Phan Boi Chau School students comment on the 5th grade exam in Vinh City

(Baonghean.vn)-'It is not necessary that every exam must be so heavy that students must achieve 9 or 10 points. If so, we will sow the beginning steps of achievement disease in children's thinking',Le Quang Quan, a student of class A1K44 at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, shared.

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The final exam for 5th graders in Vinh city, Nghe An province has been a hot issue across the country in recent days.

There have been many waves of public opinion and conflicting opinions surrounding this story on social networking sites and mass media. Most parents and students believe that the exam was too difficult and beyond the ability of 5th graders.

Looking at this objectively, we can completely affirm that although it is difficult, the exam is completely suitable and reasonable for the goal of differentiating students.

Exam questions 9 and 10 have caused a stir in public opinion about their difficulty recently. Photo courtesy.

For questions 9 and 10, which are considered difficult and unreasonable, students can completely handle them based on advanced skills and knowledge learned or in reference materials.

Solution to question 9. Photo: Quang Quan

As for question 10, although it is a difficult question, the skills and knowledge are still completely within the curriculum of 5th graders. In reference books or lectures, advanced practice exercises on fractions for 5th graders, the type of problem that converts the sum of fractions to a sum of interdigitated numbers is very common, even global.

Question 10 in the exam actually comes from the above thinking point of view and is more advanced to require students' thinking.

Solution to question 10. Photo: Quang Quan.

Thus, we can see that the test can be completely adapted to the knowledge of 5th grade students and is completely suitable, because according to Circular 22/2016/TT-BGDDT dated September 22, 2016, "Periodic tests are suitable for knowledge standards, skills and capacity development orientation, including questions and exercises designed according to the following levels:

Level 1:Recognize and recall learned knowledge and skills.

Level 2:Understand learned knowledge and skills, present and explain knowledge in personal understanding.

Level 3:Know how to apply learned knowledge and skills to solve familiar and similar problems in study and life.

Level 4:Apply learned knowledge and skills to solve new problems or give reasonable feedback in study and life flexibly."

On the other hand, if students have a firm grasp of the basic knowledge and can complete the first 8 questions and question 9a, they will have achieved a score of 8 or above 8. According to the grading system in Vietnam, this is a good score, and a score of 9-10 is an excellent score. Therefore, parents and students need to have a thorough understanding of the level of scores 8, 9, 10 so that we can see that, even for students who cannot apply advanced knowledge and complete questions 9b and 10, the score of 8 that they have achieved is truly valuable and worthy of pride.

It is not necessary that every exam must be so heavy that students must achieve 9 or 10 points. If we continue like that, we will sow the beginning steps of achievement disease in children's thinking.

Le Quang Quan

(Class A1K44, Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted)