June is the highest peak time of the students, who take the entrance exam to high schools. The exam to the 10th grade is considered the toughest exam of general school students.

Summer is the time to go to private tutoring classes

“N”, a 9th grade student of a secondary school in Dong Da district, said that it is now the most difficult period for him. He said that he will have to attend a series of exams to enter some schools, including the schools for the gifted. On June 8-9, he had to sit the exam to the high school for the gifted belonging to the Hanoi University of Education.

After that, on June 11-12, he attended the exam to the foreign language majoring high school under the Hanoi National University. Just ten days later, on June 22, 23, 24, he will take the entrance exam to normal school, a compulsory exam organized by the Hanoi Education and Training Department.

N said that his top choice is passing the exam to the Kim Lien High School, one of the well-known high schools in Hanoi. Meanwhile, he has registered to enter the Dong Da High School as the second choice (under the current regulations, if a student fails to enroll in the school registered as the first choice, he can enroll to another school, if he gets enough marks required by the school).

“I don’t think I will pass the exams to the high schools for the gifted. I just attend the exam to test my capability,” N said.

As N has to attend different exams to high schools, he has to gear up with the preparation for the exams. N is now attending all the private tutoring classes, organized by the schools or students’ parents.

The secondary school, which N has finished, is now organizing tutoring classes for 9th graders who prepare for the entrance exam to the 10th grade. N goes to one of the classes three days a week. He also goes to another tutoring class, which has been maintaining since the beginning of the last school year, two days a week. Also, he attends separated mathematics, literature and English classes belonging to different centers.

According to Huyen, N’s mother, the fees for the extra classes are different. With the first class, N has to pay 600,000 dong for the whole training course. With the second, he has to pay 90,000 dong a month. Meanwhile, N has to pay by learning hours at the classes at learning centers, about 50,000 dong per hour.

Children’s exams tormenting parents

N is not alone. All secondary school graduates are learning intensively on summer days to prepare for the high school entrance exam – the toughest exam for general school students.

In principle, all students have the right to continue studying at high schools, state owned or people founded. However, students all want to study at state owned schools and some prestigious people founded schools. Therefore, they can only do this if they can pass the exams to the schools.

Nga, who has a daughter who finished N Secondary School in Hai Ba Trung, said that she wants the girl to be enrolled in a good high school, but the girl will have to compete with many other excellent students to enter the schools.

“At my daughter’s class at the secondary school, 40 out of 50 students are excellent students, therefore, the competition will be very stiff,” she said.

Thuc Anh, a mother, said that she feels worried when seeing other students rushing to different exam preparation classes, while her son is going to one tutoring class only.

“My son has to go to an extra class at the school every morning; therefore, I do not ask him to go to more tutoring classes. I don’t know if the decision is reasonable,” she said.

The Hanoi Education and Training Department has announced that the city will have enough seats at high schools for all secondary school graduates. However, parents still feel worried when hearing that only 65 percent of students will be accepted to study at state owned schools.

TP