Right after the incident in the first round of exams, the fact that the invigilator made the candidates lose 30 minutes in the second round of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam on June 1st caused surprise because of the unbelievable mistake. However, the way the Examination Council resolved the incident was equally surprising because once again the rights of the candidates were forgotten.
Candidates in the second round of the 2025 capacity assessment exam of Ho Chi Minh City National University (Photo: VNU).
Dr. Le Dong Phuong, former Director of the Center for Research on Higher and VocationalEducation , Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, had an interview with Dan Tri reporter about this incident.
Sir, as a university education expert, what is your assessment of the incident where a candidate lost 30 minutes of test time because the invigilator heard the wrong bell during the Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam?
- The incident of the invigilator violating regulations affecting the test-taking time of the candidates did not happen just once but twice in both exam sessions, at two different exam locations in this year's capacity assessment of Ho Chi Minh City National University.
This forces us to assess that the preparation and training of the invigilators is problematic, they are not carefully selected, and are not fully trained. And as a result, students are disadvantaged in the test-taking process.
Each test is designed with a certain amount of time to complete, calculating the corresponding time to complete that test. When candidates lose 30 minutes to complete the test, taking up 1/5 of the time, it clearly greatly affects the results of their test.
Dr. Le Dong Phuong (Photo: VOV2).
Not to mention the psychological factors. As soon as the incident happened, the candidates discovered that the supervisor had violated the procedure, but the supervisor did not let them complain, did not check, and did not review the regulations. This led to a state of inhibition for the candidates and will affect the exam even more.
It is possible that you will not achieve the expected results and you will lose the opportunity to enter a desired university.
When an incident occurs, if the supervisor has any questions or concerns, he/she can immediately ask and check with the exam steering committee. It seems that in this case, the supervisor handled the situation in his/her own way without consulting or consulting with the exam steering committee.
This is clearly a problem in the implementation of the exam regulations. So what was the exam steering committee doing in this exam when the incident happened for half an hour and they still did not know about it. It was only after the exam, when the candidates complained, that the incident was known.
Regarding this incident, affected candidates are not allowed to retake the exam and there is no solution to ensure their rights. How do you view this solution?
- In the first round (when candidates lost about 20 minutes of taking the test at the An Giang test site), the Examination Council of this exam decided to allow candidates affected by the supervisor's mistakes to take the test a second time. Although this is not a perfect solution, it is acceptable because it has opened up an "escape" path for candidates.
Candidates report losing 30 minutes of time during the competency assessment exam (Photo: Screenshot).
But in the second more serious incident, when the candidate lost about 30 minutes doing the test, the handling was completely reversed and the candidate was not allowed to retake the test.
This time, the Center for Testing and Training Quality Assessment, Ho Chi Minh City National University denied any involvement and said that the error was in the test scores. And how to fix it was in the test scores, not in the Examination Council of this exam.
To me, this is something very special. Candidates register for the exam with Ho Chi Minh City National University, when they pay and receive the exam code, they have started an economic contract with Ho Chi Minh City National University.
Ho Chi Minh City National University rented a place and asked the invigilators to be from Ho Chi Minh City National University. But when this contract had problems, they were not the ones to deal with the consequences.
I don't see any point where they admit their mistakes, but only mention the supervisor's mistakes and the exam scores. I don't see the responsibility of the exam board to assess the candidate's ability to demonstrate the responsibility of an economic contract with the candidate. That is to shirk responsibility to the candidate. In my opinion, this is irresponsible to the candidate's rights.
No points to compensate, points to be added, retakes… Some people say that this incident was resolved in a way that “nothing was resolved”. In this incident, was the candidate… forgotten not only in the exam room but also “forgotten” in the way the incident was resolved?
- That's right! I also wonder if when organizing such a big exam, with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of candidates participating, people consider the mistakes of a few candidates as normal?
But for each person, each candidate is a different problem. This is a problem of opportunity, an exam for students to find their chance to enter university. If they fail this exam, some students will have to wait, some students may not have the chance to continue…
The National University's capacity assessment is the largest direct university entrance exam in the country (Photo: TV).
It is true that there is no basis for adding or compensating points for candidates. However, as soon as the problem was discovered, the Examination Council should have immediately organized a supplementary exam for the affected candidates. However, by today, it is too late when the candidates are preparing to take the high school graduation exam.
Designing and organizing an exam requires careful preparation from supervising the exam room to preparing solutions for situations. We don't see it here. When an incident occurs, saying there is an error at the exam site is not okay, candidates do not register for the exam, do not pay the invigilator or the exam score.
In my opinion, the matter cannot be resolved by “asking the examination group to apologize on behalf of the representative”. The National University of Ho Chi Minh City has made a “contract” with the candidate. When that contract is broken due to your fault, there must be compensation for the candidate.
Not only does it affect the spirit, but it also wastes the candidates’ opportunities. Perhaps, some candidates who missed the opportunity this year will have to consider retaking the exam next year. That is time, money, effort, opportunity…
The National High School Graduation Exam has grown strongly from about 4,550 candidates in 2018 to about 218,000 in 2025. This is an increase of nearly 48 times compared to the first year (Chart: Huyen Nguyen).
The process of organizing an exam has existed for a long time and is very clear, the capacity assessment exam of Ho Chi Minh City National University is not outside of that process. It is just how to organize and implement that process, what are the loopholes.
In my opinion, we need to review and clearly evaluate where the mistakes are and who is responsible. But now, after the incidents, I have not seen this exam do this clearly.
Thank you very much!
In the second round of the 2025 Ho Chi Minh City National University Competency Assessment Exam held on June 1, at Examination Cluster 9, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, candidates lost about 30 minutes because the invigilator mistakenly heard the alarm bell and did not allow them to take the test at the right time.
The Ho Chi Minh City National University Competency Assessment Council assigned the testing cluster to contact the affected candidates, and the council representative directly apologized to the candidates and assisted them in overcoming the consequences. However, no solutions such as adding points, compensating points, adjusting the test or re-organizing the test were proposed.
The Ho Chi Minh City National University's aptitude test is the largest university entrance exam in the country in terms of both the number of candidates and the number of schools using the results for admission.
This year, the exam attracted nearly 160,000 candidates to register for the Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam. Currently, up to 110 educational institutions nationwide use the exam results for admission consideration.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/lo-hong-ky-thi-danh-gia-nang-luc-tram-ty-khong-the-xin-loi-la-xong-20250617083437228.htm
Comment (0)