Registration for the 2017 high school graduation and college entrance exams has drawn to a close after 20 days, with nearly 860,000 students registered, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced on April 20.

Candidates apply at Ngo Quyen High School in Son Tra District, Da Nang City.

Accordingly, as of 5pm Thursday, there were a total of 859,835 candidates registered to sit the exams, of which, nearly 75% of them registered to take the exams using the results for college admission.

During registration, the network remained in operation without expected delays allowing many local Departments of Education and Training to update data to the system sooner than expected.

Among registered candidates, there were 321,451 (37.39%) which applied to take natural science test and 417,334 (48.54%) registered for social sciences, while 71,046 (8.26%) registered to sit both combined tests.

Candidates are allowed to register for one of two of the above tests or both of them to use the higher exam results for high school graduation. 

With such a provision, in addition to the selection of suitable exams for admission to universities and colleges, candidates also consider selecting appropriate exams to qualify for recognition for high school graduation.

The recent change made to the test method from essay to questionnaire form helps candidates to grasp knowledge in social subjects more effectively. 

This year, universities and colleges also set up new admission groups of subjects; many of which include social sciences that offer various options for candidates to increase their chance of admission.

Therefore, the number of candidates opting to take the social science exam increased, while candidates selecting natural science test remained at a stable level as in previous years – a positive signal compared to previous years.

Although this year MOET has not limited the number of application choices for college admission, candidates did not over-register, with only four to five application choices. 

Some 13% of applicants registered only one, while 30% of them registered two aspirations. This shows that they have identified their favourite careers which they are determined to pursue.

Nhan Dan