Information regarding the second round of admissions at Nam Dan 2 High School.
After the 10th grade entrance exam, Nam Dan 2 High School had a shortage of students and announced supplementary admissions. Only one student with a score of 2.5 was still eligible for enrollment.
The school has insufficient enrollment slots.
Nam Dan 2 High School has just announced the admission scores for the second round of 10th grade entrance exams. Candidates only need 2.5 points/3 subjects (including priority and bonus points, if any) to be admitted.
Upon reading this information on social media, some expressed skepticism, wondering if it was a "typographical error" or "mistake," while others commented, "If the score is this low, then there's no need to study or take the exam," deeming it completely inappropriate.
During the discussion, Mr. Pham Xuan Phu, Principal of Nam Dan 2 High School, confirmed that the cutoff score for the second round of admissions is 2.5 points, which is 7 points lower than the cutoff score for the first round.
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The principal of Nam Dan 2 High School also stated that the lower admission scores were predictable. Specifically, for the 2025-2026 school year, the school was allocated a target of 10 classes with 450 students by the Department of Education and Training. However, by the deadline for submitting applications, the school only received 419 applications, so the Department adjusted the target down to 400.
Teacher Pham Xuan Phu added: After the entrance exam10th gradeBecause students were allowed to change their preferences, the number of applications to the school increased to 442, and the school increased its enrollment quota again to 450 students. After the first round of admissions, there was still a shortfall, so the school announced a supplementary admissions round. Since the number of remaining applications was not large, according to the admissions regulations, candidates who did not violate exam regulations and did not have failing grades were selected based on their scores, from highest to lowest, until the quota was filled. With a score of 2.5 points, there are currently 31 candidates who meet the admission criteria, of which only 1 student has a score of 2.5 points, and the school is still short 12 students compared to the assigned quota.
Speaking about the quality of this year's entrance exam, teacher Pham Xuan Phu expressed concern, saying, "If the child is healthy, the mother has more responsibilities; if the child is weak, the mother has to work harder and take better care of them." Statistics show that among the more than 400 students entering the school this year, approximately 52% of the students scored an average of 5 points per subject. The top-scoring student was from Khanh Son Secondary School with 27.75 points.
The principal of Nam Dan 2 High School also added that, besides the 2024-2025 school year when the entrance exam score was exceptionally high at 13.2 points, with 720 students registering for the first time (including quite a few students from Hung Nguyen district and the former Vinh city); in previous years, the entrance exam scores were only from 7 to 9 points and were always among the lowest in the province. The school's recruitment area is mainly in the communes of Khanh Son, Nam Kim, Nam Trung, Nam Cuong, and Nam Phuc (belonging to the former Nam Dan district).
Many schools are recruiting additional students.
Besides Nam Dan 2 High School, before this year's enrollment season, several public schools in the former Nam Dan district had to take steps to encourage students to register due to concerns about not having enough students to take the entrance exam.
There are two reasons for this: firstly, the number of 9th-grade students in the area has decreased by 500; secondly, nearly 600 students in Nam Dan have registered for their first choice at private schools, continuing education centers, or taken the entrance exam in Hung Nguyen district (formerly). If these students are excluded, public schools in Nam Dan are actually short of nearly 170 applications, and this is why schools have lowered their admission scores and are trying to recruit the last remaining students this school year.
This situation also occurred at Nguyen Sy Sach High School (formerly Thanh Chuong district) when the school announced the first round's cutoff score at 5.75 points. According to Mr. Tran Dinh Hien, the school's principal, "this is an unprecedentedly low score," but the school still had to recruit until the last candidate because this year the school had 450 enrollment slots but only 411 students took the exam.
For this reason, this year the school has sought approval from the Department of Education to conduct an "extra-high-standard" enrollment. Specifically, in addition to students who registered to take the entrance exam, the school will recruit an additional 42 students from all those who took the 10th-grade entrance exam and wish to study at the school. The admission scores will be ranked from highest to lowest until all slots are filled.
Similarly, Dang Thai Mai High School (formerly Thanh Chuong district) also announced the recruitment of 15 additional students who did not pass the entrance exam for 10th grade at other high schools in the province. Previously, the minimum admission score for the school was only 10.75 points.
The lower cut-off scores were also predicted in this year's enrollment season, as many schools in the province, including many top-tier schools, have lowered their cut-off scores by 3-4 points compared to the 2024-2025 school year. This is because the number of students across the province decreased by nearly 5,000 this year. Meanwhile, the Department of Education has maintained the same enrollment quota for 10th grade as in previous years to avoid disrupting the teaching staff, affecting school sizes, and increasing opportunities for students to enter public high schools.
This is also a preparatory step to facilitate the process for schools and candidates, because according to forecasts, from the 2026-2027 school year, the number of students taking the entrance exam for 10th grade throughout Nghe An province will increase dramatically, and the competition for admission to public 10th grade will become much more difficult.
Regarding the issue of many schools setting low admission scores, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Head of the Secondary Education Department of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, stated: After students registered for the 10th grade entrance exam, 11 public schools in the province had fewer registered students than the quota. However, the schools still conducted the exams with the aim of assessing quality and allowing students to obtain a baseline score for specialized schools or increase their chances of being admitted to other public schools (after they change their preferences).
Therefore, in these schools, many schools have to admit all students on the list to meet their enrollment quotas. Regarding the quality of admissions to grade 10, because the grade 10 entrance exam must be differentiated to allow schools to select students based on their entrance requirements, and to serve as a baseline for admission to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School and boarding schools, the results of the grade 10 entrance exam are not uniform for all candidates.
However, according to provincial statistics, this year the average score... The students performed quite well in the subjects. Specifically, the average scores were 7.17 in Literature, 5.66 in Mathematics, and 5.06 in Foreign Language. The average score for the entire province was 17.89 points. The average score for Nam Dan 2 High School was 15.03 points, with Mathematics 4.68, Literature 6.58, and Foreign Language 3.74 points.