VietNamNet Bridge – The university entrance exam will come in one month, and it is now the time for examinees to spend money and time on exam preparation classes and rent rooms in big cities. The escalating service fees have made many students miserable.

Exam preparation centers gobble up students’ money


Exam preparation centers with classes open on different days have been mushrooming since early summer, when the exam season came. The banderoles have been hung over street corners, schools and exam preparation centers. Though the private tutoring tuitions have increased dramatically, well- known exam preparation centers like Cau Giay, Chua Boc and Yet Kieu have still been full of registered students.

Every student now has to pay 1.5 million dong a month to attend exam preparation classes instead of one million dong. Here, at the renowned learning centers, there are the classes where 400 students sit in a room with the area of just 30 square meters.

It is not difficult for high school students in Hanoi to find good exam preparation centers and good teachers. However, it is really a difficult job for the examinees from other provinces to look for reliable exam preparation centers.

Nguyen Mai Huong from Ninh Binh province related that she met a broker who persuaded her to register to study at a class in Cau Giay district. Huong said that the tuition is not high, at 45,000 dong per lesson, but the teaching is so boring that many students have given up the class. However, Huong does not dare to follow the friends, because she regrets the sum of money paid.

The banderoles to advertise exam preparations can be seen everywhere in big cities, which have made students puzzled. Dao Thi Duyen from Thai Binh province, said that it took her and her mother many days to look for suitable classes and teachers. “I just followed others in choosing classes: I registered to study at the classes, because I saw many others registering the classes already,” she said.

Exam preparation centers have been trying to attract learners with special marketing methods. An officer of the center on Xuan Thuy Road in Cau Giay district stands in the street to deliver leaflets to advertise for the center. Especially, the tuition here is advertised as very cheap at 20,000 dong per learning shift.

Other centers have been introducing themselves as gathering the most excellent teachers in the city, while some centers have affirmed that they once produced the students, who came first at the university entrance exams in previous years.

Meanwhile, many parents in big cities have decided not to send their children to crowded exam preparation centers, but to private tutoring classes. While exam preparation centers gather students from all provinces and cities, private tutoring classes with limited numbers of students mostly gather students in big cities.

Le Hoa, a parent in Hoan Kiem district, has decided to invite a mathematics tutor for her son. The advantage of the tutoring is that every teacher only has one or two students; therefore, he would have much more time to take care for students.

The season of earning money for landlords

The rooms in the areas near big universities have been hunted by students, who come from provinces and want to seek rooms to stay during the time in Hanoi

The room rents have been hovering around one million dong to 1.7 million dong for a 7-15 square meter room. Even though accepting the higher rentals, it is not easy to find rooms to rent at this moment.

Nguyen Van Hai, a student from Hai Duong, feels lucky with the 10 square meter room rent at 1.3 million dong a month. He said that a relative of his booked the room before, while it is now impossible to find rooms to rent now.

It is now the season of earning money for landlords. They collect 600-800,000 dong a month from students for every cramped and dank room.

A woman from Thanh Hoa province complains that her daughter is now staying at a small room for which she has to pay 700,000 dong a month. “It is now very hot in summer, while my daughter cannot sleep when it rains due to water leaking from the roof,” she complains. “I wish my daughter can finish exams soon and return to the home village”.

Thu Thao – Quoc Dung