First day of high school graduation exam 2025: Exemplary and unique exam questions

The literature and math exam of the 2025 high school graduation exam is of interest to many people, because this is the first exam of the 2018 General Education Program.

On June 26, more than 1.2 million candidates nationwide began taking the first two subjects of the 2025 high school graduation exam: literature (morning) and math (afternoon). This is the first year of implementing the 2018 GeneralEducation Program, with the highlight being the shift in focus from testing knowledge and skills to assessing learners' practical abilities.

Essay topic: Both practical and promoting literary appreciation

According to MSc. Phan Thi Thanh Giang, a literature teacher at Dao Son Tay High School (HCMC), the 2025 high school graduation exam has shown a significant step forward in thinking about writing literature questions.

This year's exam not only continues the stable structure familiar to teachers and students nationwide, but also clearly demonstrates the spirit of modern educational innovation: integrating knowledge - reflecting current events - fostering social thinking - developing civic capacity and qualities.

This is a high school graduation exam, not an admission exam, so balancing the level of suitability with the national student level is extremely important. This year's exam has achieved that: not too difficult, not academically biased but still has enough depth, openness and clear differentiation, capable of measuring student ability relatively accurately and fairly.

Notably, this year's exam is a unified whole, organized with a consistent theme from beginning to end. From the reading comprehension text to the 2 sentences in the writing section, everything revolves around the ideological axis: homeland - Fatherland - people in the flow of history and reality. This way of constructing the exam circuit creates a seamless thinking effect, leading candidates from literary emotions to the thinking actions of young citizens on issues related to the country.

"The literature exam is a model exam in many aspects: suitable for high school students across the country, has reasonable differentiation, closely follows the direction of educational innovation, stimulates social thinking and nurtures civic ideals. More importantly, the exam has aroused emotions, awakened responsibility and put candidates in the position of not only test takers, but also young people growing up with the Fatherland - with all the pride, concerns and aspirations to contribute" - Master Thanh Giang commented.

Ms. Trinh Thi Mai Lien, Hoang Quoc Viet High School ( Bac Ninh ), shared: "When we knew the literature exam this year according to the 2018 General Education Program, we felt both happy and surprised, excited. It takes many years to have an exam that makes candidates express their desire to write, their love for writing. It was a good exam and the exam was very successful."

This is a new program, this year's candidates are the first batch of students of the program. The exam closely follows the format structure and reference exam that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) previously announced. The exam also closely follows the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program.

"Although the material is completely new and not in the textbook, the candidates are not confused and have good differentiation. Although it is a new program, all candidates have the opportunity to express themselves. For average candidates, the literature text also has suitable sentences so that they can confidently do the test" - Ms. Lien commented.

According to this teacher, the most surprising and exciting question was the social discussion section. It can be said that this is a completely new section compared to the sample questions given by the Ministry of Education and Training. This is considered a question that stimulates the creativity of candidates, demonstrating both their ability to appreciate literature and their personal views on social issues.

"This is a new but not unfamiliar issue, a familiar issue, demonstrating the role and sense of responsibility of oneself to the country in a practical way. We consider this an exam that is within the range of the test, has high differentiation and is considered a good exam" - Ms. Lien commented.

Candidates in Ho Chi Minh City after the first day of the 2025 high school graduation exam. Photo: TAN THANH

Math problem: Different but not surprising

MSc. Hoang Huu Vinh, a teacher at Vinh Vien High School (HCMC), said that since 1975, the math exam for high school graduation has been either essay or objective multiple-choice. But this year, Part I only has 12 objective multiple-choice questions worth 3 points (out of 10 points). Part II is true-false questions, a combination of essay and subjective multiple-choice.

This year's exam scoring scale is not equal but rather classifies the candidates' level relatively accurately. Specifically, the 4 major questions have a score of 4, each major question has 4 sub-questions. If you answer one sub-question correctly, you get 0.1 point, 2 sub-questions correctly, you get 0.25 points, 3 sub-questions correctly, you get 0.5 points, and all 4 sub-questions correctly, you get 1 point. Part III consists of 6 questions, each worth 0.5 points. These are truly subjective multiple-choice questions. Candidates complete the answers and write the numerical answers in the answer box. This part is the most difficult part of the exam.

"This year's math exam is different from the exam 49 years ago, but this does not surprise candidates and teachers because the structure and problems are completely similar to the reference exam that the Ministry of Education and Training announced in February this year" - Master Vinh assessed. According to him, the difficulty level of this year's exam is somewhat lower than last year's. However, the number of 10 points will be less than last year because the structure and format of this year's exam has minimized the possibility of luck when taking the exam.

The content of the exam covers grades 10 to 12 and focuses on grade 12. There are no tricky and tricky questions like in previous years. There has been significant progress in both the form and content of the exam...

The Ministry of Education and Training reported that on the first day of the exam, the percentage of candidates taking the exam reached 99.36% compared to the number of registered candidates. In the two exam sessions, 15 candidates were suspended from the exam (with the 2024 degree), no one was reprimanded or warned.

On the morning of June 27, candidates taking the 2018 General Education Program will take an optional test. Candidates taking the 2006 General Education Program will take a natural science/social science test. The test starts at 7:35 a.m.

Choose experienced teachers to distribute elective subjects

On the morning of June 26, at the Nguyen Thi Dieu High School (District 3) exam site, Dr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that this year the city has been working on the exam regulations since the end of May when schools organized a trial exam so that students could experience the format and content of a real exam. Ho Chi Minh City also selected high school and middle school teachers as exam invigilators, but still prioritized teachers who had invigilated the trial exams to gain experience in distributing elective subject questions.

In an examination room, there can be 3-4 elective subjects in 2 exam shifts, so the Ministry of Education and Training has very clear regulations on this. Specifically, candidates will be arranged to sit in the examination room in consecutive order according to the registration form diagram, and the exam supervisors will distribute the elective exam questions for each subject. "All exam site leaders and exam supervisors have been thoroughly trained but must not be subjective. The spirit is very focused, all stages must be done according to the regulations so that the 2025 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City will take place successfully" - the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training emphasized.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ngay-dau-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-2025-de-thi-mau-muc-doc-dao-196250626223216864.htm