New software for marking combined exams will be provided in May.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia - Deputy Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Assurance - Ministry of Education and Training said that up to now, the new software for grading combined tests has been completed and is scheduled to be provided to the Departments this May.

The technical preparation for the marking of the exam has been given great attention by the Steering Committee for the National High School Exam. Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga emphasized that the marking of multiple-choice tests, especially the combination tests, must be absolutely accurate. Because just one system error can lead to a series of errors, with unpredictable consequences.

The leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training have assigned responsible and relevant units to coordinate in preparing exam scoring software to ensure accuracy and fairness in reflecting candidates' exam results.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Assurance of the Ministry of Education and Training, said that this year's exam is a special exam not only because the organization is completely assigned to the Departments but also because of the change in grading.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Control.

Accordingly, the Departments/test clusters have been familiar with the multiple-choice test scoring process for several years. However, this is the first year that the National High School Exam for University and College admission has adjusted the scoring software due to the appearance of the combined exam of Natural Sciences (combined subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Social Sciences (combined subjects of History, Geography, Civic Education for candidates studying the High School Education program; combined subjects of History, Geography for candidates studying the High School Continuing Education program).

“For traditional exams such as Math and Foreign Language, the grading is still the same as before. As for the combined exam, it is essentially 3 exams of 3 subjects combined into one multiple choice exam. Therefore, the Ministry must adjust the software to grade this type of exam. According to regulations, the Ministry will provide the software for grading combined exams to the Departments. Currently, the software has been completed and is expected to be provided this May,” said Mr. Nghia.

Note on arranging independent candidates

Referring to the preparation for the National High School Exam, Deputy Director Tran Van Nghia also reminded the provinces about the arrangement of independent candidates. Mr. Nghia said that the Ministry has not yet received any specific reports on the arrangement of independent candidates in the provinces.

Exam supervision for independent candidates is extremely complicated and often this group only takes the exam for the purpose of being considered for university admission. On its side, the Ministry of Education and Training has created favorable conditions for this group, specifically organizing the exam at the Department (province) to ensure convenience in travel and accommodation arrangements.

The representative of the Ministry of Education and Training advised the Departments to set up a separate examination room in the province for independent candidates. Normally, the principle of examination rooms is arranged according to the subjects. Normal candidates may only differ in Natural Sciences and Independent Sciences, but independent candidates may have up to 7 different subjects.

“Therefore, if we arrange for independent candidates to take the exam in different rooms according to subjects, it will be very costly and complicated. This method is not wrong, but it will be very difficult and cause many unforeseen problems,” Mr. Nghia commented./.

According to Dantri