Students taking the 10th grade entrance exam: Waiting for onegeneral and quality mock exams

Practice session for 9th grade students

From over 6:30 a.m. on April 29th, nearly 280 ninth-grade students from Ben Thuy Secondary School were present at the school to participate in the mock entrance exam.10th gradeThis is the second mock exam at the school and the first inter-school mock exam with a common test paper, organized by the Culture and Social Affairs Department of Truong Vinh Ward.

Previously, this exam was scheduled to be held in the second week of May. However, it was moved up by nearly two weeks at the request of parents and schools, with the hope that the exam results would be an accurate basis for students to register their preferences for 10th grade. Mr. Phan Kieu Dung, the school principal, said: After the exam, the school will enter a holiday break. However, the school is still encouraging teachers to grade the students' papers early, striving to have the scores available before May 2nd, three days before the deadline for 10th grade enrollment registration, so that parents have time to consider and make their choices.

In discussions with students before the exam, most said they hadn't yet registered their preferences for 10th grade, even though many had participated in numerous mock exams. Quynh Chi, a student in class 9A, said: "I took two mock exams at the center and scored between 22 and 23 points. This is still not a safe score if I register Huynh Thuc Khang High School as my first choice. I hope to demonstrate my abilities in this exam."

Currently, Quynh Chi has also presented herself with two options for registering to take the 10th grade entrance exam. The student also shared that in the previous two exams, she registered at a testing center, so the exam questions were quite difficult. Therefore, she hopes to have an exam that closely resembles the exam questions from the Department of Education and Training to accurately assess her abilities.

As the homeroom teacher of class 9E, Ms. Tran Quynh Chi said that this year the class has 36 students, but only about half have registered to take the 10th grade entrance exam. The rest are still "waiting" for the final exam: "I think mock exams are very important for students, and I still encourage them to take them to gain experience and get familiar with the process and time constraints. Many parents also want their children to take many exams to assess their abilities. However, currently, there aren't many mock exams at the school, and I hope there will be a large-scale exam organized by the Department of Education, ensuring it meets the criteria of the 10th grade entrance exam."

Regarding the mock exam, Mr. Phan Kieu Dung also shared that, within the scope of a school, thorough preparation is not easy: For the first mock exam organized by the school in mid-April, we had to hire teachers from other schools to create the questions to ensure objectivity. Even so, the school's exam couldn't be as large-scale and well-organized as the mock exam organized by the ward. I feel that, even though it was just a mock exam, the students were more anxious, serious, and conscientious this morning. It was truly an important practice session, and if they had 2-3 practice sessions at school before the real exam, it would be even more effective.

It is difficult to implement mock exams on a large scale.

Besides Truong Vinh ward, several other wards in the Vinh urban area have also organized or will organize mock exams in the coming days. In Vinh Phu ward, Mr. Nguyen Huy Dong – Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Department of the ward – said that the ward believes that organizing mock exams should be voluntary and accurately reflect the learning outcomes of students.

"In reality, under current conditions, organizing a mock exam like the one the education department used to do is very difficult, and without dedication and without fear of the exam questions being scrutinized, it would be hard to implement. Having worked for many years at the former Vinh City Department of Education and Training, I have reviewed some mock exams from various centers and am very concerned about the quality of those exams."

Mr. Nguyen Huy Dong also shared that the most important thing in organizing the mock exam is having high-quality test questions: To prepare for the mock exam, we had to hold meetings with the principals of junior high schools in the area to agree on the test structure. At the same time, we had to hire experienced core teachers from the province to create questions that closely matched the sample test structure provided by the Department of Education. The process of organizing the exam had to ensure that all procedures for handing over and receiving test papers were followed. For the English test papers specifically, they will be sent to the wards for separate grading using multiple-choice test grading software.

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When creating exam questions, we also ask teachers to include questions where students frequently make mistakes as a warning, or some questions at a higher application level to help students fully develop their abilities.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Dong - Deputy Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Department of Vinh Phu Ward

Across the province, based on information gathered from various communes and wards, the organization of mock exams for 9th-grade students this year has mostly been left to the responsibility of the junior high schools themselves.

Mr. Cao Huy Hoang, Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Department of Dien Chau commune, said that the department is responsible for many fields, including culture, education, health, and social welfare. Education officials also simultaneously handle many other tasks, and the current operational process is still a "learning by doing" approach. Therefore, for the 10th grade entrance exam, the commune is currently entrusting secondary schools with the responsibility of independently planning teaching, testing, and evaluation, and taking full responsibility for the quality of education within their respective units. Organizing mock exams for 9th grade students is also left to the schools to independently carry out.

At Dang Chanh Ky Secondary School (Van An commune), teachers are actively accelerating teaching and exam preparation, and have already organized two mock exams for graduating students. Mr. Nguyen Vuong Linh, the school principal, said that in previous years, in addition to the mock exam organized by the school itself, 9th-grade students also participated in a mock exam with a common set of questions implemented by the former district-level Department of Education and Training. However, starting this school year, under the two-tiered local government system, professional tasks such as teaching plans, exam preparation, and organizing mock exams are carried out by the school. Furthermore, regarding decentralization and delegation of authority, the commune level is responsible for state management of education, while educational expertise is directly supervised and guided by the Department of Education and Training.

From the school's perspective, the subject departments are tasked with researching and developing a mock exam matrix based on the sample exam structure provided by the Nghe An Department of Education and Training. From there, they implement regular review and practice sessions in class, as well as organize mock exams at the school level.

Based on the current situation, many parents, students, and schools are hoping that the Department of Education and Training will organize a province-wide mock exam before the 10th grade entrance exam. This is the approach the department is currently implementing with 12th-grade students, and applying a similar approach to junior high schools would help alleviate some of the difficulties faced by localities and schools. It would also reduce the need for parents and students to participate in too many external mock exams, which are costly, stressful, lack quality control, and sometimes fail to accurately assess students' abilities.

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Because high schools are under the direct management of the Department of Education, for many years the Department has organized mock exams for 12th-grade students and evaluated the results to help schools organize effective teaching and review sessions tailored to their needs. For 9th-grade students, due to the large number of schools and students, organizing a mock exam is more difficult. However, given the current situation, the Department will consider organizing a unified provincial exam in the future.

If implemented, this exam would not only help students familiarize themselves with the exam structure and practice their test-taking skills, but also provide a basis for schools and the education sector to more accurately assess the quality of teaching and learning, thereby making timely and appropriate adjustments.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Head of Secondary Education Department, Department of Education and Training