10th grade admissions are 'tense' due to the sudden increase in students.

Consequences of being born in a "good year"

Vinh City has always been one of the localities with the highest competition rate for admission to grade 10 in the province. In the 2023-2024 school year, to be admitted to Huynh Thuc Khang High School, students must have an average score of 8.25 points/subject. Meanwhile, the remaining two public schools, Le Viet Thuat High School and Ha Huy Tap High School, also have an average score of 7.5 points/subject. The benchmark score in 2023, from 21 to 24.8 points, is considered the highest benchmark score ever for schools.

In the 2024-2025 school year, enrollment will beGrade 10It may be more difficult, because according to the Department of Education and Training, the number of 9th grade students in the 2023-2024 school year in the whole city is 6,218, 796 more than the previous school year. This increase is higher than the enrollment target of a public school in Vinh city and pushes the enrollment pressure much higher than last year.

Compared to other localities, Vinh city students are at a disadvantage because the number of students is large but the number of public schools is very small. Since last year, when considering the school year plan, we have requested the Department of Education and Training to increase the quota for public schools when enrolling students for grade 10.

This year, as the number of students increases, we will continue to make recommendations. The city leaders have even directed that if the Department does not increase the quota, the city will issue a document to reduce the pressure on primary school enrollment.

Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Thao - Head of Vinh City Department of Education and Training

In the whole province, the number of 9th grade students in the 2023-2024 school year increased by 7,226 students. In addition to Vinh city, some other localities also increased the number of students by over 600 students, namely Thanh Chuong, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau and the enrollment pressure is expected to increase steadily throughout the province.

The increase in students but the size of schools and classes, especially the enrollment quota, if not increased, will lead to difficulties for candidates in choosing schools and classes. In fact, in previous years in Vinh city, because the admission rate to public schools was only about 60%, the pressure fell more on schools on the outskirts of the city such as Thai Lao High School, Nghi Loc 3 High School, Pham Hong Thai High School...

Teacher Luu Thanh Tra - Vice Principal of Thai Lao High School (Hung Nguyen) said: If many students from the city move to take exams in the outlying districts, it will cause difficulties for local students. Therefore, we hope to increase the quota to increase the chances of students being admitted.

Speed ​​up exam preparation

Since the beginning of October, Hung Binh Secondary School (Vinh City) has received information that many of its students have taken the IELTS test and achieved an IELTS 8.0 certificate. This number has increased at the end of the semester and is expected to continue to increase from now until the end of the school year.

Taking a foreign language test and obtaining a certificate is considered a safe solution by many parents and students to ensure a place in public schools in Vinh city and some leading public schools in the province. In previous years, the direct admission score at schools was from 4.5 to 5.5 IELTS. However, this year, the number of students with IELTS certificates is expected to increase, so the opportunity for direct admission may be more difficult.

To get an IELTS certificate, many parents said they have invested tens of millions of dong in more than a year to focus on their children's exam preparation. Not to mention, when the exam is near, many parents are willing to hire teachers to tutor their children, with fees for each session sometimes reaching up to millions of dong.

The IELTS test is quite expensive, but many students, after not getting good results the first time, are willing to pay extra to take the test a second or third time in the hope of improving their score.

Having a child about to become a candidate in the 10th grade entrance exam, parent Nguyen Thi Hoa in Hung Dung ward (Vinh city) said: "I feel very worried about my children's 10th grade entrance exam and since the beginning of the school year, I have had to change teachers and places of study for my children many times because they are not suitable, especially for English."

Recognizing the difficulties in this year's enrollment season, from the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, schools have also accelerated to organize exam review sessions for students.

At Doi Cung Secondary School (Vinh city), Ms. Ha Thi Kim Thoa - Math teacher, homeroom teacher of class 9C said: Currently, we are teaching according to the curriculum framework and have a separate review strategy for final year students. During the review process, we base on the scores of mid-term and final exams to classify students. In the last exam, the average score for Math was 6.25 and we are aiming to achieve from 6.5 to 7 points; good students must have a score above 8 to be able to be admitted to top schools. I hope that in the next exam, the Education sector will create test questions close to the proposed matrix so that the review will be effective.

At Hung Binh Secondary School (Vinh city), teacher Nguyen Thi Tu Anh - an English teacher also expressed concern because English is considered a "trendy" subject but the number of students who love it and study it well is not much.

Therefore, to achieve the goal of each student getting a score of 7.5 to 8.6 or higher is not easy: At this point, teachers have basically finished teaching the basic knowledge, and the extra classes in the afternoon will increase practice for students.

During the teaching and reviewing process, we will guide students on how to study, require students to master the knowledge in class and try to practice more vocabulary, because this is their weakest point in learning English. During the practice test process, we will try to give questions close to the matrix and let students practice regularly to practice test-taking skills and get familiar with the test structure. In addition, to make students love English, we encourage, try to motivate and give targets, each month they increase 0.2 points - teacher Tu Anh said.

Regarding the 10th grade entrance exam for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, the Department of Education and Training has not yet submitted an enrollment plan.

Through the discussion, Mr. Dao Cong Loi - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training said: The Department's viewpoint is to maintain stability so as not to cause disruption to students and schools. In addition, the Department will consider to propose the most favorable solution, helping the enrollment to be effective, achieving the set results and goals, reflecting the quality of teaching and learning.