Ministry of Education speaks out about controversy surrounding Geography exam

On the afternoon of May 17, the Ministry of Education and Training officially sent information in response to some opinions about the reference exam for Geography.

After receiving feedback from teachers about the reference exam for Geography subject in the 2017 National High School Exam having some incorrect questions, on the afternoon of May 17, the Ministry of Education and Training officially sent information to respond to some opinions about the reference exam for Geography subject.

1) About the name of Highway 1:

According to the correct name of Highway 1 in the Geography Textbook 12, Vietnam Education Publishing House and the correct name of Highway 1 in the Vietnam Geography Atlas published by Vietnam Publishing House from 2009 to present.

2) About the Mekong River system:

The question requires viewing the Atlas of Geography of Vietnam page 10. On this page, the Mekong River system is located in both the northern and southern parts of our country.

(You can check further according to the glossary and source of two of the tributaries of the Mekong River, S. Xe Cong (source from the west of Thua Thien Hue) and S. Xe Bang Hieng (source from the west of Quang Tri).

Question 44 of the Geography test is causing much controversy.

3) Question 55.Based on the Vietnam Geography Atlas page 15, which of the following cities has a population of over 1 million people?

A. Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong.B. Hanoi, Da Nang, Hai Phong.

C. Hai Phong, Can Tho, Hanoi.D. Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City.

This question requires that the answer be based on the Atlas of Geography of Vietnam page 15, and no other sources be used.

4) Regarding the opinion "Our country does not have a Central region, but only a North Central region; a South Central Coast region".

- It should be noted that the test does not use the word "area" but uses the word "region". Specifically:

The usage of this word is in accordance with the Geography 12 textbook (Vietnam Education Publishing House). Here is an exact quote from the Geography 12 textbook of Vietnam Education Publishing House, page 64: "In our country, the Northwest is the region with the strongest earthquake activity, followed by the Northeast. The Central region has fewer earthquakes, while in the South, earthquakes are very weak."

Textbooks are unified teaching and learning materials throughout the country along with the Vietnam Geography Atlas, so when making questions and answers for the Geography exam, we must first rely on textbooks and the Atlas to ensure consistency and consistency in teaching and testing throughout the country.

The reference test is intended to help candidates and teachers know the test format to review well, not to specifically orient the knowledge content to be tested. In the process of making the test, the Geography Reference Test Development Team based on textbooks and Atlas to ensure consistency and consistency in teaching and testing.

However, some content in textbooks may be outdated, due to the constantly changing socio-economic situation while textbooks cannot be updated regularly. The Ministry of Education and Training will learn from experience when making official exam questions and not include information that has not been updated in textbooks in the exam questions to avoid causing unnecessary debate.

The Ministry of Education and Training will continueBuilding a standardized test question bank

Dr. Sai Cong Hong, Deputy Director of the Department of Testing and Educational Quality Assessment, Ministry of Education and Training, representative of the Board of Building Standardized Exam Question Banks, said: This is the third time the trial exam questions are announced (the previous two times were illustration and trial exams) so that students can have a good review orientation for the 2017 National High School Exam.

This third time is a reference test with the purpose of helping students have an overview of the exam format according to 5 exams (previous times, the trial exam was announced by subject), and also to help students visualize a general picture of the exam so that they can recognize the format of the reference exam, similar to the structure of the real exam, avoiding confusion when approaching the official exam of the upcoming national high school exam.

In addition, the announcement of the reference exam also helps localities grasp the basic number of exam pages to prepare the earliest plans for printing, packaging, transporting exam papers and ensuring the safety of exam papers in the 2015 National High School Exam.

According to Mr. Cong Hong, the Board of Building the Standardized Exam Question Bank has received feedback from teachers on the reference exam questions for Geography and Chemistry. The Board of Building the Standardized Exam Question Bank is very grateful for the teachers' comments and will continue to listen and absorb diverse opinions to better prepare for the official exam questions for the upcoming National High School Exam.

In addition, when organizing the exam questions in the official exam, the selection of which knowledge content will be tested must be done with a very strict process. The Ministry of Education and Training will establish an exam council consisting of subject experts with experience in the field and in the work of building exam questions to work in a completely isolated form, selecting questions from the standardized exam question bank to build exam questions for the national high school exam.

In particular, before the exam council starts working, the construction of standardized exam questions is carried out in 8 strict steps. Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is continuing to implement the next steps of the process of building a standardized exam question bank, ensuring timely progress for the official exam in June 2017./.

According to VOV