Admissions 2024: Choose a career before choosing a school

"Missing the exam" this year, candidates will face difficulties because from 2025, students will take the exam according to the 2018 General Education Program.

The Admissions and Career Guidance Program, coordinated by Tuoi Tre Newspaper, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, has chosen Nghe An as its destination for the 9th time, one of the provinces with the largest number of candidates in the country. This year, despite the unfavorable weather, not only candidates in Vinh city but also candidates from many other districts, cities and towns arrived very early and stayed until late afternoon to directly receive advice from universities.

Many opportunities in the competency assessment exam

This year, the Ministry of Education and Training has put forward the viewpoint of maintaining stability in the 2024 High School Graduation Exam so as not to disrupt the study and exam of candidates too much. However, in the context that many universities have changed their admission methods and graduation exam scores are no longer the top priority, candidates are more concerned aboutCompetency assessment testaccording to the schools' own projects.

Sharing about this exam, Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Examination Center of Hanoi National University said: At Hanoi National University, statistics of the last 3 exams, the number of Nghe An candidates participating in this exam is quite large with more than 4,000 candidates registering for the exam and about 3,000 candidates achieving results. This is a relatively high result compared to many other provinces and cities.

According to the representative of Hanoi National University, the school's capacity assessment exam aims to assess the capacity of high school students according to the output standards of the new general education program; career orientation for learners based on individual capacity. With 70 schools using this admission method, the exam is currently arranged quite widely with stable classification and comprehensive criteria, without limits on exam subjects.

Giving advice to candidates, Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao said that before taking this exam, candidates need to find out whether the schools they plan to apply to accept the results of this exam or not. Candidates can also visit the website of the Testing Center to see the exam structure and do some sample exams. A few weeks before the exam, the system needs to review all knowledge to best participate in this exam. This year, this exam will also be held in Nghe An on February 18 and March 16 and after a week, candidates can know the results to apply to universities.

Regarding the Thinking Assessment Test of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Duy Hai - Head of Admissions and Career Guidance of the school said: The school's thinking assessment test includes 3 parts to assess mathematical thinking, reading comprehension, scientific thinking, and problem solving. These are 3 independent test parts, not directly related to any subject but to assess overall thinking. Therefore, the purpose of the test is not to test knowledge but to assess the ability to apply thinking to solve problems.

In this exam, the school does not limit the number of candidates or the number of times they register. The validity of the exam results can be extended for 2 years, so students in grades 10 and 11 can completely participate in the exam.

Regarding the Competency Assessment Test of Ho Chi Minh City National University, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh - Director of the School's Testing Center said: Currently, there are 102 schools nationwide using the admission results of the Competency Assessment Test of Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Therefore, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh also believes that if candidates want to increase their chances of being admitted to university and increase their chances of being admitted to top schools, they should take this exam. This is a parallel channel to traditional channels (transcripts, graduation results) for admission. Especially, when most universities are now "autonomous" in their admission, this method is used more and more with a high proportion.

Answering a question from a student from Thai Lao High School (Hung Nguyen), Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh also affirmed that the Competency Assessment Test is for all students, not just an opportunity for students in the city.

He also advised candidates not to rush to "position their abilities" as weak or poor when they have not actually taken this exam. Because with the new "measurement", the exam can position closer to the true abilities of candidates.

Choose a major before choosing a school

In addition to information about the University Entrance Exam, many candidates also had experts share their experiences in choosing a major and school and had some questions about the school's admissions process answered.

Answering a student's question about which foreign language they should choose to easily find a job after graduation, Dr. Nguyen Thi Cuc Phuong - Vice Principal of Hanoi University said: "All language programs have career orientation such as communications, tourism, commerce...

In many professional positions, people with good foreign languages ​​combined with specialized knowledge will have an advantage in the context of integration. However, before deciding to choose a foreign language, candidates should consider which country's language is more favorable. For example, if you want to learn Chinese, you need to consider whether you like the hieroglyphs or not, and whether you like Chinese culture. Once you have chosen your favorite language, then consider the labor market. The "hot" labor markets today are Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English.

Coming to this program, student Cao Thi Do Quyen - class 12A2 student - Thai Lao High School said: "The current difficulty for senior students is not having a clear orientation about their future career. Therefore, many students want to know about career trends in the next 5 years."

Regarding this question, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Thi Hien - Head of Training Management Department, Foreign Trade University said: "This is the concern of many high school students and at this level, students should have the opportunity to experience many careers to discover their interests and passions, so that when choosing to go to university, they can choose the right school for their abilities and when graduating, they can meet the needs of the labor market. The current difficulty is due to certain limitations, so students do not have these experiences."

“The trend of the industry has changed within the industry, not too much of a shift from one industry to another. From the favorite industry, new candidates should choose a school that suits their own abilities.”

Dr. Vu Thi Hien - Head of Training Management Department, Foreign Trade University

Giving advice to candidates, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Examination Center of Hanoi National University also said that the situation of "working in the wrong field" is because many candidates have chosen the wrong field from the beginning. They did not receive early career guidance, did not have full information before choosing or were affected by other objective factors leading to the wrong choice.

Mr. Thao also believes that each industry and group of industries will have different job demands at each point in time. There are industries that currently have high job demands but will be saturated in 5-7 years. Therefore, to choose an industry with good job opportunities, it is necessary to have information forecasting human resource demands at the time after students graduate. He also affirmed that if a student has the ability, good skills, and is a good student, he will not be afraid of unemployment after graduation.