Natural Sciences combined subject exam: Getting a high score is not easy.

The exam was particularly difficult.

At the exam center at Le Viet Thuat High School, candidate Nguyen Nghia Trung left quite early. This candidate lives in Ben Thuy ward and is a private candidate, so he only took the Chemistry and Physics exams.

Candidates leave the examination room at Le Viet Thuat school examination center. Photo: Ho Phuong

After finishing his exam, Trung was quite satisfied: "I felt the questions were 2 points easier than last year. However, given my academic ability, I'm only confident I can give myself a 6 out of 10 in Physics; I need to check the answers for the remaining questions to be sure."

Contrary to this assessment, candidate Le Duc Anh - a physics student from Vinh University High School for Gifted Students - said: "The physics exam was as difficult as last year's, and I think I'll only get around 8 points. The chemistry exam was relatively easy, and for the biology exam, I only hope to get an average score because it's not my strong point."

Not many candidates completed the entire exam. Photo: Ho Phuong

Candidate Vo Hung Anh from Vinh University High School for Gifted Students added: "I took exam code 204. In my opinion, the Biology exam was difficult and quite long, especially the last 6 questions. The most difficult were questions 115, 119, and 120 about pedigrees and the coding of some amino acids."

In Thai Hoa town, many candidates commented that this year's combined subject exam was much more difficult than last year's and had a high level of differentiation. Regarding Chemistry, candidate Tran Thi Linh at the Tay Hieu High School exam center said that the exam had 40 questions, of which 20% were from the 11th grade curriculum, including both inorganic and organic chemistry.

Candidates from Quynh Luu district. Photo: Viet Hung

The exam was highly differentiated, with the difficulty level increasing from question 30 onwards, especially in the practical section on preparation reactions, which was more challenging than the Ministry's sample exam.

Meanwhile, candidate Nguyen Van Huy at the Thai Hoa High School exam center commented: "This year's Biology exam was quite difficult, especially the exercises on harmonic oscillation, light waves, gene recombination, sex linkage, and reactions. Many questions required a lot of integrated knowledge. I was able to answer the first 30 questions, but the rest were quite difficult."

In Quynh Luu district, Ho Thi Bich Nga, a student at Quynh Luu 2 High School, said: "As a student in the science stream (Group A), I found this year's exam not too difficult, but there were still many questions I couldn't answer. Of the three subjects I just took, I didn't do as well in Chemistry as in Physics, while I did relatively well in Biology. After checking the answer key, I estimate my total score for the three subjects to be around 7-8 points."

Candidates from Thai Hoa town discuss after the Natural Sciences combined exam. Photo: Minh Thai

Meanwhile, Le Van Sap, a 12th-grade student from Quynh Luu 1 High School, said: "The three subjects tested this morning were relatively manageable for the candidates; those specializing in certain subject areas will do better. As someone specializing in the science/mathematics field, when I received the Chemistry and Biology exam papers, I carefully read the questions and allocated my time accordingly, answering all 40 questions. The exact number of correct answers will have to wait until the results are announced."

Specifically for Physics, the difficulty level increased from question 32 onwards, so candidates had to calculate very carefully. However, in my assessment, this year's Natural Sciences exam was more difficult than last year's; many high-achieving students sighed in frustration after finishing the test.

The Biology exam questions closely resemble the Ministry's sample exam.

Commenting on the Biology exam, Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy, a teacher at Dien Chau 3 High School, said: "After reviewing exam code 206, I found that the basic knowledge tested followed the structure of the exam issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, and was not too unfamiliar to the students."

The exam content closely follows the curriculum and the sample exam. The questions are structured to meet four difficulty levels: recognition, comprehension, application, and advanced application.

Candidates at the Le Viet Thuat High School examination center discuss the exam questions on the morning of June 26th. Photo: Ho Phuong

In the exam, there weren't many questions designed for students to score perfectly, only 7-8 questions of the genetics type. The difficult questions were concentrated towards the end of the exam, requiring candidates to apply basic textbook knowledge and expand on advanced concepts.

With this exam, students taking the graduation exam can easily score 5-6 points, while better students can get 7-8 points. Scores of 9 or 10 are reserved for truly excellent students, and these will certainly not be many, mainly those taking the science-related subjects and applying to top universities.

This afternoon, candidates will take the Foreign Language exam, one of the three compulsory subjects for graduation recognition. Photo: Ho Phuong

According to the Department of Education and Training's summary, at the end of the third exam, 26 candidates were absent from Chemistry, 15 from Physics, and 21 from Biology. Throughout the province, there were no violations of exam regulations by candidates or invigilators. The exam proceeded normally and safely.