Even excellent students who got 9 out of a 10 score for every exam subject may not be accepted at some universities.

On September 16, when universities announced the benchmarks for admission, N.H.N. from Thanh Hoa realized she could not enroll in any of the 11 majors she wanted.

With 25.6 score from the high school finals, N knew that she would not have opportunities at top-tier schools, so in addition to the application for six majors at the Hanoi Foreign Trade University and National Economics University (NEU), she also applied for majors at Thuongmai University and the Academy of Policy and Development.

The majors in 2020 had required a benchmark score 4-5 points lower than the score N received this year, so she felt secure about her choice.

However, the benchmark for the Economics Law major at the Academy of Policy and Development increased by five, from 21 last year to 26 this year, which meant she could not attend the school.

Many other students who had relatively high scores from the high school finals did not meet requirements for their preferred schools because the required benchmarks for admission to schools are higher this year.

Candidates need to have 2-4 exam scores higher than the previous year on average to be enrolled in universities.

Thuy Tram, a parent in Hanoi, said that 20 years ago, examinees with a 27 score would be the best students at schools. She said the current exams were not designed well. In principle, there should be both easy and difficult exam questions, which find excellent students who can answer difficult questions.

Bui Duc Trieu from National Economics University said that one of the reasons behind the high benchmark this year was the easy exam questions, and that in the future, schools will have to consider other methods of enrollment to ease reliance on the results of high school finals.

In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) stated that the high school finals are organized simply to recognize students as finishing the general education program, instead of being used as the university entrance exam. Universities are allowed to enroll students using their own criteria instead of relying solely on exam results as before. 

Thuy Nga - Thanh Hung

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