The average score for multiple-choice exams is expected to be lower than last year.

Many candidates left their Literature papers blank.

Updated information from many localities shows that the exam marking is being done quite urgently, accurately, and with careful supervision. Particularly for the Literature exam, at many marking points, there have been quite a few failing scores.

Most of the exams that received this score were due to leaving the paper blank and just copying the questions. In particular, there were candidates who "composed" poems in their literature exams to express their "disgust" and sadness about their fate. Provinces with high numbers of failing scores in literature include: Quang Tri, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Bac Kan, Hung Yen...

Officials and teachers are speeding up to complete the exam marking before July 10. Photo: TA

In Hai Duong, the Department of Education and Training said that the province's exam grading is being carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. The province has about 19,644 essay exams in literature. Many exams received zero marks in this subject. Most of the exams that received zero marks were because the candidates left the paper blank, wrote nothing, or wrote something off-topic, or just copied the exam questions.

Similarly, according to information from the Department of Education and Training of Quang Tri province, the province currently has more than a dozen literature exams with zero scores. Most of the failing scores were also due to candidates leaving blank papers without writing anything.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuong - Director of Phu Tho Department of Education and Training also said that this locality has graded nearly 50% of the Literature exam. According to initial statistics, there are candidates who scored 9 and above 9 points. Only about 27% of candidates scored below average. The score range is mainly from 6 to 8. Many papers with failing scores have also appeared.

In Nam Dinh province, the leader of the Department of Education and Training of this province informed that the number of essays that have been graded is more than 10,000, of which 5 have received a zero score, 30 have received a score of 9 and 9.25. Similarly, in Hung Yen, after two rounds of grading, 5 essays have received a zero score.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also said that out of more than 78,000 Literature exams, 7 candidates received a failing score. The highest score is currently 8.25 points.

The reason why many candidates got zero or low marks in Literature is said to be because this year's exam was difficult. Previously, after this exam ended, there were many conflicting opinions about the exam and the answers. Mainly concerns were about the reading and comprehension materials, the way the questions were posed and the difficulty of the questions. In particular, many people were worried about the answers and the grading method for such an open exam.

During the marking process, many supervisors also said that with the open questions, students had different opinions with different arguments, requiring the supervisors to be very flexible in marking. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha - teacher at Tu Da High School, Phu Ninh, Phu Tho said:

“The test questions are open-ended, so the grading method must also be open-ended. We clearly see our responsibility to research more carefully to avoid giving students a disadvantage during the grading process, and to find the most accurate way to assess students' abilities.

During the marking process, we found that students expressed different opinions and we respect those opinions, especially when students express their opinions, but if they have convincing explanations for their opinions, we will accept and give them points.

“Accelerate” to complete before July 10

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, by July 11 at the latest, the Departments of Education and Training must announce the national high school exam scores. Therefore, at this time, the exam marking sites are speeding up to ensure the schedule.

As the only subject tested in essay format, grading the literature test is also the most difficult. Therefore, for localities with a large number of candidates such as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, grading is not simple. For example, in Ho Chi Minh City, this unit had to mobilize most of the teachers to ensure that nearly 78,000 literature tests were graded before July 11.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Hoang - Head of the Examination and Education Quality Assessment Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that the Department had mobilized more than 300 people to mark the exam right from the last exam session (June 27). On June 30, the Marking Council officially started working to finish marking by July 4 and submit the results to the Ministry of Education and Training on July 6.

To achieve that progress, the Department mobilized more than 700 teachers who are directly teaching grade 12 at high schools to participate in marking the exam. The marking work was carried out in accordance with the strict procedures of the Ministry of Education and Training.

In Hai Duong, this year, the provincial Department of Education and Training had to mobilize 84 teachers to grade exams and 20 teachers to grade literature tests. The grading process was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

In Bac Kan, the Department of Education and Training of this province also informed that the province has mobilized 70 people to do the exam marking task. Of which, 31 experienced teachers participated in marking essay exams in literature, 5 people participated in marking tests and 5 people participated in processing multiple-choice exams along with other service teams.

For essay papers, the examiners are divided into 2 groups, each group has 15 people. To ensure that the examiners do not mark papers of their own school, each group will work in 2 rooms for examiner 1 and examiner 2 and will mark independently.

In many other localities, the marking of the 2018 national high school exam was also carried out urgently. As soon as the exam ended, marking was conducted, training was conducted and marking was implemented after the Ministry of Education and Training announced the answers and marking instructions. Leaders of the Departments of Education and Training said that to ensure progress as well as accuracy and objectivity in marking, the departments mobilized a large number of teachers who are directly teaching to participate.

Regarding the exam marking schedule, the Ministry of Education and Training also stipulates that because the number of exam papers in each province is different, some localities will complete the marking process before the prescribed schedule. However, because the national high school exam score data is used for university and college admissions, provinces must keep it confidential and cannot arbitrarily announce the scores in advance. All exam results must be sent to the Ministry of Education and Training.