Confused in reviewing for the 10th grade entrance exam

Increase the number of subjects
Nguyen Thai Nhu Secondary School is highly rated for its quality in the secondary school system of Do Luong district. However, the pressure on the school's 10th grade entrance exam is always very high, because most of the 9th grade students register for Do Luong 1 High School - the school with the highest competition rate in the district. The school's ratio of students being streamed is also very low, only 5 - 10 students per year.

Class time of 9th grade students at Quang Trung Secondary School - Hung Nguyen. Photo: My Ha

This is understandable, because in the past, in addition to the two main subjects of Math and Literature, students mainly focused on Foreign Language (the subject chosen as the third exam subject for many years). However, at present, the school teaches all subjects including Social Sciences such as History, Geography, Civic Education and Natural Sciences such as Physics, Biology, Chemistry and focuses more on Literature, Math, and Foreign Language.

Talking about this change, teacher Tran Van Thu - Principal of the school said: "The implementation of combined subject exams instead of an independent subject like before has changed the mindset of students and avoided the situation of lopsided learning and rote learning. Teachers themselves are quite excited because "no teacher has to stand aside anymore". On the school's side, before this change, they also directed to teach and learn comprehensively, focusing on all subjects and determining "study as you take the exam" and "learn as you go" so that students can get used to the new way of learning and testing".

In many other schools, to prepare for this year's 10th grade entrance exam, the afternoon extra class schedule has also been adjusted.

Specifically, at Nghi Lien Secondary School (Vinh City), Tao Son Secondary School (Anh Son), previously students only studied Literature, Math, Foreign Language, Physics, Chemistry, but now they have added social subjects. However, because students only study 3 sessions a week, there is not much time to review outside of class. Most schools still focus on reviewing the main subjects. For the remaining subjects, the schedule is interspersed, so on average they only review once a month, so the review efficiency is not high.

"Waiting" for sample exam

Candidates from Yen Thanh district complete procedures before entering the exam room for the 2017 10th grade entrance exam. Photo: document

To effectively implement the combined exam, at the end of the first semester, many schools have also included multiple-choice exams in the semester exam to evaluate student quality.

At Quang Trung Secondary School (Hung Dao Commune, Hung Nguyen District), this year there are 88 9th grade students. In the final exam, following the direction of the District Department of Education and Training, the school organized the exam questions in the form of 60% essay and 40% multiple choice. The school also organized the exam for students to take seriously like a real exam with the purpose of evaluating the actual results.

Regarding the final exam results, Ms. Tran Thi Bich Ngoc - Vice Principal of the school said: "With multiple choice tests, more knowledge is tested and students are more proactive in taking the test. However, the results are not high because students are not familiar with the new exam method and they have to study too many subjects, so the amount of knowledge is heavy and difficult to absorb fully.

But the implementation process also had many difficulties, because according to teacher Nguyen Thi Lam Hong - Geography teacher: "We were quite confused when creating questions because in fact, before implementing, we had only received general training for all subjects. But when applying, each subject has its own characteristics and we almost have no reference materials. In particular, in order to create answers for Geography, we had to consider carefully, so as not to confuse students."
At Tao Son Secondary School (Anh Son), teacher Nguyen Huu Hai - Vice Principal of the school said: Up to this point, although we have thoroughly informed all teachers and students about the implementation of the combined exam in the form of multiple choice, at the end of the first semester, we have only organized multiple choice exams for two main subjects: Math and Literature. As for the remaining subjects, we have only gradually implemented them and it is expected that by the end of the second semester, we will let students take a multiple choice test.

It is expected that by March, schools will have a full test bank and then begin to apply it to the tests in the second semester. The current difficulty is that nationwide, the number of provinces that conduct entrance exams for grade 10 in the form of combinations can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Therefore, there are not many reference materials and most teachers have to do it themselves, explore and build the test questions, so it is inevitable that there will be confusion and limitations.
Up to this point, the Department of Education and Training has not yet announced the sample test questions. The biggest wish of the schools is that the Department should soon release the sample test questions so that the schools can have a basis to organize teaching and develop test questions that are close to the direction of the industry.

At the same time, announce the combined exam subjects soon to make review effective and avoid creating pressure for students when they have to focus on too many subjects like now.