Candidates from Nghe An province evaluate the 10th grade entrance exam in English.
Many candidates believe that this year's exam was more difficult than last year's, with a higher level of differentiation.
At the exam center at Le Viet Thuat High School (Vinh City), Cao Thai Bao (a student from Trung Do Secondary School) was one of the first candidates to leave the school gate, amidst applause from volunteer youth and parents. Bao said that this year's English exam was more difficult than last year's.
"For me, the hardest part was correcting the mistakes. I only spent about 40 minutes on the test, and I needed to go back and compare my answers, but I think I scored over 8 points," Bao said.
Similarly to Bao, Hoang Thu Huyen (Hung Dung Secondary School) said that this year's exam was diverse, with both difficult and easy parts. "For me, only the reading comprehension section was a bit difficult. I think I'll get over 7 points," Huyen said. Le Viet Thuat High School has 1,181 registered candidates this year, but only 810 places available, across 20 tenth-grade classes.
At the exam center at Con Cuong High School, commenting on this year's English exam, candidate Nguyen Thi Ha said that the exam ensured the important element of differentiating candidates and accurately assessing learners' abilities. The exam was not too difficult, and candidates could score at least the minimum required points. “However, the advanced content was the challenging part of the exam, aimed at assessing learners' abilities. I think the exam ensured the differentiation of candidates; the strength of the exam is that it is relevant to learners, effective, and practical,” Ha said.
Meanwhile, at the same examination center, many candidates, when asked, said that this year's English exam was difficult, especially the reading comprehension section. According to many candidates, even those with average English proficiency struggled to complete the exam this year, and they believe that the English exam scores this year will likely be quite low.
Sharing her thoughts after the exam, Vy Phuong Thao, a student from Chi Khe Secondary School (Con Cuong), commented that the English exam was challenging for students in the vocabulary and reading comprehension sections. There were some unfamiliar words that the students had never learned before.
At the exam center at Nguyen Sy Sach High School (Thanh Chuong), after the second exam session, Nguyen Duy Tuyen, a 9th-grade student from Thanh Luong Secondary School, said: "The multiple-choice English exam this afternoon was a bit difficult for me. Out of 50 questions, I can only confirm that I answered 23 correctly. I just marked the rest to finish the exam, without knowing if they were right or wrong. I predict my score will be at most 5 points," Tuyen said.
Like Tuyen, Phan The Phuong, a 9th-grade student from Xuan Tuong Secondary School (Thanh Chuong), shared: "I found the English exam this afternoon a bit difficult. I marked the first 30 questions according to my ability, but the difficulty of the last 20 increased gradually, so I just guessed." "Overall, my performance was only average. I predict I'll get around 6 points. I did better on the Literature exam than the English one," Phuong said.
Meanwhile, in Do Luong district, candidates left the examination room in a fairly relaxed mood after finishing the English exam of the 10th grade entrance exam. Most candidates at Do Luong 1 High School said that this year's 10th grade English exam was quite easy, not too tricky, and mainly covered key knowledge they had learned.
Nguyen Huu Huy, a student from Vo Thi Sau Secondary School, commented that this year's English exam was quite easy. Huy said that the grammar questions revolved around the core topics of the first and second semesters. Students who studied and reviewed well could easily score 8 to 10 points. "The easiest part of the exam was the reading comprehension section, which focused on vocabulary questions. I found the questions in this section quite easy. I predict that many students will score high in English this year," Nguyen Huu Huy shared.
Smiling brightly and believing the exam was manageable, Cao Tiet Dat, a student from Doi Cung Secondary School, happily said: "I finished in about 35 minutes. Looking around, most of my classmates had also completed the exam."
Meanwhile, in Quy Hop district, Ta Dang Duong, a student from Quy Hop Town Secondary School, commented that the English exam was of moderate difficulty for the average student. However, the reading comprehension section was slightly challenging, requiring the application of various skills and knowledge, thus differentiating between candidates. Since English is not his strong subject, he is confident he can score 5-6 points on this exam.
As for Cao Nguyen Thanh Phong and Nguyen Anh Khoa, two candidates from Chau Quang Secondary School, they both shared the same opinion: this year's exam was acceptable for students with average academic ability, basically similar to the structure of the exam they had practiced. There were some questions in the reading comprehension section that they still didn't understand, and they could only score 5 to 6 points.
In Quy Chau district, candidate Le Thi Hoang Yen from Hanh Thiet Secondary School shared: “With 50 questions in the exam, about 15% of them were highly challenging. With my advantage in English before the exam, I thought I would get a perfect score, but after the exam, I think I will get a decent score.”
Sharing similar feelings about this year's English exam, candidate Vo Trong Nguyen Tam – a student from Hanh Thiet Secondary School – said: “The grammar and vocabulary in the exam were not difficult. However, there were some questions that I think were more challenging for students with above-average to excellent academic abilities. Therefore, many students will get good scores, but to achieve a perfect score, one would need to have achieved high results in English competitions at various levels.”