- Nearly 600,000 students across the country today, July 9, are sitting for the second round of the university entrance exams.

Hanoi’s streets at 6 am this morning were full of people, mostly students and their relatives. However, traffic jams were avoided thanks to the efforts of policemen and volunteer students.

Nguyen Thi Nhung from Bac Giang, who was seen walking to an exam room with a pack of steamed glutinous rice, related that she could not sleep last night, and just wished the night would end so that she could take the exam.

“I’m so worried now. I heard that the questions for the first exams were very difficult and I’m afraid that the literature questions will also be difficult,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vu Hai Van from Ha Nam, who is also taking the C-group exams, said that he was not as worried about the literature exam as the history one.

At the entrance to the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Nguyen Van Tung from Ninh Binh called to his father, “No worries, I will complete the exams well”, before he entered the exam room. After that, Tung told his sister, who was standing next to him: “Literature is my favourite subject.”

Fearing that her daughter would be tired in the exam room, Dinh Thi Phuong, a woman from Ninh Binh town, whose daughter today takes the exam to enter the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, woke her up this morning at 5 am so that she had enough time to eat glutinous rice and fresh milk.

“She will only be able to do the exam well on a full stomach,” she said.

At 7 am, the doors to the Hanoi University closed, but parents of examinees were still seen standing outside the doors. They would stand outside there until their children finished their exams.

Having eyes with dark circles round them, Vu Hong Viet, a man from Thanh Hoa province, related that he has been lacking sleep for the last 10 days, since he and his daughter have been in Hanoi. Hien, the daughter, sat for the first exams on July 4 to enter the Hanoi Water Resources University and today sits for the second exams to get into Hanoi University. He said that they had to leave their relatives’ home at 4 am for the exam room because he feared a traffic jam would make them late.

“I forced my daughter to go to bed at 8 pm, while I myself could not sleep,” he said.

A lot of parents, who stood outside the Hanoi University’s doors, said that they were more nervous than the examinees inside.

Universities have reported 287,000 ‘virtual registrations’ for the second exam, with 60 percent of registered students taking the exams.

Da Nang: a bit hot, but traffic good

The rain late last night helped make it cooler this morning in Da Nang city. Streams of people flocked to the exam rooms in the early morning. However, there were no major traffic problems.

Nguyen Binh from Quang Nam province, who brought her daughter to the exam room, said that though the exam room was 25 kilometres from home, they decided not to rent a lodging in Da Nang to save money, but would go to the exam room in the morning and return late in the day. Therefore, they had to get up early and leave home at 4 am.

VietNamNet/DT, TP