There are 925,792 candidates eligible to take the 2018 National High School Exam.

Candidates registering for the Social Science exam increased by about 5%.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the total number of candidates registering for the 2018 exam up to now is 925,792.

Of which, the number of students studying grade 12 in the 2017-2018 school year: 872,008 (in 2017: 786,304); Number of independent candidates: 53,784 (in 2017: 33,0557); Number of candidates registering for high school graduation recognition only: 237,326; Number of candidates registering for both high school graduation recognition and admission: 642,379; Number of candidates registering for admission only: 46,087

Thus, the total number of candidates taking the exam to be considered for high school graduation recognition is 879,705 (2017: 809,369).

The total number of candidates who will participate in the university and college entrance exam is: 688,466, accounting for 74.3% (in 2017: 640,471, accounting for nearly 75%). The whole country has 2,144 exam locations with 39,689 exam rooms.

Regarding registration for the combined exam, there are currently 341,576 candidates registered for the Natural Science exam, accounting for 37% (2017: 38%).

Compared to 2017, the rate of candidates registering to choose the Social Sciences exam increased by about 5%. (Illustration photo)

There were 444,538 candidates registered for the Social Science exam, accounting for 48% (2017: 43%). There were 36,016 candidates registered for both combined exams, accounting for 4% (2017: 7%).

The remaining 11% of the total number of candidates registered to take the component subjects of the combined exam (these are independent candidates taking the exam for university and college admission or independent candidates taking the exam for high school graduation recognition with the component subjects of the combined exam reserved in 2017).

Compared to 2017, the rate of candidates registering to choose the Social Sciences exam increased by about 5%.

The test is ready.

Review the exam matrix of the 2017 National High School Exam, make additional adjustments to the construction of the exam matrix of the 2018 National High School Exam in accordance with the announced plan.

The exam matrix of the 2018 National High School Exam ensures that it is consistent with the announced exam format, in the direction of continuing to implement the orientation of assessing learners' capacity, increasing the level of knowledge application requirements, open-ended questions, reducing the requirements of memorization, mechanical memorization or answering according to available templates.

At the same time, the exam ensures increased differentiation of exam results to meet the requirements for high school graduation recognition and serve as a reliable basis for university, college and vocational school admissions.

Based on the exam matrix, the Ministry has developed and published a set of reference exam questions as a basis for teachers and students to apply in teaching and reviewing to prepare for the exam.

Currently, the exam papers are ready to serve the exam. Special attention is paid to the security of the exam papers, and all localities have specific and feasible plans to ensure absolute security of the exam papers at all stages.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Question Bank Management software has been completed, is easy to use, and serves well for building question banks and test creation.

The multiple-choice test scoring software has been delivered and accepted. The Departments of Education and Training have tested it with good results and are now ready for use.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the national high school exam management software system operates well. Up to now, the software has been operating smoothly without any problems.