VietNamNet Bridge – Organizing one national exam instead of two as currently applied to find the most capable students for universities is what Vietnam strives for. But it still does not know how to do it.

The national exam would aims to two purposes – examining the ability of high school students to recognize their completion of general education, and providing information about students’ ability to universities for reference when enrolling students.

At present, two separated national exams are organized every year in summer to serve the two purposes.

The high school finals, with the questions at “average” difficulty level, can find out the students who have basic knowledge, enough to finish high schools. Meanwhile, at the university entrance exam, which aims to select best students for higher education, students would be asked to solve more difficult questions.

Until now, educators still believe that a 2-in-1 exam cannot serve both the two different purposes. The students passing the high school finals may still be not good enough for higher education. They just need to have basic knowledge to pass the finals, while they need to have deeper knowledge to enter universities.

However, the educators have recently “given in” as people complain that it is too costly and time consuming to organize two national exams.

However, a new question has arisen: which exam would be maintained and which one would be abolished?

“It is necessary to organize the exam to assess the students’ general education results,” said Dao Trong Thi, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children.

Thi said the exam results can be used for reference to enroll students for universities.

Le Viet Khuyen from the Non-state owned Schools’ Association also thinks that the high school finals should not be removed. If the national exam is not organized, schools would organize exams themselves to assess students’ ability. If so, there would be no common standards for high school graduates.

Professor Hoang Xuan Sinh, a well-known educator, has affirmed the necessity of a national exam for high school students. The exam needs to be organized in a way which can truly reflect the real ability of students.

At present, the finals are believed to be not “reliable” enough, because it is foreseeable that more than 90 percent of students can pass the exam every year.

“Students need to prove that they have the basic knowledge to finish high school. Therefore, they need to attend the finals before they decide whether to continue the higher education, or to vocational school,” Sinh said.

Meanwhile, Prof Mai Trong Nhuan from the Hanoi National University has suggested that the credit-based mechanism, now being applied at universities, should be applied to high schools as well.

This means every student has to obtain a certain number of credits required and he would only be able to graduate high school if he passes the exams.

If so, there’s no need to organize a national exam for 12th graders any more. The exam does not have much significance in reality because 99 percent of students pass the exam. Meanwhile, it is too costly to organize a national exam.

Tien Phong