Tips helping students earn high marks at subjects of social sciences at High School Graduation Examination 2020

Binh Duong province was proudly on the top of 62 provinces and cities in the nation of highest average mark points after the announcement of Ministry of Education and Training for the High School Graduation Examination 2020. Of the examination subjects, subjects of social sciences have the highest ranking, of which, History was ranked first before Literature and Civil Education.

Provincial students have fulfilled their High School Graduation Examination 2020

Teacher training

To gain such marvelous results, local Department of Education and Training has invested in a long term to quality improvement. So as to elevate quality of high school graduation, local Department of Education and Training has taken care of training teachers, especially those teachers of grade 12. Annually, as the national high school graduation examination is fulfilled, the Department summons all teachers of subjects included in the examination to analyze the test and point out the strength and errors of the candidates. Thereon, the teachers are more experienced in their teaching to supply students with what they need. And, during the summer training course for teachers, teachers from schools of high graduation rates will share how they have taught.

The good approach that the Department is pursuing is inviting instructors of HCMC University of Pedagogy and HNC University of Pedagogy to orient the reviews for graduation examination as well as skills and techniques to handle the tests among subject teachers. Nguyen Hong Sang, Director of Binh Duong Department of Education and Training said: “At the beginning of 2019-2020 school-year, the Department has invited experienced instructors of HCMC University of Pedagogy to train all grade 12 teachers of senior high schools, vocational training and continual education institutions on teaching profession and multiple choice test format in a bid to offer students access to formality and contents of tests to be prepared by Ministry of Education and Training. Besides, the Department has required schools to follow illustrative tests of the Ministry, to organize researches and curriculum preparation for teachers to service their teaching at schools, and to review and test students on regular basis so that they become familiar with formality, contents, and structure of a real high school graduation test.”

Teaching oriented

To balance the education quality among schools, the Department set up subject groups of all subjects required for the examination. Those groups are required to orient the teaching in the whole province. Conforming to the high school graduation examination, the groups assign members to prepare tests which are composed into sets of tests for schools to give to their students for revision. Taking from the test bank, teachers of schools can make use of a part or all of the tests to set their students in trial. Pham Thi Bich Nhuan, Deputy Principal of Tan Phuoc Khanh Senior High School in Tan Uyen Town, the deputy group leader of History, said that aside from the tests offered by the Department, teachers have many other sources of reference shared to implement their teaching. The diversified tests help schools construct their teaching plans.

In 2019-2020 school year, the Covid-19 epidemic has affected the teaching activities of the schools. Not letting students take a long break during which they might forget their knowledge, the Department has actively implemented reviews and teaching activities for students in high schools, vocational education and continual education institutions. Following the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Department of Education and Training has directed schools to practice online teaching in many forms. This form of teaching helps students develop self-study competence and improve teachers' skills of organizing teaching through the internet and on television. Thereby, the teachers continue to promote the application of information technology in teaching in the direction of approaching the fourth industrial revolution. In the process of organizing Internet teaching, tests selected from the system in suitable forms have been regularly conducted at schools.

As for social subjects, according to Le Xuan Tuyen, Head of the Department's Geography subject group, weekly sets of tests are prepared and sent to all teachers. Those tests are also sent to the specialized department who will upload on the website for students to study. In addition to online teaching, teachers also provide materials for students via social networks like Zalo and Facebook. Many schools also build their own examination review pages. Teachers of schools also share how to organize such reviews.

During the off time to prevent epidemics, students stayed at home but they did not stop learning. In addition to being taught by teachers on the internet and on television, high school students got access to the department's multiple choice test banks to do their homework on regular basis, helping them understand the lessons thoroughly. According to experts of the Department of Education and Training, for Literature, it is not possible to build a set of questions to put in the subject test bank; thus, weekly the professional team of the subject prepared the tests which were then sent to teachers of high schools for their own use.

After the epidemic stabilized, the students went back to school, and once again the Department instructed schools to review for the second semester and for the high school graduation exam in 2020. According to Sang, the Department directed schools to conduct researches and analysis of illustrative examination questions in 2020 of the Ministry of Education and Training, creating conditions for teachers and students to refer to and familiarize themselves with the format in the course of teaching and reviewing. The units also actively compiled revision materials or use documents sent by the Department via email, such as review papers or examination review outlines to re-edit into suitable documents for their units.

Talking about teaching 12-grade students in the past school year, Mr. Ngo Thanh Dat, Principal of Ben Cat High School, said: “The school assigned teachers of good ethics, experience, and enthusiasm to guide students how to review to improve quality. Measures were taken to help weak students grasp the most basic knowledge and skills of the curriculum while encouraging the good students”.

In addition, schools also strictly manage teaching and learning routines, and coordinate well with students' parents in managing their children's learning.

Genuine teaching and learning has been the action motto that Binh Duong Provincial Department of Education and Training for many years. On such motto, education quality has been affirmed and dramatically improved, evidently by the recent national high school graduation examinations.

Reported by Anh Sang – Translated by Vi Bao