Parents and students anxiously await the cutoff scores for admission to 10th grade.
To date, Nghe An province has not yet announced the official cut-off scores for admission to 10th grade. Having to wait nearly three weeks after the exam has left many parents and students feeling anxious, as they cannot accurately determine their chances of admission or proactively plan their future studies.
Even with 8 points in each subject, you're still not guaranteed to get into your first-choice university.
For nearly three weeks, Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen's family has been anxiously awaiting the official announcement of the cutoff score by Huynh Thuc Khang High School. In this year's exam, her daughter scored 24.75 points, 0.5 points lower than the expected cutoff score announced by the school.
Ms. Yen shared: "We know we have to wait, but the longer we wait, the more anxious we become. My child is also upset because she thinks she was only half a point short of the expected score. The family just hopes the school will announce the cutoff scores soon so the children can feel at ease."
With an expected cutoff score of 25.25 points, this is the highest cutoff score for Huynh Thuc Khang High School in many years, meaning students must achieve an average of over 8.4 points per subject to have a chance of being admitted. If this score remains unchanged, there will still be 221 students with scores of 24 points or higher who will not be admitted to their first choice.
According to Mr. Phan Xuan Phan, Principal of Huynh Thuc Khang High School, the current cutoff score of 25.25 points is only an estimate, even though the school has excluded approximately 500 students who were admitted to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School and Vinh University Specialized High School. The official cutoff score will depend on the number of students who were admitted but did not enroll.
The school has now determined the number of students admitted to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School. For Vinh University Specialized High School, the school must contact each student individually to confirm enrollment. However, since the schools have not yet announced the official admission lists, the school cannot finalize the cutoff scores at this time.
Mr. Phan Xuan Phan - Principal of Huynh Thuc Khang High School
At Le Viet Thuat High School, according to the projected cutoff score for the first round, the school set the minimum score at 21.5 points. This score already accounts for the number of students admitted to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School, but it still depends on the number of students enrolling at Vinh University Specialized High School.
School leaders said that, according to annual practice, around 50 students are admitted but do not enroll. Therefore, the official cutoff score may decrease by another 0.25-0.5 points.
Reportedly, Le Viet Thuat High School has 1,453 registered candidates. With an expected cutoff score of 21.5 points, there are still 78 students who scored between 21 and under 21.5 points anxiously awaiting a chance for the cutoff score to be lowered. In addition, more than 390 students who did not get accepted into their first choice will continue to compete for a chance to enter the school through their second choice, although the chances are not high.
Narrow path to second choice.
2026 will be the first year that all public high schools in Nghe An province simultaneously accept second-choice applications.10th gradeWith a maximum of 20% of the quota, this is considered a "second chance" for students who did not score high enough for their first choice but still wish to attend a public school with a more suitable admission score.
However, this opportunity is not really readily available. Admission depends on each school's enrollment quota, the number of applicants, and the overall exam scores this year.
At Le Viet Thuat High School, according to initial statistics, approximately 1,100 students registered for their second choice. The majority of these are students who registered Huynh Thuc Khang High School as their first choice and have relatively high exam scores.
In addition, if we consider the group of candidates who scored between 20 and 20.75 points, there are still about 120 students who are likely to fail their first choice and will continue to participate in the second-choice application process along with other candidates.
According to school leaders, there are currently about 240 vacancies for second-choice applications. If you add the number of students who initially applied for second-choice admission to the number of students who were not admitted in their first-choice application, the competition rate will be quite high.
At Ha Huy Tap High School, according to Principal Cao Thanh Bao, the cutoff score for the second round of applications will largely depend on the official cutoff score of Huynh Thuc Khang High School. If Huynh Thuc Khang High School sets the cutoff at 25.25 points, approximately 300 students with scores between 22 and 25 points will still be waiting for consideration for their second round of applications.
Meanwhile, the expected cutoff score for the first choice at Ha Huy Tap High School is between 22.25 and 22.5 points. Therefore, to compete for the remaining more than 200 spots in the second choice, the school's leadership believes that the cutoff score will not differ significantly from the first choice. In cases where candidates applying for both the first and second choices have the same score, the school will prioritize the candidate who applied for the first choice.
One of the schools also receiving a lot of attention is Nghi Loc 3 High School, with a considerable number of students from the former Vinh area registering it as their second choice.
According to Ms. Pham Thi Tuyet Mai, Principal of Nghi Loc 3 High School, approximately 800 students have registered for the school as their second choice. However, the actual number of students eligible for admission cannot yet be determined because schools have not finalized the list of successful candidates for the first choice. The school anticipates that the cutoff score for the second choice will not be lower than the projected score for the first choice (18.75 points), due to the large number of applicants and the relatively high average exam scores.
At Hermann Gmeiner High School, 480 students have registered for their first choice. A representative from the Department of Education and Training stated that approximately 60% of these students will be admitted. The remaining slots will be prioritized for students who registered for their second, third, and fourth choices, based on a ranking system from highest to lowest scores until all 720 slots are filled.
The cut-off scores for admission to 10th grade will be announced after the re-evaluation process is completed. According to the plan, starting on July 2nd, 2026, Nghe An province will begin re-evaluating the 10th grade exam papers, a process that will last approximately 5 days. Immediately afterwards, the Department of Education and Training will announce the cut-off scores. Currently, there are over 2,000 candidates registered for the re-evaluation.
Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa - Director of the Department of Education and Training
