What is a national excellent student in Vietnam? What are regulations on the candidates for the exam?

What is a national excellent student in Vietnam?

Currently, the law does not define what a national excellent student is. However, it can be inferred based on Article 2 of the Regulation on the National Excellent Student Examination, issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT as follows:

Purpose and requirements

1. The national excellent student examination aims to motivate and encourage both teachers and students to enhance creativity, teach well, and learn well; contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the quality of management and direction by educational management levels; and simultaneously, identify students with talents in specific subjects to create a source for nurturing and achieving the goal of training talents for the country.

2. The national excellent student examination must ensure safety, seriousness, accuracy, objectivity, and fairness.

Additionally, Article 3 of the Regulation on the National Excellent Student Examination, issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT, regulates the organization of national excellent student examinations as follows:

- Annually, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) organizes two national excellent student selection examinations, including: the National High School Excellent Student Selection Examination (abbreviated as the national excellent student examination) and the High School Student Selection Examination for National Teams to participate in international and regional Olympiads (abbreviated as the Olympic team selection examination).

- Each Department of Education and Training, each university, and each university's affiliated high school that offers specialized programs will be one examination unit; Viet Bac Highland High School for Ethnic Minorities is allowed to register as an examination unit.

Thus, from the above regulations, it can be inferred that national excellent students are those selected to participate in the national excellent student selection examination.

What is a national excellent student in Vietnam? What are regulations on the candidates for the exam?​ (Image from the Internet)

What are regulations on candidates participating in the national excellent student selection examination in Vietnam?

According to Article 4 of the Regulation on the National Excellent Student Examination, issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT:

* For the national excellent student selection examination:

- Students currently studying in high school, with conduct (or ethics) and academic performance (or competence) rated as good or higher based on the results at the end of the semester (or academic year) immediately preceding the examination, and selected to the team of the examination unit;

- Each candidate is only allowed to participate in one subject examination in a school year.

* For the Olympic team selection examination:

Students currently studying in high school and falling into one of the following categories:

- Selected by MOET among the students who have won prizes in the same academic year's national excellent student selection examination, based on the principle from high to low by examination score, ensuring the number of students selected for each subject does not exceed eight (08) times the number of students needed for the national team to participate in the international Olympiad for that subject:

- Did not participate in the same academic year's national excellent student selection examination, but was a member of the national team for the regional Olympiad; member of the national team for the international Olympiad in the immediately preceding academic year.

What is the content of the exam for selecting national excellent students in Vietnam?

According to Article 5 of the Regulation on the National Excellent Student Examination, issued with Circular 17/2023/TT-BGDDT, the examination subjects, content, format, and duration are as follows:

* Examination subjects:

- For the national excellent student selection examination, subjects include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Literature, History, Geography, and Foreign Languages (English, Russian, French, Chinese). The examination will only be considered for subjects with at least five units registered. Any adjustment to the examination subjects (if any) will be decided by the Minister of MOET;

- For the Olympic team selection examination, subjects include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics.

* Examination content:

- Within the general education program, the content of specialized high school subjects; for the Olympic team selection examination, the content aligns closely with international and regional Olympiads.

* Examination format and duration:

- The national excellent student selection examination: Two sessions for Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, and Foreign Languages; one session for Literature, History, Geography; the examination duration is 180 minutes.

Informatics is tested via programming on computers; other subjects are in written form: Foreign Language subjects have an additional speaking test, where candidates have 5 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to record;

- The Olympic team selection examination: Two sessions for each subject; Physics, Chemistry, and Biology have an additional practical session; the examination duration for Informatics is 300 minutes per test, Mathematics is 270 minutes per test, other subjects are 240 minutes per test.

The practical session duration for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology is 180 minutes.