Nghe An: Announcement of direct admission criteria for students with international English certificates

Nghe An Department of Education and Training has just issued a document guiding enrollment for first-level classes in the 2021-2022 school year.

Also in this document, the Department has given specific instructions on direct admission for candidates with international English certificates for students in grades 6 and 10. This is the second year that the Nghe An Department of Education and Training has used this direct admission method but has expanded the schools that are eligible for direct admission.

Specifically, in this school year, the Department of Education and Training allows Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Huynh Thuc Khang High School and other public schools to directly enroll students with international English certificates with a maximum of 1 school/1 class.

Students with international English certificates have many opportunities to be admitted directly to grade 6 or grade 10. Photo: MH

The conditions for direct admission are that students have graduated from junior high school; achieved Good academic performance or higher, had Good conduct in grade 9; and participated in the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2021-2022 school year.

Regarding the scoring regulations for international English proficiency certificates, including:

+ For candidates applying to Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, it is required to have an IELTS Academic English certificate of 5.5 or higher or other international certificates equivalent to an IELTS Academic English certificate of 5.5 or higher such as TOEIC four skills (600 points or higher), TOEFL ITP (500 points or higher), TOEFL iBT (46 points or higher), TOEFL Junior (845 points or higher)...

+ Other high schools, depending on the quality of students in the admission area, decide the score of the English proficiency certificate for candidates applying for admission. However, at least candidates applying for admission must have an IELTS Academic English certificate of 4.0 or higher or other international certificates equivalent to an IELTS Academic English certificate of 4.0 or higher such as TOEIC four skills (450 points or higher), TOEFL ITP (450 points or higher), TOEFL iBT (31 points or higher), TOEFL Junior (745 points or higher)...

However, international English proficiency certificates must be valid as of the date of application submission. The validity period is not more than 2 years for international English proficiency certificates that do not state the validity period. The deadline for submitting applications for direct admission is before June 30, 2021.

During the admission process, the Department also requires schools to ensure accuracy, fairness, and objectivity. In addition, only candidates who have participated in the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2021-2022 school year and have enough admission scores to be admitted to 01 public high school in the area where the candidate registered for admission based on the international English certificate will be considered.

An English extracurricular session at Anh Son 1 High School. Photo: MH

In case there are many candidates with the same score at the last quota, the following criteria will be considered in order of priority: total score of 03 subjects Math, Literature, English in the entrance exam for grade 10 high school in the 2021-2022 school year; English score in the entrance exam for grade 10 high school in the 2021-2022 school year; average score of English in grade 9; results of participation in English competitions organized by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training in the 2021-2022 school year.

Policy of direct admission to 01 grade 10 of high school for students with international English proficiency certificates with a class size of no more than 35 students (for Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted) and no more than 42 students (for the remaining schools).

Particularly for 6th grade students, the Department requires the Departments of Education and Training to advise the People's Committees of districts/towns/cities to issue plans, regulations, and instructions for key high-quality secondary schools and secondary schools recruiting students in the entire district/city/town to conduct admission exams for students with international English proficiency certificates to study in 6th grade in the 2021-2022 school year.

Reference table for converting international English certificates. Photo: MH