In 2025, universities' specialized entrance exams will be adjusted to accommodate the first cohort of students educated under the 2018 General Education Program. According to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh, Director of the Testing and Quality Assessment Center at Vietnam National University-HCM, the Admissions Council is preparing to release the official information regarding the new format of the aptitude test since 2025 as soon as possible.
The exam structure will be adjusted to align with the changes in the new general education program. Specifically, the aptitude test from 2025 will consist of three parts: language use; mathematics, logic, and data analysis; and problem-solving. The adjustment in the exam structure lies in the third part, which allows students to randomly select three out of six knowledge areas, including: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, and Economics and Law, the last of which is completely new.
Meanwhile, Vietnam National University-Hanoi has released a sample exam for the 2025 aptitude test. According to the University's Testing Center, the sample exam is designed for students who have been studying under the new General Education Program since 2025 and consists of two compulsory parts and one optional part.
The two compulsory parts include 50 questions on mathematics and data processing, and 50 questions on literature and language. The optional part allows students to choose between science or English. Students choose three out of five topics: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, and Geography, each of which has 17 questions (including one trial question) to complete the science section. The English option consists of 50 multiple-choice questions designed for admissions to foreign language programs.
A new feature in the 2025 aptitude test structure is the addition of question clusters in all parts and topics. Question clusters consist of a common prompt and individual questions that develop students' problem-solving skills from basic to advanced levels across different fields and interdisciplinary areas.
Member universities of Vietnam National University-HCM informed that the plan is to maintain the same admissions methods as in the previous year. Accordingly, universities will consider multiple admission methods, primarily based on the results of the high school graduation exam and the aptitude test of Vietnam National University-HCM. This is to avoid disrupting and affecting students' application process. For the aptitude test method, each university will make appropriate adjustments to align with the changes in the exam structure from 2025.
The specialized aptitude test of HCMC University of Education has also undergone significant changes in terms of question formats. The assessment of abilities will closely follow the 2018 General Education Program. Specifically, the content of the 12th-grade curriculum accounts for 70-80 percent of the test, while the remaining content is from the 10th and 11th-grade curricula. The 2025 exam structure has several new features, including two new question formats: multiple-choice questions with more than one correct answer and data-driven question formats.
Deputy Head Le Phan Quoc of the Student Affairs Department at HCMC University of Education, the university's orientation is to research and review the methods to suit each program rather than applying the same method to all programs. Equally important is the review and adjustment of different subject combinations in methods that use combinations to suit the subjects in the high school program of students (compulsory subjects, elective subjects) and the high school graduation exam subjects from 2025 according to the examination plan issued by the Ministry of Education and Training.
In addition to traditional combinations, the university will add combinations suitable for new elective subjects such as Computer Science and Technology. In general, each admission combination consists of three subjects, including a compulsory Mathematics or Literature subject.
Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 has issued a notice on the regular university admissions methods for 2025. Accordingly, the university offers six methods, including the one based on high school graduation exam scores.
National Economics University is also one of the earliest universities to announce its regular university admissions orientation for 2025. It maintains stable admission methods but adjusts the quota for each one. The high school graduation exam score is used in two methods: considering the results of the 2025 high school graduation exam; and combining international English certificates with the 2025 high school graduation exam scores in Mathematics and one other subject other than English (combined admissions method according to the admission plan).
Based on the subjects in the new General Education Program, Nha Trang University has announced a list of 36 corresponding subject combinations. Accordingly, depending on the program of study, there will be different groups of 2-5 subjects. Based on these subject groups, the university will develop specific admission combinations in the detailed admission plan.
Recently, at the 2024 Higher Education Conference organized by the Ministry of Education and Training, many universities requested the ministry to promptly issue the 2025 university admissions regulations so that they have a legal basis to announce their own admission plans for students to understand. In response to these requests, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son requested the Department of Higher Education to promptly develop a draft of the university admissions regulations for guidance in a simple manner, ensuring quality and fairness for students.
Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of the Training Department (HCMC University of Industry) commented that university admission processes cannot be separated from the high school graduation exam (exam results) and the high school learning process (academic records).
Therefore, in 2025, when the graduation exam follows the new General Education Program with changes in subjects (elective subjects), it is certain that the admission combinations of schools must be adjusted accordingly. This means an increase due to the need to add subjects from the General Education Program. However, universities are currently waiting for the new university admissions regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training to finalize the adjustments.
Agreeing with that, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, Vice President of HCMC University of Technology (HUTECH) stressed on the urgent necessity of a formal guidance from the Education and Training Ministry to use as a basis for building new admission plans for 2025.
