In order to improve the National High School Graduation Exam, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the Draft Plan for the Exam, Graduation Assessment, and University and College Admissions for 2017 on September 08, 2016.
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Only 10 months remain until the 2017 National High School Exam takes place. Generally speaking, the psychology of the candidates born in '99, as well as teachers and parents, is anxious, speculating about "how the 2017 National High School Exam will be improved?". After the draft was announced, the 2017 High School Exam is expected to have the following key points:
Four out of five exam subjects are multiple-choice
According to the draft, the organization will continue to hold a unified exam cluster in provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide. As for the number of subjects, instead of the previous 8 subjects, the 2017 exam will only have 5 subjects including Mathematics, Literature, Foreign Language, Natural Sciences (a combination of Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Social Sciences (a combination of History, Geography, Civics Education). The subjects of Mathematics, Foreign Language, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences will be tested in a multiple-choice format, while the Literature exam will be designed by experts, teachers, and experienced lecturers. Thus, 4 out of 5 subjects will be in the form of multiple-choice. The Foreign Language subject has seen drastic changes over the years. From the 2016 National High School Exam draft with "40 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes for the English subject" being assessed as too short in duration, after consultation and practical adjustments, the actual 2016 National High School Exam for the Foreign Language subject included 64 multiple-choice questions and 2 essay questions. The 2017 National High School Exam will be 100% multiple-choice, as per the draft, which is considered not suitable and not equivalent to such an important exam. On the other hand, an exam paper used for university entrance needs to accurately measure the student's ability. If it is purely multiple-choice, cheating becomes easier compared to essays, and some students might pass purely by luck.
Each candidate has a unique exam code
Another notable new point in the draft is that, except for the Literature subject, the four subjects of Mathematics, Foreign Language, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences will be tested in a multiple-choice format; each candidate in the same exam room will have a unique exam code. This is also a fairly appropriate measure to reduce cheating and copying in the exam room, although this makes the exam paper distribution and grading process much more complicated and costly compared to the current situation.
The draft is still open for feedback. It is expected that in early October, the Ministry of Education will announce sample exam papers for each subject.
