VietNamNet Bridge - The low marks that high school students in HCM City received at a mock exam organized by the city’s education department have raised worries that the national finals would be too difficult for students.

The mock exam was organized on May 11-14 in order to prepare 12th graders for the real finals in early July.

An official of the HCM City education department said the department strictly followed the Ministry of Education and Training’s regulations when organizing exam rooms, exam supervision and exam paper marking.

Ngo Thanh Son from Vinh Vien High School noted that the math questions were designed similarly to questions provided by MOET.

If students can fulfill the questions that require knowledge received in the 12th grade, they would receive a score of six, while the other questions require knowledge acquired in the 10th and 11th grades.

A teacher at a high school in HCM City revealed that 41 percent of 400 12th graders attending the mock exam received a score below one for math. Meanwhile, only 1-2 of the 25 exam papers got above a 5 for literature.

The teacher noted that the exam questions raised in previous years were easier. There were only two difficult questions. The students with average learning capacity could get 5 and more.

There were only two easy questions that fit “average” students at the mock exam. Only good students could get 6-8, while it was difficult for average students to get 4-5.

He said 41 percent of students got below one, a “terribly high” proportion. “Twenty percent would be dangerous enough, let alone 41 percent,” he said.

Ha Huu Thach, headmaster of Giong Ong To High School, said the literature questions were nearly the same as questions raised at the semester-end exam. Therefore, students could answer the questions well but had problems with math questions.

Meanwhile, a deputy headmaster at a high school in Cu Chi district said less than 30 percent of students got scores high enough to pass the exam.

More satisfactory results have been reported at top schools in the city, including Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Bui Thi Xuan. Other schools fear that the number of students to fail at the national finals would be high if the questions have the same level of difficulty.

Vo The Quan, headmaster of the Dong Do High School in Hanoi, noted the problem is that there must be both easy questions for average students and more difficult questions for good students. 

NLD