minister have closely directed and promptly issued many telegrams and directives on the preparation and organization of the exam.

Not only that, organizing the exam poses different challenges and requirements when the exam takes place in the context of the whole country implementing a two-tier local government arrangement.

The Ministry of Education and Training is responsible for guiding exams, creating exam questions, organizing training sessions on exam regulations, exam organization procedures, exam inspection and testing...

Localities are fully responsible for organizing the exam, from preparing facilities and human resources, and proactively establishing many inspection teams to review all stages of the exam to ensure the best conditions for organizing the 2025 High School Graduation Exam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a national conference on preparations for the 2025 high school graduation exam on June 18, emphasizing that the 2025 high school graduation exam takes place at a historic time when the whole country is rearranging local administrative boundaries, implementing a two-tier local government model, and ending the operation of the district level. Therefore, the Prime Minister emphasized the requirement that the exam, especially at the grassroots level, must not be affected.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the high school graduation exam is an important "threshold"; it not only marks the "maturity" of students, but is also a "transitional" step that guides and shapes the future path of each student.

Marking the results of curriculum innovation

The first exam under the 2018 General Education Program marks a major turning point in a completely new way of teaching, testing and assessment.

Instead of taking 6 subjects as before, the number of subjects is reduced to 4, including compulsory math and literature. In addition, students choose 2 subjects they have studied at school (chemistry, physics, biology, geography, history, economic and legal education, information technology, technology and foreign languages).

The official exam in 2025 also brings many notable changes. The number of exam sessions is increased to 2, and in particular, each exam room can have up to 5 different subjects.

In addition, the number of exam codes for each subject will double compared to previous years with 48 exam codes (each exam session has 24 exam codes). Previously, the subjects (except literature) only had 24 exam codes.

Another important change is the way the exam questions are made, especially in literature. With the implementation of "one program, many textbooks", the materials appearing in the exam will come from many textbooks and can also be completely "open" to materials that are not part of the curriculum in class.

In particular, the materials are expected to be new, reducing the situation of "learning by heart" and practicing sample texts that has been mentioned in recent years.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, this year, the whole country has 1,137,183 candidates registered to take the exam under the 2018 General Education Program and 24,951 candidates under the 2006 General Education Program.

Statistical results show that, in addition to the two compulsory subjects of literature (1,151,687 candidates) and math (1,145,449 candidates), among the elective subjects, history is the subject with the most registrations with 499,357 registrations.

Next is geography with 494,081 candidates, English with 358,870 candidates; physics (354,298 candidates), economic and legal education (247,248 candidates - only applicable to the 2018 program) and chemistry (246,700 candidates).

Looking forward to the launch day

The 2025 high school graduation exam will officially take place on June 26-27.

In the graduation score calculation formula, exam scores account for 50%; the rest is the grade 10, 11 and 12 report card scores (50%) and priority points if any. Compared to before, the report card score increased by 20%.

This afternoon, candidates were present at the exam site to see the exam room diagram, listen to drum instructions as well as important information before starting the official exam day.

Hoang Thinh, a 12th grade student at Bui Thi Xuan High School (HCMC), said he was mentally prepared for the exam.

She shared: "This is a very special exam, not only because it is the first batch to take the exam under the new program but also because it marks our maturity after 12 years of studying. My friends and I have thoroughly reviewed all the subjects, especially the elective subjects."

Ngoc Ha (left), a student at Tay Thanh High School, Ho Chi Minh City, is excited and nervous before the special exam (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

The group of students from Tay Thanh High School are also excited about this exam. Ngoc Ha shared that this year's exam has many new points, especially the reduction in the number of subjects and the innovation in the way the literature exam is given, so the female students are very excited, but also nervous.

"I tried to focus on reviewing, systematizing all my knowledge and practicing my thinking in advanced lessons. I have prepared as much as possible and now I just try to stay calm and relaxed to do my best on the test tomorrow," Ngoc Ha shared.

Arriving at the test site before the test day is a very important step for candidates to grasp the information and be ready to take the test. In previous years' exams, there were still a few subjective candidates who did not come to complete the exam procedures. On the test day, some unfortunate situations may occur such as arriving at the wrong test site, getting lost, arriving late...

The Ministry of Education and Training has also issued a note to candidates about things to remember on the day of the exam. Candidates need to have a firm grasp of the exam regulations, know what items are allowed in the exam room, and what items are prohibited so as not to violate the rules.

In particular, candidates should remember the regulations that on the exam day, if they arrive 15 minutes late from the time the test starts, they will not be allowed to enter the exam area for that subject.

The exam results are expected to be announced at 8am on July 16. By July 20 at the latest, high schools nationwide will complete the graduation recognition process and announce it to 12th graders.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/hon-11-trieu-thi-sinh-khoi-dong-ky-thi-tot-nghiep-lich-su-voi-dau-moc-lon-20250625091325154.htm