Graduation exam for the 2013-2014 school year: Running and lining up at the same time!

(Baonghean) -Starting from April, high schools in the area have accelerated their review programs to focus on the 2013-2014 Graduation Exam. This exam has many innovations, from choosing elective subjects, review work to managing scores on the transcript because currently up to 50% of graduation results depend on admission scores...

Students of grade 12 A1 - Le Hong Phong High School (Hung Nguyen) review for graduation exam.

1. "Love" natural blocks, "indifferent"social subjects

This may have been a forewarning since the Ministry of Education and Training decided that this year's graduation exam will only include four subjects, two of which are self-selected by candidates. A summary of a number of schools in the province shows that most candidates choose two elective subjects: physics, chemistry and biology. Next are geography, foreign languages ​​and finally history. For example, at Phan Dang Luu High School (Yen Thanh), the school has 561 students in grade 12, 243 of whom registered for physics, 319 for chemistry, 152 for biology, 275 for geography, 114 for English and only 19 for history. At Nam Dan 1 High School, 153-405 students registered for physics, chemistry and biology out of a total of 485 students. Meanwhile, only 8 students took history, 84 for geography and 63 for English. At Huynh Thuc Khang High School (Vinh City), the highest number of candidates registered for physics with 471/572 students. The lowest number was history with only 17 students registering.

According to Mr. Dang Quang Hung, Principal of Nguyen Truong To High School (Vinh City), there are many reasons for students to choose natural sciences, but they do not rule out following the "crowd". Typically, at the school, currently out of 540 grade 12 students, the school has divided the classes by block, including 5 classes of students in block A, one class of students in block C, and the remaining three classes are studying the basic block. However, currently about 2/3 of the school's students are registered for physics, chemistry, and biology. Only 7 students are registered for history and 42 students are registered for English. The reason for this choice is because many students believe that physics, chemistry, and biology are tested in multiple-choice format, so in the worst case scenario, if a student does not know, they only need to choose one answer and the correct rate will still be high. Geography is also chosen by many students because the diagram drawing part is easy to "get" points. Not many students registered for the English exam this year because in addition to the multiple choice part, students had to do an essay, which was not easy to score. As for history, students were “afraid” because history was difficult to remember, too difficult to memorize, too many events, too much data.

According to some teachers, many students focus on a few subjects because they have made calculations, especially this year, there is only one school in the examination council. For example, natural sciences, although there are 4 multiple-choice test codes, there is actually only one, only the questions change order. Therefore, students are thinking of looking at each other's papers. That also explains why, even at Nguyen Truong To school and other schools, although many candidates take the university entrance exam in group C (literature, history, geography), they still choose subjects in group A to take the elective exam because getting 6-7 points in physics, chemistry, biology is much easier than a history essay. Some other students choose elective subjects based on the registration numbers next to them and only need to register for the exam according to students with good academic performance. Through that, it also shows that, students not registering for history does not necessarily mean that they hate history, but their main goal is to get high scores, so they have to choose a safe solution and want to spend more time reviewing for the university entrance exam - teacher Nguyen Canh Tuan, Principal of Anh Son 1 High School affirmed.

2. Tighten scorebook managementtranscript

In the new regulations on graduation exams this year, the recognition and classification of graduation will include 50% of the average score of four subjects and 50% of the average score of the 12th grade academic year. In addition, there are currently some universities that, instead of using the "3 common" exam method, consider admission based on the results of the transcript. Therefore, the management of transcript scores needs to be focused on, otherwise it is easy for negative situations, score-fixing, and score-fixing to arise.

Currently, 100% of high schools in the province have used score management software. Accordingly, all scores after grading will be entered by teachers into the school's score management software and periodically twice a year, schools will enter them into the common system of the Department of Education and Training at the end of the first semester and the end of the school year. With this process, Mr. Le Viet Hung, principal of Le Hong Phong High School (Hung Nguyen), said: When the scores are online, subject teachers cannot edit the scores because a school only has one administrator (admin) and we assign this responsibility to the vice principal in charge of professional matters. In addition, to ensure objectivity and fairness in exams, in addition to organizing common exam questions in the final exam, many schools have organized the use of common exam questions, centralized exams with registration numbers in the mid-term exam. Schools have a question bank for teachers to choose from to create tests, avoiding the situation of creating easy questions to get high scores. The Department of Education and Training has also sent a document to schools that when evaluating and classifying students, they must seriously implement the construction of a test matrix for periodic tests. The results of students' tests are entered into the roll book and scored promptly, accurately, and according to the process, and updated into the school's management software.

In that way, this year, if all schools follow the correct procedures for updating scores, negative situations in transcripts will be difficult to occur. However, in the coming years, this is still not the most optimal solution and if it is not tightened right now, the situation of correcting scores will become more common because many people have seen the benefits of scores on transcripts. Even the principal Dang Quang Hung of Nguyen Truong To High School has not yet confirmed whether it is possible to manage scores or not because according to him: many teachers have limited self-awareness and are quite arbitrary. Schools can only manage scores when they are online. Before that, teachers who want to change students' scores will have many ways such as making easy test questions, letting students retake the test, or in countless other ways... Even the Department of Education and Training, Mr. Vo Viet Dung, Head of Information Technology Department, said: When scores are updated into the Department's software system, the Department only manages them in general, but if schools want to change scores, they can still do it if the leaders are dishonest.

3. Running and queuing at the same time

That is what Mr. Thai Viet Thao - Head of the Department of Testing and Education Quality Assessment (Department of Education and Training) and many leaders, teachers and students said about this year's graduation and college entrance exams, even though the exams will begin in less than two months.

It is understandable, because like previous years, around the beginning of March, schools have started planning to organize graduation exam review for students. However, this year, although it is early April, many schools have not been able to implement it because they are still confused and have not finalized the list of students registering for elective exams. Students themselves also have concerns because, as shared by student Kieu Anh, class 12 A1, Le Hong Phong High School: At first, many students chose chemistry and geography to register for elective exams. But then, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the exam schedule for these two subjects, but they had the same exam session. Because they were afraid of stress, many students asked to re-register.

Too many students concentrated in some subjects and conversely, there are subjects with too few students, even subjects with only one or a few students registered, causing schools to have a "headache" in arranging exam review schedules, while still having to ensure the schedule of other subjects as usual. In addition, instead of reviewing exams according to the list of classes as before, schools now have to organize combined classes, and then have to arrange how to prevent students from overlapping subjects. Many schools have had to consider the option of taking extra classes in the second shift to keep up with the program. On the part of the Department of Education and Training, the organization of graduation exams this year will encounter many inconveniences and if the exam regulations are not well understood, students will easily take the exam in the wrong room and teachers will also easily make mistakes. Similarly, in foreign languages, there are both multiple choice and essay exams, but the plan for collecting papers between these two exams is still unclear. The increase in the number of exam subjects also requires mobilizing more forces, teachers and staff for two more subjects.

According to the plan, on April 10, the Ministry of Education and Training will hold a national conference to discuss solutions to problems that will be encountered in the 2014 Graduation Exam. At the same time, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training will also hold a conference on this year's graduation exam. Certainly, after these discussions, many difficulties and shortcomings will be gradually resolved...

My Ha