Using 12th grade academic results for admission: Quality and fairness

Representatives of higher education institutions said that the regulation of using high school transcripts for admission purposes, requiring students to use their entire 12th grade academic results, will overcome the situation of neglecting their studies, help students have a good knowledge foundation for university study, and above all, ensure fairness for candidates.

Admission scores are expected to increase.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 06/2025/TT-BGDDT amending and supplementing a number of articles in the Regulations on university and college admissions for the Early Childhood Education sector (Admission Regulations). Accordingly, one of the new points of the Regulations is that training institutions that use high school study results for admission must use the results of the entire 12th grade of the candidates.

Recalling that when many training institutions considered early admission based on high school transcripts, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Dao Tung - Director of the Academy of Finance, realized that high schools struggled because of the large number of confirmations, and students were not interested in the second semester of grade 12.

“Therefore, we support the viewpoint of the Admission Regulations: If admission is based on high school transcripts, there must be 6 semesters (from grade 10 to grade 12) so that candidates can focus on studying seriously until the end of the school year,” Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Dao Tung affirmed, and at the same time discussed that there needs to be a monitoring mechanism for units to strictly implement the Regulations; strengthen inspection and post-inspection so that admission work can be systematic and effective.

Early admission, along with only using the results of 5 semesters of high school, has its shortcomings. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Minh Toai - Vice Principal of the University of Forestry acknowledged and emphasized that the policy of using the results of the entire 12th grade is consistent with objective reality, above all, ensuring the quality of recruitment sources for training institutions and creating fairness for candidates.

From practice, Dr. Nguyen Phi Long - Head of Training Department, Vietnam Women's Academy agrees with the above viewpoint, and at the same time notes that if candidates choose the method of considering high school transcripts, they need to learn about the admission quota, time and number of semesters in the admission plan of the training institution. This year, the Ministry of Education and Training requires considering the learning results of 6 semesters, high school level, so when choosing this admission method, candidates need to calculate the learning results compared to other admission methods to consider choosing the most advantageous admission method.

According to Dr. Nguyen Phi Long, with the 2025 Admission Regulations, it is expected that the admission score by considering academic records will tend to increase, because the admission quota by this method is lower than every year. Therefore, candidates and parents should calculate, consider, and carefully study the admission information of training institutions when choosing this admission method.

Fully equipped with basic knowledge

Affirming that the adjustments in the Admission Regulations are necessary, MSc. Nguyen Quang Trung - Deputy Head of the Department of Communications and Admissions, University of Commerce, acknowledged that this year, schools must use the results of the entire 12th grade of candidates instead of using the scores of 3 to 5 semesters like last year. This regulation forces candidates to focus on studying to the maximum if they want to have good academic results and a good high school transcript to participate in the university admission exam.

“It is good that students focus on studying and reviewing. Like a few years ago, when candidates knew they were eligible for early admission through the method of considering high school transcripts, they neglected their studies, leading to low exam results that did not reflect their true abilities,” Master Nguyen Quang Trung emphasized, saying that with this year’s admission regulations, students will focus on studying. Schools will be able to assess the true abilities of each student, and above all, it will be more fair to all candidates.

Advise candidates not to worry too much, MSc. Nguyen Quang Trung analyzed, the Regulations aim to make the admission season more quality, ensuring fairness for students. If you have real ability, your opportunities will be greater. Instead of worrying, you should focus on studying to achieve the best results.

According to the new admission regulations revised and supplemented by the Ministry of Education and Training, there will be no more early admission. In fact, in recent years, applying early admission makes the admission period longer, candidates have to ask for confirmation of high school study results to send to many training institutions, leading to a waste of social resources. In particular, many training institutions call for early admission in large numbers but few candidates enroll. This shows that early admission is not effective.

In addition, when training institutions conduct early admissions using the results of 1 to 5 semesters of high school instead of using the results of the entire 12th grade year (semester II), it affects the learning process and high school graduation exam of students. From there, it affects the learning capacity at university level. Therefore, to ensure that students are fully equipped with the necessary basic knowledge to study university programs, from this year the Regulations stipulate that early admissions will no longer be considered.

The new regulations also stipulate that when using high school academic results for admission, candidates must use their 12th grade academic results. In addition, to ensure that the contribution of 12th grade academic results is not too low when calculating the score, the regulations stipulate that the weight of 12th grade academic results in calculating the score must not be less than 25%.