CIRCULAR

AMENDING SOME ARTICLES OF REGULATION ON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION EXAM PROMULGATED TOGETHER WITH CIRCULAR NO. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT DATED MAY 26, 2020 BY MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Higher Education dated June 18, 2012; the Law on amendments to some Articles of the Law on Higher Education dated November 19, 2018;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 69/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017 on functions, duties, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

At the request of the Head of Quality Control Department;

The Minister of Education and Training hereby promulgates a Circular amending some Articles of the Regulation on high school graduation exam promulgated together with Circular No. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT dated May 26, 2020 by the Minister of Education and Training.

Article 1. Amendments to some Articles of Regulation on high school graduation exam promulgated together with Circular No. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT dated May 26, 2020 by Minister of Education and Training

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 “a) Composition of Exam Council: The Chairperson is the Director of the DET (or Deputy Director of the DET in special cases); Vice Chairpersons are Deputy Directors of the DET and heads of divisions tasked with management of high school education, continuing education at high school level and high school graduation exam of the DET; members are heads of certain divisions of the DET and head masters of high schools, in which standing member is the leader of the division tasked with management of high school graduation exam of the DET (hereinafter referred to as “exam management division”);”

2. Point a Clause 2 Article 9 is amended as follows:

“a) Candidates who have graduated high schools, candidates who have finished the high school program but not yet graduated high school in previous years, post-secondary school graduates who are going to sit the exam and continuing education candidates shall be arranged to take the exam together with 12th graders of high schools in the year of exam (hereinafter referred to as “high school 12th grader candidates”) at given Exam Places decided by the Director of the DET, provided that high school 12th grader candidates account for at least 60% in total candidates in that Exam Place (other cases shall be subject to decision of the MOET); the issuance of lists of candidates for the purpose of arranging exam rooms shall comply with Point a Clause 1 hereof;”

3. Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 10 are amended as follows:

 “3. In the area for each exam stage of the Exam Council (including question paper printing and copying, exam invigilation, script header removal, exam marking and exam remarking), one fixed telephone shall be placed in the common working room/ guardroom or a separate room to ensure security and safety (as for Exam Places, if a fixed telephone could not be placed due to force majeure reason, the President of the Exam Council has the power to decide provision of a mobile phone without any image recording function,  memory stick or internet connection that is sealed when not in use). The phone shall only be used to contact the Exam Council and exam steering boards at all levels; every call shall be on speaker mode and heard in public. If necessary, one computer can be set up in the guardroom of the Exam Place and only online when sending quick reports to the Exam Council. Phone and computer use shall be recorded into a logbook and made with the witness and confirmation of the inspectors in each area.

4. Invigilation, marking and remarking areas of the Exam Council must each have containers for storage of recording and/or transmission devices of persons in charge of those areas; these objects shall be sealed and placed under the supervision of public security officials.”

4. Clause 2 and Clause 3 Article 12 are amended as follows:

“2. Eligibility requirements for examination:

a) Candidates prescribed in Point a Clause 1 of this Article must also meet the requirements that in 12th grade their conduct must be classified as Average and above and academic performance must not be classified as Poor. The classification of conduct is not required for continuing education learners in guided self-study mode and learners with no requirements of conduct classification;

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c) Candidates who have graduated post-secondary schools as prescribed in Point c Clause 1 of this Article must have studied and passed a given number of high school academic subjects as per the Education Law and its existing guiding documents of the MOET;

d) Candidates must register for the exam and submit all required documents in due time.

3. Registration of papers:

a) For high school graduation assessment purpose: high school candidates prescribed in Points a and b Clause 1 of this Article must take 4 papers, including 3 independent papers, which are Mathematics, Literature and Foreign Language, and 1 combined paper at the candidate’s option; continuing education candidates prescribed in Points a and b Clause 1 of this Article must take 3 papers, including 2 independent papers, which are Mathematics and Literature, and 1 combined paper at the candidate’s option. Continuing education candidates may register for the exam of Foreign Language paper for university and college admission purpose;

b) Candidates prescribed in Point c Clause 1 hereof may register for independent papers, combined papers or component subjects of the combined papers.”

5. Clause 2 Article 15 is amended as follows:

“2. Each question paper has one official version and backup version that meet the requirements prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article; each version shall have its answer key enclosed while written question papers shall have additional marking schemes.”

6. Clause 1 Article 16 is amended as follows:

 “1. Unpublished question papers and answer keys are listed as “first decree top secret” in the list of state secrets. The unused backup question papers will be declassified after the end of exam invigilation.”

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“7. Process of setting of question papers:

a) The Question Paper Setting Team shall formulate, evaluate and proofread the question paper and answer key thereof and marking scheme (for written question papers) of its assigned paper/ subject and meet the requirements in Article 15 hereof for official and backup question papers. With regard to multiple-choice question papers, the secretary shall use a given software to withdraw random multiple-choice questions from a standardized question bank formulated as per regulation of the MOET and forward them to the leader of Question Paper Setting Team (in the witness of the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council and leader of Question Paper Setting Team), which will be used as reference for question paper formulation;

b) Moderation of question papers: according to the assignment by the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council, the moderator shall read and answer the question paper, and then evaluate the question paper according to the requirements mentioned in Article 15 hereof and propose modification and correction where necessary; the evaluation given by the moderator shall be reported to the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council and used as a source for the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council to refer to during the approval of the question paper;

c) Completion of question papers: based on the opinion of the question paper moderator, all members of Question Paper Setting Team shall modify and complete the question papers and then sign and propose the completed question paper to the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council for approval together. For multiple-choice questions, after they are approved by the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council, the secretary shall mix and assign the questions to different question paper codes and forward them to Question Paper Setting Team; all members of Question Paper Setting Team shall review each question paper code and its answer key; and then the leader of Question Paper Setting Team shall sign and propose them to the Chairperson of Question Paper Setting Council for approval and printing.”

8. Point c Clause 3 Article 18 is amended as follows:

 “c) The envelopes shall be stored in locked and sealed boxes, cabinets or containers, which shall be guarded around the clock. Their keys shall be kept by the Manager of Paper Question Delivery and Handover Board, who may authorize, in writing, persons in charge of dispatch group or team to keep and hand over the keys to the Managers of Exam Places. In force majeure cases where the envelopes cannot be delivered in locked and sealed boxes, cabinets or containers, the DET shall prepare delivery plans to ensure the security and safety of the envelopes and report to the MOET before launching the plans;”

9. Point a Clause 3 Article 20 is amended as follows:

 “a) Composition: The Manager shall be a leader of a high school; one Deputy Manager, who is a leader or specialized team leader of the high school where the Exam Place is based, shall be in charge of facilities; the other Deputy Managers shall be leaders or specialized team leaders of other high schools; the secretary shall be the Exam Council secretary or a high school teacher; invigilators shall be teachers of high school or lower secondary schools in the province; exam room supervisors shall be high school teachers; security guards and service staff shall be the staff of the school where the Exam Place is based; and healthcare workers and police officers (or military controllers in special cases);”

10. Clause 2 Article 23 is amended as follows:

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11. Article 26 is amended as follows:

“Article 26. Written Paper Marking Board

1. Composition:

a) The Manager of Written Paper Marking Board shall be the head of Exam Council; Deputy Managers of Written Paper Marking Board shall be heads of divisions of DET and high schools, in which, Standing Deputy Manager shall be the head of the exam management division or division tasked with management of high school education/ continuing education of DET;

b) A Deputy Manager whose field of expertise falls in the subject area of the written paper shall hold the position of Lead of Subject Marking;

c) Written Paper Marking Board shall have at least two Marking Teams under management of Lead of Subject Marking; each Marking Team shall have a Leader and examiners, who are officials, public employees and teachers having taught or currently teaching the subject area of the written paper to be marked; members of Secretary Board and Script Header Removal Board are not allowed to mark papers;

d) Police officers, security guards, medical staff and service staff.

2. The Manager of Marking board shall direct marking activities and be held accountable to the Chairperson of Exam Council for the marking process, progress and quality; have powers to replace or dismiss any member who is deemed irresponsible or has committed a violation against the Regulation or has made many mistakes in performing their assigned tasks; and conduct examination or verification upon occurrence of any incident.

3. Deputy Manager of Written Paper Marking Board shall take responsibility for their performance of the tasks and execution of the powers assigned or authorized by the Manager.

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a) Plan the marking schedule; organize discussions of marking scheme, answer key and grading scale, have the team do the marking together; organize experience-learning meetings during the marking process; hold a review of the team’s performance after all scripts of Exam Council have been marked;

b) Propose the Manager of Written Paper Marking Board to replace or dismiss any member who is deemed irresponsible, has made many mistakes or has committed a violation against the Regulation;

c) Have the power to authorize Leaders of Marking Teams to perform some tasks within the competence of Lead of Subject Marking depending on the marking situation at Exam Council.

5. Leaders of Marking Teams shall help Lead of Subject Marking manage and organize the marking process in their Teams and perform tasks within the competence of Lead of Subject Marking when authorized.

6. Members of Written Paper Marking Board shall perform tasks assigned by the Manager of the Board and comply with provisions in this Regulation; examiners shall comply with orders of Leaders of their Marking Teams and Lead of Subject Marking.”

12. Article 27 is amended as follows:

“Article 27. Marking of scripts

1. General provisions concerning marking of scripts:

a) Examiners shall follow the marking scheme, answer key and grading scale of the MOET; script is graded on scale 0-10, counted up to 0.25; each script is marked through two independent rounds by two examiners from two different Marking Teams;

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c) Lead of Marking Subject shall gather all Marking Team Leaders and examiners to announce the Regulation, discuss the answer key and marking scheme, and grade at least 10 scripts; then, conduct the marking through two independent rounds in two separated rooms. For Exam Councils with 30.000 candidates or more, Lead of Marking Subject or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Marking Subject shall organize marking in groups or teams;

d) The envelope of scripts shall be handed over to an examiner who is chosen by casting lot.

2. First-round marking:

a) Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Marking Subject shall hand over envelopes of scripts to examiners by casting lot;

b) Before marking, examiners shall check every script to make sure that they have received sufficient pages and headers as written on the envelope and cross out any blanks left on the paper;

c) If detecting missing pages, headers; answers written on scrap papers or unspecified papers; papers with handwritings of two people or more, answers written in two different colors or more or in red, answers written in pencil or any note or drawing that is unrelated to the exam; torn or intentional marking, examiners shall report and transfer these scripts to the Marking Team Leader, who will forward these scripts to Lead of Subject Marking for consideration;

d) In the first-round marking, except for the cross out strokes in blank areas, examiners must not write anything on the candidates’ scripts and the envelope. Scores for each question, total score and comments (if any) shall be written on the record of scores for each written paper. On the record, examiners shall write and sign their full name. After finishing marking one envelope, examiners shall bring that envelope to Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Subject Marking, who will hand it over to the Secretary Board of Exam Council.

3. Second-round marking:

a) After receiving envelopes of scripts from the first-round marking, members of the Secretary Board of Exam Council shall take the records of scores out of the envelopes and give the envelopes back to Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Subject Marking and then cast lots for the second-round marking, making sure that an envelope of marked scripts is not be given back to the examiner who marked those scripts;

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c) After finishing one envelope, the examiner shall bring this envelope and the record of scores to Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Subject Marking, who will hand them over to the Secretary Board of Exam Council.

4. Finalizing scores:

Lead of Subject Marking shall receive marked scripts and records of scores from the Secretary Board of Exam Council and direct Marking Teams to finalize the scores. Only the scores of each question and total score shall be written on a script at the designated location after they are finalized. Score finalizing procedures are as follows:

a) The final score after two rounds of marking:

Situation

Solution

The difference between two total scores or component scores (except the case of score miscalculation) is less than 1,0 point.

Two examiners shall reach a consensus on the final score; the examiner marking the second time shall write the final score; and then both examiners shall sign and write full names on all pages of the script.

The difference between two total scores or component scores (except the case of score miscalculation) is between 1,0 and 1,5 points.

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If the two examiners cannot reach an agreement on the final score, Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Subject Marking shall draw up a record of decision on the final score, write the score and sign and write full name on all pages of the script together with both examiners.

The difference between two total scores or component scores (except the case of score miscalculation) is more than 1,5 points.

Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Marking Subject shall have the script marked for the third time using a different pen color.

b) The final score after three rounds of marking:

Situation

Solution

If the scores of two out of three times are the same.

Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Marking Subject shall take the identical score of two marking rounds as the final score, write the final score and sign and write full name on all pages of the script together with the examiners.

If the differences in the scores of three times are varied: up to 2,5 points.

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If the differences in the scores of three times are varied: more than 2,5 points.

Lead of Subject Marking or a Marking Team Leader authorized by Lead of Subject Marking shall have the script marked together by the whole Marking Team, draw up a record of decision on the final score, write the score and sign and write full name on all pages of the script together with all participating examiners.

5. Inputting scores of written papers:

a) Score Input Team, which is affiliated to Secretary Board of Exam Council, shall be led by the head or member of Secretary Board of Exam Council; Score Input Team consists of at least two sub-teams; each sub-team shall have at least three members;

b) Score Input Team shall input scores of written papers in two independent rounds provided that each round is undertaken by a different sub-team on the marking software in the witness and observation of inspectors.”

13. Clause 1 Article 38 is amended as follows:

 “1. Candidates who took all required papers in last year’s exam but have not been qualified to graduate and have no record of score disposal can reuse any result meeting the following requirements in the exam of the immediately following year to be qualified for high school graduation assessment:

a) Independent papers scoring at least 5,0;

b) Combined papers scoring at least 5,0 and component subjects thereof each scoring more than 1,0;

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14. Point b Clause 1 Article 40 is amended as follows:

 “b) Get individual or team prizes in practical contests of Physics, Chemistry, Biology; arts, sports contests, exhibitions of national defense education, science and engineering contests, international letter-writing competitions held by education authorities in cooperation with other authorities from provincial level and above for high school students. Individual prizes: first, second or third prize in national contests, first prize in provincial contests or gold medal is granted 2,0 extra points; consolation prize in national contests, fourth prize in national science and engineering contests, second prize in provincial contests or silver medal is granted 1,5 extra points; third prize in provincial contests or bronze medal is granted 1,0 extra point. Team prizes: extra points shall only be awarded to candidates with team prizes at national level; the number of players, athletes and actors of teams shall comply with the rules provided by the organizer of each contest; persons winning team prizes shall be entitled to the same amount of extra points awarded to those winning individual prizes as provided for in this Point. Candidates winning different prizes in different contests shall be eligible for the extra points granted to the highest prize.”

15. Clause 2 Article 46 is amended as follows:

“2. Form of the certificate of completion of general education program is provided for in Circular No. 18/2020/TT-BGDDT dated June 29, 2020 by the Minister of MOET promulgating form of certificate of completion of general education program.”

16. Article 49 is amended as follows:

“Article 49. Exam inspection

1. The Chief Inspector of MOET shall decide the establishment of inspectorates that will inspect exam direction and organization and exam stage inspection in administrative divisions; in necessary cases, the establishment of inspectorates shall be subject to decision of the Minister of MOET.

2. The provincial Chief Inspector shall assign personnel to the provincial exam steering board and to inspections of exam stages in their province according to direction of the Chairperson of the provincial People’s Committee.

3. The Chief Inspector of the DET shall establish inspectorates to inspect the preparation, invigilation, marking, re-marking, and high school graduation assessment of the DET; in necessary cases, the establishment of inspectorates shall be subject to decision of the Director of DET.

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17. Clause 3 Article 54 is amended as follows:

“3. Suspension of taking the exam:

a) Suspension of taking the exam is issued for those who commit one of the following acts of malpractice: Have been warned for the first time but still commit acts of malpractice at reprimand or warning level; bring prohibited items specified in Article 14 of this Regulation into the exam room/waiting room or while moving between the exam room and waiting room; taking the question papers out of the exam room or bringing the answers from outside to the exam room; writing or drawing on the answer paper any content that has no relevance to the exam; threatening officials or other candidates; failing to comply with instructions from supervisors or managers of the waiting room while moving in the examination area and staying in the waiting room;

b) Invigilators shall issue a record, confiscate evidence (if any) and report the situation to the Manager of the Exam Place for decision on suspension.  In case of disagreement in handling, the situation shall be report to the Manager of Invigilation Board for final decision. Suspended candidate shall hand in the question paper, script/answer sheet and scrap paper to invigilators and leave the exam room immediately after the decision is issued. Suspended candidates are allowed to leave the examination area only when the exam session is over;

c) Results of all papers taken by suspended candidates in the exam year shall be cancelled.”

18. Article 56 is amended as follows:

“Article 56. Responsibilities of the MOET

1. Direct exam organization; decide how to handle special cases arising from natural disasters, epidemics and other abnormal situations;

2. Establish a National Steering Committee to direct exam organization.

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4. Develop question papers for annual exams.

5. Compare exam results and average score of the 12th grade of 12th grader candidates in the exam year.”

Article 2. Point c Clause 1 Article 40 of the Regulation on high school graduation exam promulgated together with Circular No. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT dated May 26, 2020 by the Minister of Education and Training is annulled.

Article 3. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from April 27, 2021.

2. Relevant ministries and central authorities; Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities; head of the school department of the Ministry of National Defense; head of the training department of the Ministry of Public Security; Directors of DETs; Director of the Department of Education, Science and Technology of Bac Lieu; heads of parent universities and academies; university principals; and principals of colleges with early childhood education college degree programs shall implement this Circular./.

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