Students review lessons before the National High School Exam (Photo: VNA)Hanoi(VNA) - Over 866,000 students across the country gathered at 2,364 testinglocations on June 21 afternoon to complete all registering procedures for thethree-day National High School Exam, the most important exam students spend 12years preparing for.
The exam is scheduled to run from June 22 to June 24.
Candidates will take five tests: math, literature, foreign language, naturalscience (including physics, chemistry, biology) and social science (includinghistory, geography and citizen education).
Associate Professor Mai Van Trinh, head of the Department of Testing andEducation Quality Assurance, said the tests include 60 percent basic knowledge.
The 40 percent ‘knowledge’ portion of the tests will be used to classify thelevels of candidates. It goes toward university admissions, Trinh said.
As of 2015, high school graduation and university entrance exams have beenmixed into one national exam called the national high school exam.
The results of the exam are considered for both high school graduation anduniversity admissions.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga said this is the firstyear the ministry assigned each locality to chair the exam under instructionsfrom the ministry.
Ga said the ministry has sent representatives to cooperate with localities toorganise and ensure a smooth exam for candidates.
This year, all supervisors will take lucky draws before a test to choose theirtesting room. The move is expected to ensure a transparent exam, he said.
Each testing room only has 24 candidates. In previous years, the number was30-40 candidates, he said.
Trinh said the ministry has also published sample tests before the real testsso that candidates could prepare more fully.
“This is the first time the ministry has done this,” he added.
Candidates are allowed to bring recorders and video cameras into the testingrooms with the conditions that the recorders do not transmit information andreceive audio signals, he said.
The purpose of the movement is to allow candidates to record violations in thetesting rooms and send to authorised agencies, he added.
Ga said the ministry’s inspection teams have visited localities to check theirpreparation for the exam.
[Photos: Vietnamese students take National High School Exam]
Nguyen Huy Bang, chief inspector of the Ministry of Education and Training’sOffice, said two hotlines will receive complaints and feedback from candidates,parents and others. People can contact 04 3623 1285 and 0923 006 757. Faxes canbe sent to 04 3869 3145. Inspectors will verify and deal with violations basedon the complaints and feedback.
The hotlines will be operated 24 per hours daily until July 6 when thetest-marking activities finish, he said.
Ten inspection teams will randomly visit testing locations, he added.
This year, the Department of High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry ofPublic Security also participated in the national high school steeringcommittee.
The police force worked with the department of education and training toprepare for incidents related to hi-tech violations during the exam.
In Hanoi, the city administration has even planned for incidents of flood,thunderstorms, food poisoning.
The health sector has conducted more inspections to ensure food hygiene andsafety. It arranged medical staff and medicines to be ready at testinglocations in case of food poisoning and emergencies.
Additionally, mobilisedmedical teams stand at the ready.
The Hanoi Youth Union made plans to deal with flooding during the exam. Thevoluntary team of up to 10,000 members was tasked to provide assistance ifnecessary.
According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, temperaturesin the country will range from 23-35 degrees Celsius during the next threedays.
Hanoi and HCM City are the two localities with the highest number ofcandidates, with 72,939 and 71,469 respectively.
In a related movement, the Hanoi Education and Training Department on June 21 announcedresults of the high school entrance exam.
Candidates can access hanoi.edu.vn to search the results. Around76,000 students in Hanoi attended the high school entrance exam on June 16.-VNA
