Candidates complained that the English test was difficult, but experts praised the score range as "surprisingly beautiful"

The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced the score distribution of the 2025 high school graduation exam subjects, in which the English subject has attracted special attention from candidates and parents. Previously, the English exam caused controversy over its difficulty level, many students and teachers, despite achieving IELTS level 7.0 - 8.0, still gave up, unable to solve all the questions. However, this year's English score distribution has been praised by many experts.

Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc, Chairman of the Council of the University of Technology ( Hanoi National University), commented that the English score distribution this year is "amazingly beautiful", as the elephant-back shape of previous years has disappeared, replaced by an ideal pyramid shape.

"This shows that English is no longer a 'monster' for candidates. Those who choose English are candidates with strengths and are being invested in the right direction," Mr. Duc commented.

This person said that although candidates and parents initially reacted because the exam was too difficult, the final results proved the reasonableness of the exam. "This year, the exam was much more difficult due to the change from A2 to B1 output standards, but the average score was still 5.38. That shows that the candidates' abilities have clearly improved," Mr. Duc assessed.

Sharing the same view, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) said that 2025 is the first year that the high school graduation exam will be organized according to the new generaleducation program. In addition to the two compulsory subjects of Math and Literature, the remaining subjects are chosen by candidates, so the input quality is better, reflecting the students' abilities and learning orientation.

"Although the number of candidates taking the English exam has decreased, the quality of candidates has increased significantly. This shows the proactiveness in choosing and serious preparation of students for this foreign language subject," Mr. Ha emphasized.

According to the analysis of the distribution of scores in the 2025 English high school graduation exam by the Ministry of Education and Training, 351,848 candidates took the exam. The average score was 5.38 (last year it was 5.51). The median score was 5.25 points.

The score most candidates achieved was 5.25.

The number of candidates with a score <= 1 is 28 (accounting for 0.008%); the number of candidates with a score below average is 134,478 (accounting for 38.22%).

This year, the whole country had 141 candidates scoring 10 points in English. Of which, Hanoi led with 56 candidates, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with 29 candidates. These are also the two localities with the highest average English scores in the country. The third place is Quang Ninh. The top 10 also includes Dien Bien, Phu Tho, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa.

The 2025 high school graduation exam scores will be announced as scheduled at 8:00 a.m. on July 16. Candidates and parents can look up the 2025 high school graduation exam scores on VTC News Online Newspaper: HERE

After completing the 2025 high school graduation exam score lookup, if you notice any irregularities in your exam scores, or if the results are significantly different from the previously estimated results, you can consider filing a request for review. Candidates have 10 days to review their exam scores if they need to, from July 16 to July 25. By August 3 at the latest, the exam councils will organize a review of the exam (if any).

Candidates complained that the English test was difficult, but experts praised the score range as 'surprisingly beautiful' - 3