The higher the 10th grade exam score... the more worried I am.
Scores of 9 and 10 are no longer rare in this year's 10th grade entrance exam. Along with that, the number of students achieving high scores has also increased dramatically, leading to higher cut-off scores in many schools compared to previous years.
Many test scores were extremely high.
Dang Thai Mai Secondary School has just released the results of its entrance exam.10th gradeNotably, Tran Hoang Thach, a student from class 9B, achieved outstanding results, ranking as the top student with a total score of 29.25 points across three subjects.
This male student also scored 18 points in the specialized Mathematics subject at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted and is guaranteed a place at the province's most prestigious specialized high school.
Of the 26 students across the province who scored 29 points or higher on the entrance exam, Dang Thai Mai Secondary School had 12. In addition, 9 out of 12 students from the school achieved top scores in the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School in History, English, French, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Informatics. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, the school principal, stated: "The students' achievements in this year's 10th grade entrance exam are the result of a thorough and scientific preparation process and the dedicated support of the school's teaching staff."
Throughout the province, based on the combined exam scores from various examination centers, the number of students achieving 26 points or higher is not uncommon. For example, at Thai Lao High School, the highest score was 28 points, and 17 students scored 26 points or higher. At Con Cuong High School, despite being in a mountainous district, this year the highest-scoring student achieved 28.25 points, and 10 students scored 26 points or higher; at Dong Hieu High School, the highest-scoring student also achieved 28.25 points.
Comparing the number of students achieving high scores this year with previous years, there is a clear difference. In previous years, the number of students scoring 28.5 points or higher was negligible. But this year, this score is not uncommon. At Huynh Thuc Khang High School alone, 90 students achieved 28.5 points, and 44 students scored 28.75 points or higher. In contrast, in the 2024-2025 10th grade entrance exam, only 3 students in the entire province achieved a score of 28.5, placing them in the top 3 of the province.
For example, in the 2025-2026 10th grade entrance exam, the runner-up score was 29 points, and only one student achieved this score. This year, the entire province has 25 students with this score. Last year, only two students achieved the 28.75 point mark, making them the province's runner-up. This year alone, 44 students achieved this score in the entrance exam for Huynh Thuc Khang High School.
Initial data shows that among more than 49,000 candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam at 69 examination centers across the province, 506 candidates achieved a perfect score of 10 in English, and 29 achieved a perfect score of 10 in Mathematics. The average score for all candidates was 18.45 points.
Regarding individual subjects, Literature had the highest average score with 7.18 points, followed by Mathematics with 6.45 points and Foreign Language with 4.82 points. The percentage of students achieving an average score above 5 points was 90.6% for Literature, 40.2% for Foreign Language, and 80.4% for Mathematics. In Foreign Language, the gap between the top and bottom groups was quite significant, with nearly 60% of candidates scoring below 5 points. Meanwhile, this was the subject with the most perfect scores (10 points) with 506 students, a very outstanding result.
The cut-off scores are expected to increase at many schools.
The entrance exam for 10th grade is always considered by parents in Nghe An to be "more stressful than the university entrance exam." This year, the pressure is even greater as the number of candidates has increased by about 10,000, but the total number of available places has not increased significantly.
Immediately after the results of the 10th grade entrance exam were released, parents' worries did not lessen as many schools had extremely high scores, which could lead to a significant increase in the admission cut-off scores.
At Huynh Thuc Khang High School, the school with the highest number and quality of applicants in the entire province, this year the school has nearly 1,200 enrollment slots. With this number, the current admission score is 26.25 points. Based on experience from previous years, if approximately 500 students applying to the school also enroll in specialized schools, the cutoff score will range from 25 to 25.25 points, which is the highest cutoff score in over 10 years.
At Ha Huy Tap High School, based on the school's summary, the expected cutoff score this year will be around 22.5 points, after including candidates who registered for the second choice. This score is higher than last year and close to the highest cutoff score of 22.4 points.
According to Principal Cao Thanh Bao, the school's exam quality this year is quite high, with the top scorer achieving 29 points and 178 students scoring 26 points or higher. Based on his years of experience in school management, Mr. Bao believes the high scores may be due to the "easier" exam questions this year. In previous years, not many students aspired to score 8 or higher in Math, but this year the percentage is quite high; English scores in schools in central areas are also significantly higher than in previous years...
At Thai Lao High School, the expected cutoff score this year is also projected to reach over 19 points, equal to the school's highest score three years ago, as students from the former Vinh City flocked to the school to avoid pressure in the central area.
Many teachers predicted an increase in exam scores and cut-off scores immediately after the 10th grade entrance exam concluded. Generally, this year's exam closely followed the curriculum, was suitable for a wide range of students, and wasn't too difficult to achieve a good score. However, the exam lacked questions with a higher level of differentiation, resulting in a small score gap between average, good, and excellent students.
The exam results show a significant increase in the number of high-scoring papers, especially those scoring 8 points or higher. This doesn't have a major impact on schools with significantly different entrance quality, but it creates considerable pressure on schools with more uniform academic levels. Even a small mistake or a difference of half a point can significantly alter a candidate's ranking in the race for admission to public high schools.
And it's very likely that this year, some schools will once again see students failing to get into their first-choice school even with scores of over 8 points per subject. Meanwhile, in many other places, students still get into public schools even without meeting the average GPA requirement.
