Low national high school exam scores, but graduation rate remains high

Some education experts and school leaders said that this year's exam scores have better differentiation, which means determining admission scores to universities will be easier than last year.

Through the analysis of the score distribution announced by the Ministry of Education and Training, some experts commented that the score distribution of the tests and subjects in this year's national high school exam is close to the normal distribution, meaning that the test scores are evenly distributed on both sides of the average score mark (5 points).

The number of candidates with above average scores in most exams and subjects accounts for about 50% to 70% (except for History and English), which shows that the score range is relatively widely dispersed.

"Compared to 2017, the score distribution of the subjects and exam groups has clearly improved, shown in the fact that the score distribution is closer to the standard form for most of the subjects. The distribution follows a bell-shaped curve that is harmonious on both sides. If the test scores are distributed in a standard way, the differentiation of the test scores will be more obvious and thus help schools to consider admission more easily. I think that success is due to the fact that this year's test preparation is better and more carefully prepared than last year."

Dr. Le Truong Tung, Principal of FPT University, also stated that in addition to subjects with scores close to the normal distribution, 3 subjects with abnormal scores include Civics, History and English. Of which, Civics deviates toward the high score, while History and English deviate toward the low score. This is an issue that needs to be analyzed and clarified by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Regarding the score distribution of candidates registering for university and college entrance exams, the average scores for Math, Literature, Physics, and Geography are between 5 and 6 points. The average scores for Chemistry, Biology, History, and English are between 4 and 5 points. The average scores of the total scores of the exam blocks analyzed as A, A1, B, C, C01, and D are all greater than 15 points. The scores of 8 and above in all subjects have decreased sharply.

If in 2017, the number of 10 points in all subjects increased to a record level, unprecedented in the history of exams with 4,235 10 points (more than 50 times higher than in 2016), then in 2018 it decreased sharply, the whole country only had 477 10 points in all subjects.

Some experts and school leaders commented that the decrease in high scores is a good trend because the score level has moved closer to the period of the "3 common" university and college entrance exams and 2016, which means better classification of candidates and better evaluation of candidates. However, the fact that this year's exam scores are lower than last year's does not mean that the quality of this year's candidates is worse, but rather that the exam questions have a higher level of differentiation.

The test scores of candidates have a clear differentiation, plus there are not too many very high scores like in 2017 and some technical changes of the Ministry of Education and Training such as: scores are rounded to 2 decimal places, regional priority points are reduced by half compared to last year... then there will not be a situation where candidates with 29, 30 points still fail their first choice.

The top schools also rarely have to use additional criteria to filter candidates. However, some opinions also say that with subjects such as Physics, Biology, and Math this year, the percentage of candidates achieving 10 points is too low, so the difficulty of the exam needs to be reconsidered./.