10th grade benchmark scores in Nghe An drop: More opportunities, worry about quality?

Not having enough GPA can still easily pass public school

Tan Ky High School has just announced the first round of the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2025-2026 school year with a record low score of 7.75 points. This is also the lowest score in this year's exam season, although it is considered the number 1 quality school in Tan Ky district and is located in the central area.

Previously, in the previous exam season, the school's benchmark score was more than 11 points and much higher than this year. Teacher Le Khac Thuc - Principal of the school said: The low score is within expectations because "the school has swept away the last student" and so far is still short of 58 quotas. This year, our school has 630 quotas but the number of candidates registering for the exam is not enough, even though after changing the wishes, there are more students transferring back. We are planning to ask the Department to recruit additional wishes 2 to have enough students according to regulations and increase the quality of enrollment.

With a low input, just over 2 points/subject, the school principal also expressed concern when entering the new school year: With below average academic performance, it is clear that the quality of students in this course will be much lower than in previous years. Therefore, we think that after enrollment, the school will have to classify, supplement knowledge and have a teaching plan suitable for each subject.

At Cua Lo 2 High School, the school's benchmark score this year is 12.75 points, 3 points lower than the previous admission season (15.58 points). Although the exact score distribution has not been analyzed, teacher Vuong Xuan Chan - the school's principal said that the quality of students this year is very low. The highest score at our school is just over 22 points and about half of the admitted students have below average test scores. With this result, the school determined that it will be very difficult to invest in key quality in the coming years. The school's main goal is to improve quality across the board.

According to Mr. Chan, due to the decline in quality, the school's current class arrangement is facing many difficulties and the school is having to carefully consider it to suit the reality.

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In the 2024-2025 school year, we have 1 class focusing on Natural Sciences, 2 classes focusing on Social Sciences, and the rest are classes for students to only take the graduation exam. This year, the trend of schools enrolling in group C will be less and less, so the school plans to increase the number of classes focusing on Natural Sciences. However, with the current learning capacity, it will be very difficult to direct students to subjects such as Math, Physics, and Chemistry.

Teacher Vuong Xuan Chan - Principal of Cua Lo High School

Struggling to improve quality

After the 10th grade entrance exam, Vi Ngan Di - a student of Mon Son Secondary School (Con Cuong District), was one of two students from the school who was admitted to the provincial Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities. Notably, Di made great progress when she scored 7.25 points in English, 2 points higher than her first mock exam at the school.

Not only Di, the average English score of students at Mon Son Secondary School has generally changed significantly. The average English score is 6 points, ranking 2nd in Con Cuong district, a result considered a "breakthrough" for a school in a mountainous border area. The average score of the school's 3 subjects is also 17.63 points, ranking 3rd in the district, only after Con Cuong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities and Tra Lan Secondary School.

Sharing her joy, Ms. Lo Thi Yen Phuong - English teacher for grade 9 at Mon Son Secondary School said: "Because learning English in highland schools was difficult in the past, the general quality of students was very low, and there were many gaps in knowledge. In fact, when the class was first started 3 months ago, the average score of students in English was only 2.93 points. This is the first year that students took the exam according to the 2018 General Education Program - the exam was long, with many reading comprehension passages, which was very disadvantageous for students in highland areas...".

To help students have enough confidence to enter the Entrance Exam.Grade 10For many months, teacher Yen Phuong and her students have not had a day off. Morning classes last until 11:30 a.m. and afternoon classes last until nearly 7 p.m. During that time, in addition to increasing their vocabulary, students also learn a systematic grammar knowledge, equip themselves with some skills to do the test and actively practice the questions. "The students have improved every day. When it came to the real test, many students scored above 7 points in English, none of them scored below 2 points. Although it was hard, both the teacher and the students felt it was worth it," teacher Phuong shared.

In the 2024-2025 school year, Nghe An Education Department will conduct quality assessment and evaluation at both secondary and high school levels. With many drastic solutions, teaching and learning in schools have had positive changes.

However, looking at the general picture of grade 10 admission, the low benchmark scores with the number of students in 3 subjects below the average score also makes many people worried. In addition to the reason for the decrease in student size, the remaining problem is the low effectiveness of teaching and learning at schools.

Specifically, in addition to bright spots in a few schools, the admission benchmark for grade 10 in Nghe An this year has dropped alarmingly low.

Of which, Thai Lao High School's benchmark score is 11.75 points, 7 points lower than the previous school year, Le Hong Phong High School's benchmark score is 10 points, 6.5 points lower than in 2024, Le Viet Thuat High School's benchmark score is 15.25 points, 6.4 points lower.

Or in Tuong Duong district, the benchmark score of Tuong Duong 1 High School is only 9 points; Tuong Duong 2 High School is 10.5 points, Ky Son High School's benchmark score is only 9.25 points, Que Phong High School is 10.5 points.

The low benchmark scores will also pose a risk to the quality of education in the coming years, if schools do not have appropriate plans to adjust teaching and learning.

In fact, from the admission results of previous years, many schools said that students' knowledge at the secondary level has many gaps. Therefore, after completing the 10th grade entrance exam, the Education sector will soon evaluate and compare the quality between schools, regions, and areas to develop teaching plans and assess the quality of education./.