Students across the country on July 4 sat for their first day of the university entrance examination, which is designed for students of group A (math, physics and chemistry) and V (math, physics and a field -specific subject).

A total of over 680,000 candidates are expected to show up for the first examination day, accounting for 74,83 percent of the total registrations for taking university entrance exams across the country.

The students were seated at 25,630 examination rooms at 989 locations to compete for admissions to 107 universities and academies.

In preparation for the important exam, over 50,000 students and parents across the country flocked to the Temple of Literature in Hanoi , the first school in Vietnam , to pray for good luck.

Naturally, exam takers came here to stroke stones carved with turtles that line the wall of the temple to gain good luck. However, the deed is now prohibited in order to keep order and preserve the temple.

The temple attracts students with 82 stone steles engraved with names of doctorate holders during the Le and Mac dynasties (1442-1779), which were placed on the lists of the World Documentary Heritage in Asia-Pacific in 2010 and the World Memory in 2011./.