Nghe An teacher 'decodes' sample exam questions

(Baonghean.vn) - The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced the sample test for the 2017 National High School Exam. The general assessment shows that the test is close to the textbook program. However, to do well on the test, students must think quickly, be creative and should not rely on luck.

Regarding this issue, Nghe An Newspaper recorded the opinions of teachers of Literature, Math, Geography, and Civic Education - the subjects with the most changes in the 2017 Exam:

Teacher Dang Thi Thu Hien - Literature teacher, Quynh Luu 1 High School: Students do not have many opportunities to "talk nonsense" in the sample exam questions.

In my opinion, the sample exam for Literature is not much different from the exams of previous years. In particular, the sample exam structure still retains 3 parts: reading comprehension, social commentary and literary commentary.

The reading comprehension section (3 points) includes a given excerpt and 4 questions. To answer these 4 questions, students must have a solid understanding of Vietnamese, read and understand the content, and reflect and evaluate. In addition, the reading comprehension section, using an example of a social issue (a speech at the Wellesley High School graduation ceremony by Principal David McCullough), is a topic that is very familiar to students, so it is easy for them to understand and absorb. Moreover, students do not need to memorize but can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned and then think about doing the exercises.

Students of Phan Boi Chau High School. Illustrative photo

The Social Essay question also changed when students were required to write only 200 words instead of 600 words as in previous years. This is consistent with the 120-minute test time. In addition, the Ministry's decision to increase the literary essay section to 5 points, accounting for 50% of the total exam score is completely reasonable because the literary essay section is the core part of the 12th grade program. I also agree when the Ministry of Education and Training decided not to include the practical connection part in the essay section and thereby avoid students being subjective, thinking that they do not need to study, just need to "talk nonsense" to do the literature exam.

In my opinion, the sample test is very open and interesting. The questions in the test ensure that students are assessed at the levels of knowledge recognition - understanding - application and high application. To get good results, students must have a strong argument, be interested in understanding social issues and must demonstrate the ability to appreciate literature. However, the way of asking questions in the independent reading comprehension section needs to be more flexible, avoiding overlapping requirements with the social discussion section when using the same test materials and inspiring students to do the test (for example, all three parts 2, 3, 4 of the reading comprehension section require students to explain, comment and relate to "the principal's speech". Thus, in the process of explaining, if any student has a limited vocabulary and is not flexible in processing information, there will be overlap in thinking and expression).

Teacher Nguyen Thi Yen - Head of Geography Group, Huynh Thuc Khang High School: Illustrative exam questions do not change teaching and learning methods.

In 50 minutes, the Ministry of Education and Training built a 40-question exam structure that is reasonable according to the time and ability of students.

Regarding the exam structure: covering the entire program, with reasonable distribution, including natural geography: 7 questions, population: 3 questions, economic geography: 10 questions and economic regions: 10 questions, atlas exercises and data charts: 5 questions each. With this distribution, students do not feel abrupt because it inherits the old spirit of the previous essay exam.

Class time of students at Phan Hong Thai High School (Hung Nguyen)

Regarding differentiation: Knowledge recognition accounts for 35%, understanding 25%, application: 25% and high application is 10%. With this question, average students can easily get 5.6 points, including many questions related to reality that students can easily get full points such as the question of looking at the atlas to determine which is a special urban area, which is a marine economic zone, which is a key student tourism area.

In addition, looking at the questions, the differentiation is also quite clear. The advanced part does not focus on one question but throughout all parts, requiring students to study evenly, not to study lopsidedly or memorize like before, and this also makes determining the standard score more accurate.

In addition, to do advanced exercises, students must also have diverse knowledge and broad understanding. Questions about map selection are closely related to practice and if students do not have comprehensive knowledge and analytical and evaluation skills, they cannot do it.

I also think that after having this topic, teachers and students are quite assured and learning and teaching are no different from before. In particular, the most important thing is that students must follow the textbook closely. At the same time, the learning process must know how to use the atlas fluently.

With this test, it is not difficult for good students in block C to get 8 or 9 points.

Class time of students at Anh Son 1 High School

Teacher Nguyen Thi Tien - Civic Education teacher at Nghi Loc 5 High School: The exam has many practical questions close to students.

2017 is the first year that the Ministry of Education and Training has included Civic Education in the National High School Exam, so I was quite worried. Therefore, as soon as the Ministry announced the sample exam, I studied it very carefully and now feel quite assured because the sample exam is close to the spirit that the Ministry has put forth: it is within the 12th grade program. In which, the main focus is on issues related to law, codes of law, legal documents and basic rights such as civil rights, labor rights, and democratic freedoms. In addition, the content closely follows each lesson, each specific content and ensures levels from basic to advanced.

From my personal point of view, I also find this topic to be suitable, not too difficult. Besides, the questions about practical connections are also quite good, for example, asking students to talk about the prohibitions in using phones to read friends' messages, posting personal information on Facebook pages. However, to do well on the test, students also need to read the topic carefully, understand the legal language because there are many questions with similar answers such as: what rights do all citizens enjoy/what can all citizens do...

Teacher Phan Van Thai, Math teacher at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted: Students are not allowed to memorize Math.

The multiple choice math test covers all 7 chapters of the 12th grade curriculum. Algebra includes chapters on derivative applications, exponential functions, logarithmic functions, integrals, and complex numbers. Geometry includes chapters on polyhedra, surfaces of revolution, and coordinates in space.

With this way of giving questions, students are completely comfortable in the learning process and the curriculum is also quite concise. However, students must study all parts equally, including theory.

Class time of 12th grade students, Huynh Thuc Khang High School

In terms of structure, there are 30 questions at the basic level (60%) and 20 questions at the difficult level (20%), ensuring the implementation of both purposes: considering graduation recognition and the basis for universities to consider university admission. Fortunately, the questions are arranged from easy to difficult, each chapter has a basic and advanced part, the question format of the questions is basically the same so that students will not be surprised.

In particular, in the multiple-choice test, for the first time, the Ministry of Education and Training has given questions related to real life such as problems about economics, bank interest rates, problems about rotation surfaces, and cylinders. However, these are all advanced problems, so students must have solid knowledge, calculate quickly, and understand the nature of the problem to be able to do it. With this way of giving questions, teachers must teach more carefully, and students must study more carefully.

National High School Exam 2017

In addition, students need to practice thinking and quick thinking because the number of questions is very large. There are questions that students have to calculate to get the answer, but there are questions that students can use the method of elimination. We must limit the habit of presenting old-fashioned methods and instead analyze and process quickly.

My Ha