In early March 2026, Nguyen Thanh Huyen, a student at Phu Duc High School in Hung Yen, enrolled in a six-month online IELTS course costing VND20 million. With a target score of 6.5-7.0, she planned to use the certificate to receive bonus points when applying to the National Economics University (NEU).

However, a draft circular amending and supplementing certain university admission and training regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) on September 17 anticipates that from 2027 onward, bonus points will only remain for regional status and policy beneficiaries. Universities will no longer autonomously grant bonus points for achievements, certificates, or additional criteria. 

This news left Huyen disappointed. “I was preparing to register for the IELTS test and felt reassured because I was getting the certificate early and could then focus on the high school graduation exam. However, all my plans may have to change,” Huyen said.

Preparing for IELTS requires considerable time, effort and money. Awarding bonus points for IELTS is a way of recognizing students’ efforts while also encouraging them to learn foreign languages, particularly as many university majors are trained in English.

“If the draft is adopted, I will have to switch to another admissions method, under which my IELTS certificate could potentially be converted into an English subject score,” she said.

Similarly, Nguyen Ha Linh, a Grade 12 student in Hanoi, is also worried that her “IELTS certificate could suddenly lose its advantage.” She began preparing for IELTS at the beginning of Grade 11 to prepare for university admissions. So far, she has taken the test twice, raising her score from 5.5 to 6.5.

“Many of the universities I plan to apply to award 0.5-1 bonus points to candidates with an IELTS score of 6.0, so I felt confident about my score and decided not to retake the test,” Linh said.

The student said preparing for IELTS requires at least a year of study, combining practice in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In addition to classroom study, she attends IELTS classes two or three times a week.

“If bonus points are no longer awarded, many students will certainly be shocked. I hope that if there is a change, it will be applied from 2028 so students have enough time to plan their studies and are not disappointed after working so hard to prepare,” Linh said.

On social media, the proposed removal of IELTS bonus points has drawn mixed reactions. Most students who have invested in the certificate are concerned because the change would directly affect their university admissions plans.

Removing bonus points but still recognizing actual ability

Dinh Duc Hien, executive director of FPT School Bac Giang, supports the proposed removal of IELTS bonus points in university admissions.

Analyzing shortcomings in the current system, he said many types of achievements are currently converted into general bonus points, while their relevance to fields of study is not fully considered.

The current bonus-point system also lacks consistency among universities. For example, for the same IELTS score, the number of bonus points and the range of majors to which they apply can vary from one university to another.

At the top end of the admissions score range, the impact of bonus points is even greater. Sometimes, among candidates scoring 27-29 points, a difference of just 0.25-0.5 points can determine whether they are admitted or rejected. Hien said an additional 1-1.5 points is no longer a minor incentive but could change the ranking of candidates. In addition, access to IELTS opportunities varies among different groups of students.

However, Hien said removing bonus points alone would not completely resolve the issue of fairness. If IELTS scores are too easily converted into a 10-point English subject score, the previous advantage could simply shift from bonus points to converted scores.

He proposed that if IELTS bonus points are removed, the certificate should still be recognized as an admission requirement for English-taught programs or be used to replace the foreign-language component in an admissions combination based on a publicly available conversion table.

“An IELTS certificate assesses four skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing - while the English component of the high school graduation exam has a different structure and purpose. Therefore, converting the two tests into directly equivalent absolute scores is not something that can be taken for granted,” Hien said.

Thuy Nga