University Admissions 2025: Why are exam scores low but admission scores high?

After universities simultaneously announced their admission scores, many people expressed surprise and wondered: Why are the high school graduation exam scores lower but the admission scores higher than last year?

UNIVERSITIES ARE ALSO SURPRISED ABOUT THE STANDARD SCORE AFTER FAKE FILTERING

This year, with the difficulty of the exam and when the high school graduation exam scores were announced, many experts predicted that the university admission scores would decrease along with the downward trend of scores in some key subjects that are widely used in university admissions such as math, English, etc. However, the admission scores of universities just announced in the first round were not as predicted. The admission scores were finalized after the 10th virtual filtering round with many majors at sky-high levels. Representatives of some universities said they were quite surprised by this result.

This year's successful candidates have come to the university to complete the admission procedures.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Looking at the benchmark picture this year, we can see that the leading majors belong to the technology - engineering sector of southern schools and the teacher training sector of northern schools. For example, the University of Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) this year has a very high benchmark for artificial intelligence and leads all methods: 29.91 points (direct admission and priority admission); 29.6 points (high school graduation exam); 1,098/1,200 points (Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam). In many other majors, candidates must achieve an average of 9 points/subject according to the admission combination to be admitted, such as data science , computer science and microchip design.

Similarly, the Computer Science (advanced program) of the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) also has a high standard score at a near-absolute level, with 29.92/30 points (math - physics - chemistry combination) according to the graduation exam score method. Many other majors also have very high standard scores such as artificial intelligence 29.39; the group of data science and microchip design majors takes over 28 points.

In addition, the benchmark scores for many pedagogical majors are recorded at high to very high levels. In the north, at the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), the history and geography pedagogy major takes up to 29.84 points; the history pedagogy major is at 28.99. Of the 11 science and teacher training majors, there are 6 major codes with benchmark scores of 28 or higher. Hanoi National University of Education also recorded 15/28 science and teacher training majors with benchmark scores of 27 or higher, the highest being history pedagogy with 29.06 points... Notably, some majors take up to 30 points such as: Chinese pedagogy and English pedagogy at the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Vietnam National University, Hanoi); Chinese pedagogy and English pedagogy at the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Hue University). In the south, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education has 2 majors with admission scores above 29 points and 4 majors above 28 points. Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education has the highest standard score for English pedagogy with 29.57 points. In local universities, pedagogy also has high standard scores, some schools have more than 29 points.

In addition, some other universities recorded high admission scores in some majors such as: Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics... However, the admission scores of these schools do not have majors at record highs like the two training fields above.

N MANY CAUSES

The question is why is the average score of many subjects in the high school graduation exam this year lower than last year, but the standard score of many majors still increases?

Answering this question, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Van Dung, former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, gave many reasons. First, considering high school graduation exam scores is just one of many admission methods of universities today. Many schools reserve large quotas for methods of considering transcripts, giving priority to admission, considering competency assessment test scores, etc. This makes the graduation exam score method have to compete fiercely with other methods. Especially the impact of the trend of prioritizing comprehensive assessment of learners' abilities in admission of some universities. This trend makes "hot" majors attract many well-rounded PhDs, the standard scores are getting higher in all methods, including the graduation exam score method.

Commenting on the very high benchmark scores of the pedagogical sector, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Van Dung said that the reason is that the quotas for these sectors allocated by the Ministry of Education and Training are very small. In addition, the preferential regime for good students means that the benchmark scores are naturally high.

Parents and candidates come to the university to find out information after knowing the admission score.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

The principal of a university in Ho Chi Minh City said that this year's benchmark score picture shows partly the results of the changes in the way of studying, testing and admission according to the new general education program. According to him, this year, candidates are only required to take two compulsory subjects: literature and math, the remaining two subjects are chosen from the subjects they have studied. Most candidates choose the subject they are strong in and achieve the best results for admission, except for the case where candidates have determined in advance that they will only take the B00 combination (math - chemistry - biology) for admission to a major that the school only considers this combination. Following this trend, universities also expand the maximum admission combination to facilitate candidates and schools. In addition to the mandatory regulation of math or literature in the admission combination, some schools even flexibly calculate the score of the subject that the candidate achieves the highest among the subjects taken.

Therefore, this principal believes that the total score of 3 subjects according to the admission combination of TS this year cannot be low when the scores of many subjects are still high and are used for admission in many schools, for example, economics and law education.

Meanwhile, large schools training in the health sector only consider the traditional combination B00 (math - chemistry - biology), with a stable admission method, unchanged admission combination, and the benchmark score does not increase unexpectedly but even decreases in some schools. This clearly shows the impact of students' tendency to choose safe subjects and this has been predicted in advance.

From the perspective of the person directly implementing the admission process this year, the Head of the Training Department of a university in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the important reason for the increase in scores comes from the equivalent conversion of admission scores of methods and admission combinations according to the percentile method. Although following the general method from the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training, each school has a different conversion formula.

"From the actual benchmark scores that schools have announced, it can be seen that schools that use many methods have high benchmark scores for the graduation exam and vice versa. This is clearly shown when the benchmark scores of public universities training in medicine and pharmacy this year are not high because they are only based on the graduation exam results, not converted. On the contrary, there are schools with high benchmark scores for the graduation exam, but more students are admitted from other methods. In these cases, it can be said that the entrance benchmark scores do not truly reflect the quality of the admitted students," said the Head of the Training Department.

In addition, allowing candidates to receive bonus points or convert foreign language certificate points into English subject points in the admission combination also contributes to increasing the benchmark scores of top universities. Although the Ministry of Education and Training has a regulation to control the bonus points not exceeding 10% of the total admission score, the maximum 3 bonus points is not small in a university admission period.

Important notes after knowing the benchmark and additional consideration opportunities

At 2:00 p.m. on August 25, Thanh Nien Newspaper organized an online television consultation program "Important notes after knowing the benchmark scores and opportunities for additional consideration". The program took place simultaneously on the channels: thanhnien.vn , Facebook fanpage, YouTube channel, and TikTok Thanh Nien Newspaper.

The consultation program will take place from 2:10 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. with experts: Master Cao Quang Tu, Director of Admissions at Saigon International University; Master Truong Thi Ngoc Bich, Director of Information and Communication Center at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance; Master Vo Ngoc Nhon, Deputy Director of Admissions Consulting Center at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology; Master Truong Quang Tri, Deputy Head of Student Affairs Department at Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

Bao Han

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tuyen-sinh-dh-2025-vi-sao-diem-thi-thap-nhung-diem-chuan-lai-cao-185250824225408237.htm