10th grade candidates in Nghe An 'gamble' by changing their wishes

Last minute surprises

After 5 days of changing their wishes, the number of candidates registering to take the entrance exam to Thai Lao High School (Hung Nguyen) is only about 500, instead of 658 as before. The admission rate to this school also increased to more than 70% instead of 54% as before.

The decrease in the number of applications to Thai Lao High School is considered a big surprise for many candidates. Because, located only a few kilometers from Vinh City, this school in Hung Nguyen District is quite convenient for candidates from Vinh City to travel.

Meanwhile, the school's benchmark score is much lower than that of Vinh city, so in recent years the number of candidates in Vinh city registering for Thai Lao High School is quite large. Before changing their preferences, the competition ratio at this school was equivalent to 2:1 candidates (the second highest in the province and much higher than other schools in the region).

Why did the number of candidates registering for the entrance exam to Thai Lao High School suddenly decrease after candidates adjusted their wishes? This question seems not difficult to answer, because after the exam, many sources of information said that many candidates in Vinh city were afraid of failing the entrance exam to public schools in the city, so they changed their wishes to Thai Lao High School.

In addition, many other candidates (mainly from Hung Nguyen district) were afraid that they would not be able to compete with students from Vinh city, so they transferred their applications to other schools with lower competition rates. "One tells ten, ten tells a hundred", at the last minute, the number of applications to Thai Lao High School decreased significantly.

A similar situation is also happening at Huynh Thuc Khang High School, Vinh City - one of the most prestigious public schools in the province. Before the 10th grade entrance exam this year, this was the school with the largest number of candidates registered for the exam in the province with nearly 1,600 candidates. With the school's enrollment target of 810 students, the school's expected admission rate is only 51%.

The unexpected thing happened to the candidates who registered to take the entrance exam to this school when, after 5 days of "brainstorming", many candidates, worried that the admission score would increase, withdrew their applications and transferred to other schools to ensure they could get into public schools. At the last moment, the number of applications to Huynh Thuc Khang High School decreased significantly. Thanks to that, the "heat" of admission also decreased and the candidates who "steadfastly" stayed could probably breathe a sigh of relief, because the chance of being admitted to the school was very high, contrary to the initial prediction.

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As of 4pm on June 11, my child’s class was still buzzing about whether to stay or leave. A lot of information had been updated, but because it was unofficial, many parents were still confused and hesitant.

I myself was also very worried because after the exam, my child only scored more than 24 points (lower than the previous school year's benchmark to enter Huynh Thuc Khang High School). Personally, I found this score unsafe, so I decided to transfer my child's application.

However, my son is a student who really likes Huynh Thuc Khang High School, and firmly asked me to keep my first choice and "if I don't pass, I will go to the school's advanced school". Now that I have received information that the number of applications to the school has decreased significantly, I am really happy and hope that he will have good results in this year's exam season.

Ms. Le Thi Thanh has a child who registered her first choice at Huynh Thuc Khang High School.

A similar situation is happening at Cua Lo High School, because before the exam, the school had 96 extra applications and many students had no chance of being admitted. However, in the past few days, more than 60 students who registered for NV1 at this school have transferred their applications to other schools and the number of extra applications left at the school is only about 20 students. The rate of admission to the school after changing their wishes has reached over 90%.

Anxious

The 10th grade entrance exam for the 2024-2025 school year is the second exam. Nghe An Department of Education and Training allows candidates to change their wishes after completing the 10th grade entrance exam.

The Department's aim is to increase students' chances of being admitted to public schools, helping them choose schools that match their test scores and abilities.

However, because determining exam scores is extremely difficult and evaluating exam questions and predicting standard scores are all "emotional", not within the scope or expertise of many parents and students, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes or haste when making decisions to change wishes.

This also causes the 10th grade admission picture this year to continue to fluctuate and many parents, although having made the final decision for their children, still cannot be assured about the results.

Parent Tran Thi Hoai Thanh - whose child registered her first choice at Le Viet Thuat High School, Vinh city shared that after the Department of Education and Training ended the time to change her choice, she felt like she was "sitting on fire".

Ms. Thanh said: My child has average ability, so from the beginning I decided that he would register NV1 for Le Viet Thuat High School. After finishing the exam, he scored about 22 - 22.5 points and I believe that with this score, he is likely to be admitted (because this year's exam was more difficult and this score is equivalent to last year's standard score).

However, when I received the news that hundreds of students from other schools had transferred in and a similar number from Le Viet Thuat High School had transferred out, I was no longer reassured. Because it was very likely that my child, who was in the middle class, would now be pushed into the lower class and at high risk of failing, because more than 300 students would be eliminated.

Discussing this further, teacher Hoang Minh Luong - Principal of Le Viet Thuat High School, said: After transferring the application, our school has 1,169 applications, a decrease of 12 applications compared to the initial registration. Because there are quite a few applications transferred from other schools and these are students with quite high test scores, it is possible that the benchmark score will increase. However, parents do not need to worry too much because last year, the number of applications was more than this year but the benchmark score was only 22.4 points. This year's benchmark score may be lower because the test is difficult and highly differentiated.

Not only schools in Vinh City, some schools in the districts, the number of candidates registering for admission also had many fluctuations after 5 days of transferring their wishes. At Nam Dan 2 High School, the number of candidates registering for the school increased from 617 to 721 students, an unprecedented "sudden" number. With an enrollment target of only 450 students, nearly 300 students registering for the school will fail their first wish.

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Due to the increase in the number of 9th grade students in the province compared to last year, it is normal for the number of candidates transferring their preferences to our school to increase. However, this will certainly affect the admission scores to the school and is expected to increase compared to previous years.

Teacher Pham Xuan Phu - Principal of Nam Dan 2 High School

As a school located in a difficult area, most of the students in the area are children of farmers, and learning conditions are still lacking, so the fact that there are quite a few students from other areas registering for the exam also makes the Principal of Nam Dan 2 High School very worried: "The fact that students change their wishes is the right of the students. But besides that, it also makes the competition to enter public schools more difficult. I hope that in the coming years, if the number of students increases, we need to add more classes and increase the quota so that more students have the opportunity to enter public schools, reducing the difficulties for families."

Thus, with many unexpected changes, the 10th grade entrance exam in Nghe An is still "hot", even though the Department of Education and Training has created opportunities for students to change their wishes.

It is expected that by the end of this week, the Department will announce the exam scores. The benchmark scores for public schools will depend on many other factors (such as the passing rate for specialized schools) before being officially announced./.