University entrance exams will include more open-ended questions.

After getting used to the new question format in the high school graduation exams, students taking the university entrance exam will have to go through an even more difficult test to secure a place in university.

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Increase the number of open-ended questions.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia, Deputy Director of the Department of Examination and Quality Assurance of Education (Ministry of Education and Training), said: "The university and college entrance exam questions for 2014, following the 'three common' method, remain stable compared to the previous year and continue to focus on increasing the number of open-ended questions."

University and college entrance exams will be designed to test candidates' basic knowledge, application abilities, and practical skills within the scope of the current high school curriculum, primarily the 12th grade curriculum, in accordance with regulations on adjusting high school learning content.

According to Mr. Nghia, essay-based exams for social science subjects such as literature, history, and geography will increasingly feature open-ended questions, limiting questions that require students to memorize information mechanically. Multiple-choice exams will be supplemented and improved in terms of question format to minimize the possibility of students guessing.

For natural science subjects, the focus is also on increasing the number of questions designed to develop students' ability to apply their comprehensive knowledge to solve practical problems, overcoming the tendency for students to solve problems mechanically according to pre-existing models.

Compared to the exam papers of the 2014 high school graduation exam, according to Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga, for the university and college entrance exams, the Ministry of Education and Training will build upon the innovations that have been highly appreciated by society in previous exam seasons, especially the recent high school graduation exam.

However, due to the nature of the exam, the university entrance exam will have a higher level of differentiation than the high school graduation exam. Candidates need to have a solid grasp of general knowledge to apply it to practice, and should not worry about memorizing too much.

Draw lots to choose the topic for the social studies subject.

Regarding the possibility of candidates "guessing" hot current events that might be included in open-ended questions in the social science exam, the head of the Examination Department stated that, to ensure the confidentiality and security of the exam questions, the compilation of university and college entrance exam questions is organized in an isolated location and strictly protected according to the following procedure: The Head of the Exam Committee organizes briefings on the requirements for exam content, exam question preparation procedures, and security requirements for the Heads of Subjects and staff involved in compiling the exam questions.

The head of the examination directs the department staff to independently compile the exam questions, detailed answer key, and scoring rubric. For some social science subjects, the topics must be randomly selected by lottery, and then the staff will create the exam questions based on the chosen topics.

The head of the examination works with each exam question compiler to finalize the exam questions, answer key, and scoring rubric.

The review process involves three independent reviewers. The reviewers have no contact with the exam setters, are not allowed to bring any materials, do not have access to the answer key or scoring rubric, and will solve the exam questions in detail (with a timer). Afterward, they will submit written feedback to the Head of the Examination regarding the exam content, answer key, scoring rubric, difficulty level, and length.

After the review process, the exam setters and reviewers, under the chairmanship of the Head of the Examination Subject, must meet again to reach a consensus (recorded in minutes) on points needing correction or supplementation, and agree on combinations of exam questions to avoid using the entire exam paper compiled by a single supervising officer.

After the final revisions to the exam questions, answer key, and scoring rubric, with input from the exam question compilers and reviewers for each subject, the Head of the Subject Examination signs the original document and hands it over to the Head of the Examination Committee. The Head of the Examination Committee then codes the proposed exam questions using the symbols I, II, III... and submits them to the Minister of Education and Training for approval of the official exam questions and reserve exam questions.

For multiple-choice exams: Exam committee members select multiple-choice questions from the question bank. The head of the subject assigns members of the team to create and review each multiple-choice question according to the exam content requirements.

The question-setting team worked together, progressively revising each multiple-choice question in the draft exam. After the final revisions, the Head of the Subject Examination signed the exam paper and handed it over to the Head of the Examination Committee.

The exam committee staff mixes the exam questions into multiple versions. The question-setting team reviews each version of the exam questions and answer key, and signs off on each version.

All official and reserve exam papers, answer keys, and scoring rubrics, before being published, are classified as "Top Secret" state secrets and are kept under strict security protocols by the Head of the Exam Committee.

According to Vietnam+