High school students learn about national high school examinations and university enrollment at an orientation day held on March 17 at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - In addition to results of national high schoolexaminations, universities will add general ability tests to select students.
The move is said to help the institutions choose students with sufficienttalent to master the universities’ training programmes as the universitiesdesign specific tests by themselves.
Candidates can voluntarily apply for the tests, which are usually taken beforeor after the national high school examination.
The Vietnam National University–HCM City (VNU HCM) plans to hold the test thismonth and in July. The test, with 120 multiple-choice questions, is dividedinto three parts. The first part tests the candidates’ language proficiency inVietnamese and English.
The second part relates to maths, logic and data analysis, requiring candidatesto use knowledge they are taught in high school.
The third part concerns chemistry, physics, biology, and humanities.
According to the university’s director of the Centre for Testing and TrainingQuality Assessment Nguyen Quoc Chinh, points for every question in the testdepend on its difficulty.
Chinh said that more than 36,000 candidates applied for the university’sgeneral ability test in March while the test last year – the first time theuniversity used such a test – about 4,900 candidates applied.
Moreover, 18 universities and colleges have registered to use the results ofVNU HCM’s test for enrolling students. Last year, only eight other universitiesused the test results.
“The increased number of candidates and universities partly reflect the qualityof the test and increase its prestige,” Chinh said.
The test also offered more opportunities for candidates to take trainingprogrammes of VNU HCM and its branches, he said.
This year, the university set aside 40 percent of its enrollment quota forstudents who pass its general ability tests. The rate of last year was only 20percent.
The HCM City University of Food Industry this year uses VNU HCM City’s generalability test results to enroll 10 per cent of its total students. Director ofthe food industry university’s Enrollment and Communication Centre Phạm TháiSơn said as universities could decide how to enroll students, they couldattract suitable students.
Son applauded the general ability tests because universities were flexible inorganising such tests.
The Hong Bang International University this year also set aside 30 percent ofits enrollment quota for students who pass its general ability tests.Candidates are required to take two out of six tests – math, Vietnamese,physics, chemistry, biology and English – depending on the department they wishto attend.
The HCM City University of Law enrolls students based on their scores in thenational high school examination, their performance over three years in highschool and their results in the test conducted by the university.
Vice principal of the HCM City University of Law Tran Hoang Hai said thatstudents who gained high scores in the university’s test usually demonstratedbetter performance at university.
Many students with high scores in the national high school examination did notshow such good performance, Hai added.
He said the law university would continue using its own tests to selectpromising candidates.
Since 2015, the high school graduation and university entrance exams in Vietnamhave been combined into one national exam called the national high schoolexamination.
Candidates take three compulsory tests in maths, literature and foreignlanguage and choose to take one of two optional tests – natural sciences(including physics, chemistry and biology) or social sciences (history,geography and citizenship). All the tests are multiple-choice except for theone in literature.
This year, it will be taken place from 24 to27 June with some new changes. For example, the Ministry of Education andTraining assigns universities and colleges to rate and oversee the ratingprocess of multiple-choice tests while provinces and cities’ educationdepartments are in charge in rating literature tests under the supervision ofuniversities and colleges.
A student’s score at the national high schoolexamination will account for 70 percent of their high school graduation scorewhile their average performance score in 12th grade accounts for 30percent.
Last year, the proportion between the two compositions was 50-50.
The changes are expected to fix shortcomings in previous national exams,especially last year’s exam which saw a serious cheating scandal in whichscores of hundreds of students in three provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La and HaGiang were modified upwards.-VNS/VNA
The move is said to help the institutions choose students with sufficienttalent to master the universities’ training programmes as the universitiesdesign specific tests by themselves.
Candidates can voluntarily apply for the tests, which are usually taken beforeor after the national high school examination.
The Vietnam National University–HCM City (VNU HCM) plans to hold the test thismonth and in July. The test, with 120 multiple-choice questions, is dividedinto three parts. The first part tests the candidates’ language proficiency inVietnamese and English.
The second part relates to maths, logic and data analysis, requiring candidatesto use knowledge they are taught in high school.
The third part concerns chemistry, physics, biology, and humanities.
According to the university’s director of the Centre for Testing and TrainingQuality Assessment Nguyen Quoc Chinh, points for every question in the testdepend on its difficulty.
Chinh said that more than 36,000 candidates applied for the university’sgeneral ability test in March while the test last year – the first time theuniversity used such a test – about 4,900 candidates applied.
Moreover, 18 universities and colleges have registered to use the results ofVNU HCM’s test for enrolling students. Last year, only eight other universitiesused the test results.
“The increased number of candidates and universities partly reflect the qualityof the test and increase its prestige,” Chinh said.
The test also offered more opportunities for candidates to take trainingprogrammes of VNU HCM and its branches, he said.
This year, the university set aside 40 percent of its enrollment quota forstudents who pass its general ability tests. The rate of last year was only 20percent.
The HCM City University of Food Industry this year uses VNU HCM City’s generalability test results to enroll 10 per cent of its total students. Director ofthe food industry university’s Enrollment and Communication Centre Phạm TháiSơn said as universities could decide how to enroll students, they couldattract suitable students.
Son applauded the general ability tests because universities were flexible inorganising such tests.
The Hong Bang International University this year also set aside 30 percent ofits enrollment quota for students who pass its general ability tests.Candidates are required to take two out of six tests – math, Vietnamese,physics, chemistry, biology and English – depending on the department they wishto attend.
The HCM City University of Law enrolls students based on their scores in thenational high school examination, their performance over three years in highschool and their results in the test conducted by the university.
Vice principal of the HCM City University of Law Tran Hoang Hai said thatstudents who gained high scores in the university’s test usually demonstratedbetter performance at university.
Many students with high scores in the national high school examination did notshow such good performance, Hai added.
He said the law university would continue using its own tests to selectpromising candidates.
Since 2015, the high school graduation and university entrance exams in Vietnamhave been combined into one national exam called the national high schoolexamination.
Candidates take three compulsory tests in maths, literature and foreignlanguage and choose to take one of two optional tests – natural sciences(including physics, chemistry and biology) or social sciences (history,geography and citizenship). All the tests are multiple-choice except for theone in literature.
This year, it will be taken place from 24 to27 June with some new changes. For example, the Ministry of Education andTraining assigns universities and colleges to rate and oversee the ratingprocess of multiple-choice tests while provinces and cities’ educationdepartments are in charge in rating literature tests under the supervision ofuniversities and colleges.
A student’s score at the national high schoolexamination will account for 70 percent of their high school graduation scorewhile their average performance score in 12th grade accounts for 30percent.
Last year, the proportion between the two compositions was 50-50.
The changes are expected to fix shortcomings in previous national exams,especially last year’s exam which saw a serious cheating scandal in whichscores of hundreds of students in three provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La and HaGiang were modified upwards.-VNS/VNA
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