VietNamNet Bridge – Reports released by education departments revealed that the percentage of students passing high school final exams is very high.

VietNamNet Bridge – Reports released by education departments revealed that the percentage of students passing high school final exams is very high. Some believe the news should be celebrated, but many more are questioning how students achieved such astonishing results.

Exam record at high school

Educators debate the 2-in-1 exam

High school students sit graduation exams

With 94.59 percent of students passing the 2010 high school final exams, HCM City has the highest percentage of students passing exams in the south. Twenty-two schools report 100 percent of their students passed the finals.

In the north, there is no province with less than 90 percent of students passing the exams. Meanwhile, in the south, most provinces report over 80 percent. Some have announced that nearly 100 percent passed the final exams.

Educators believe that one reason behind the high percentage is that the questions were easy. Nguyen Hong Phong, a geography teacher in Quang Ngai province, noted last year that 50 percent of examinees got five scores and higher from the geography exam, while the figure is 75 percent this year.

“It is because, I think, the geography exam questions this year were much easier than last year,” he speculated. “Moreover, teachers have more experience in preparing their students for the exams.”

The same situation applied to the history exam. A lot of examinees got 8 and higher scores for this subject. Teacher Tran Thanh Hau from Huynh Thuc Khang High School in Quang Ngai province, one of exam graders, noted that all the exam questions were easy.

“Most students could answer the questions, except the second question,” Hau observed.

Hau went on to say that, like many previous years, exam questions required students to memorize too much. “If we do not change the way we set exam questions, students will stay afraid of learning history,” Hau predicted.

Regarding the mathematics exam, Teacher Nguyen Van Thuyen, a math teacher at Tu Nghia 2 High School in Quang Ngai province, proposed that most examinees did not have big problems with the math exam because the questions were within their reach.

Some educators believe that many more students passed the 2010 exams due to loosened exam supervision. The Ministry of Education and Training, in the 2010 final exams, did not send the ministry’s authorized inspectors to exam sites.

Several months ago, when hearing that the ministry would not send authorized inspectors, educators warned that cheating would occur and that many students would copy from each other.

Teacher Bui Van Thuan in Gia Lai province, stressed that people should not be too glad that a high percentage of students passed. “High percentages of students passing the high school final exams do not mean for certain that education quality has been improved,” he cautioned.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Training, when reviewing the 2010 final exams, affirmed that the finals were well and seriously organized. Only one proctor and 92 students were found in violation of examination regulations, a record low number as well.

Source: Tuoi tre, Tien phong