Ho Chi Minh City Grade 10 exam to adopt open-ended format
Translated from Vietnamese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
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- Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Education and Training announced that the 2026 Grade 10 entrance exam will adopt an open-ended format, focusing on assessing students' competencies.
- The exam content will primarily draw from the 2018 General Education Program for secondary levels, emphasizing critical thinking and real-world application of knowledge.
- Officials stated that the exam structure and assessment criteria were released at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, with sample exams provided for teacher and student reference.
Ho Chi Minh City plans to reform its Grade 10 entrance examination for 2026, shifting towards an open-ended format designed to evaluate students' competencies rather than rote memorization. The announcement comes as students and educators anticipate the upcoming exams.
Students who study in the old way, cramming or learning by rote, cannot meet the requirements of the exam.
According to Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the city's Department of Education and Training, the new exam will be based on the 2018 General Education Program for secondary schools, with content mainly from grades 8 and 9. The focus will be on assessing students' ability to think critically and apply learned knowledge to practical, real-world problems. "Students who study in the old way, cramming or learning by rote, cannot meet the requirements of the exam," Quoc stated.
The exam aims to foster students' thinking and reasoning skills, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical modeling.
Quoc elaborated that the exam aims to foster students' thinking and reasoning skills, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical modeling. For Vietnamese language, the exam will integrate reading comprehension and writing skills, with writing content linked to the reading passages. The mathematics exam will test students' mathematical thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, and modeling capabilities, preparing them for high school. The English exam will assess language proficiency, requiring students to understand and apply knowledge in relevant contexts, especially real-life situations, rather than just memorizing grammar and vocabulary.
The English exam will assess language proficiency, requiring students to understand and apply knowledge in relevant contexts, especially real-life situations, rather than just memorizing grammar and vocabulary.
To prepare students and teachers, the Department of Education and Training released the exam's structure, assessment requirements, and competency levels at the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year. Sample exams were also provided as a reference. Quoc emphasized that while the actual exam may differ from the samples, it will adhere to the announced structure and assessment criteria. This move signifies the city's commitment to modernizing its educational assessment methods.
The exam questions in English will focus on assessing language ability, not just relying on students' memorized knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by Tuแปi Trแบป in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
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