Announcement of the schedule of National Excellent Student Exam for the 2024-2025 academic year in Vietnam

Announcement of the schedule of National Excellent Student Exam for the 2024-2025 academic year in Vietnam

On September 30, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam issued Official Dispatch 5974/BGDDT-QLCL 2024 (download) regarding the organization of the National High School Excellent Student Examination for the academic year 2024-2025.

The national excellent student examination schedule for the academic year 2024-2025 is as follows:

- December 25, 2024:

+ Written exams for subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Literature, History, Geography, English, Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese;

+ Computer programming exam for Informatics.

- December 26, 2024:

+ Written exams for subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology;

+ Oral exams for subjects: English, Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese, and computer programming exam for Informatics.

- Time for opening the exam envelopes in the examination room: 07:50. The start time for each exam session: 08:00.

Announcement of the schedule of National Excellent Student Exam for the 2024-2025 academic year in Vietnam​ (Image from the Internet)

What happens if the national excellent student exam paper in Vietnam is leaked?

According to  Article 10 of the National Excellent Student Examination Regulations issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT on National Excellent Student Examination:

Handling unusual incidents

...

4. In case the exam paper is leaked:

a) The Examination Steering Committee takes full responsibility for handling the situation of the leaked exam paper. When there is an official conclusion about the leak, the Examination Steering Committee decides to cancel the exam of the session with the leaked paper and organize a retake with a backup exam paper at a suitable time as per the Decision of the Minister of MOET.

b) The MOET is responsible for cooperating with relevant sectors to inspect, verify, and conclude the cause of the exam paper leak; handle those who leaked the exam paper and related individuals according to legal regulations.

5. In case of a power failure or need to change computers in the Informatics exam room:

a) The Chairman of the Exam Board where the incident occurs can stop the Informatics exam session for affected candidates or halt the Informatics exam altogether and direct, organize remedies according to one of the following methods: (i) Continue the Informatics exam immediately after resolving the incident and compensate for the lost time, if the incident resolution time does not exceed 30 minutes; (ii) Cancel the Informatics exam session if the resolution time exceeds 30 minutes. Must immediately report the incident and remedial plan to the Head of the Examination Steering Committee;

b) In case the Informatics exam session must be canceled, organize a retake with a backup exam paper at a suitable time according to the Decision of the Minister of MOET;

c) Units deliberately causing the incident will be dealt with according to legal regulations.

6. In the event of a severe natural disaster, the Head of the Examination Steering Committee may decide to postpone the exam session and organize the examination as per the Minister of MOET's decision.

7. During the examination organization process, if other unusual incidents occur, involved organizations and individuals must immediately report to the Head of the Examination Steering Committee for appropriate, prompt handling.

Thus, in the case where the national excellent student exam paper is leaked, the Examination Steering Committee takes full responsibility for handling the leak situation. Upon an official conclusion about the leak, the Examination Steering Committee decides to suspend the exam of the session with the leaked paper and organize a retake with a backup exam paper at a suitable time.

The Ministry of Education and Training is responsible for cooperating with relevant sectors to inspect, verify, and conclude the cause of the paper leak; handle those who leaked the exam paper and related individuals according to legal regulations.

How many sets of papers does each national excellent student exam in Vietnam have?

In Article 15 of the National Excellent Student Examination Regulations issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT:

Official Exam Papers and Backup Exam Papers

1. In one examination, each exam subject has one official exam paper and one backup paper with equivalent levels; there is no optional question format for any subject.

2. The exam paper content must comply with Article 5 of this Regulation; ensure accuracy, scientific validity, and classification of candidate levels; exam papers for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in the national excellent student selection exam contain questions assessing skills, and practical competencies of candidates; papers for the Olympic team selection exam must approach the structure and breadth of knowledge found in international and regional Olympic exams.

3. Exam papers must be clearly, coherently expressed, without causing misunderstanding; must state the number of pages, number each page, and have the word "END" at the conclusion of the paper.

4. The official and backup exam papers along with the unpublished grading guidelines are classified as "Top Secret" state secrets. The period of "Top Secret" protection for exam papers ends only when the exam session is over.

5. Unused backup exam papers are declassified after the last exam session of each examination ends.

6. The official exam papers for the national excellent student selection examination and accompanying answers are published on the MOET's official portal after the exam results are announced.

Thus, each national excellent student exam consists of 2 sets of papers, including one official exam paper and one backup paper with equivalent levels.