Vietnam revamps 2026 high school graduation exam with new 2+2 subject system

Vietnam's Ministry of Education has overhauled the 2026 national high‑school graduation exam (THPT). The reform replaces the previous six‑subject format with a "2+2" model: two compulsory subjects – Vietnamese literature and mathematics – and two elective subjects chosen from a list that includes physics, history, information technology and other STEM courses. The exam will be administered under the 2018 General Education Programme, ending the transition period between curricula. Scoring now gives greater weight to the full three‑year school record, while the automatic conversion of foreign‑language certificate scores to a perfect 10 has been removed.

More than 1.2 million candidates are expected nationwide. In Ho Chi Minh City, which will host the largest cohort, the education department has prepared 246 test sites with 6,060 rooms and deployed 25,030 staff members, including 193 senior exam supervisors. The city has also run full‑scale mock exams for all Grade‑12 students to familiarise them with the new procedures and to test security measures against cheating, cyber threats and AI‑enabled devices. All registrations, exam‑paper handling and result processing will be carried out online.

The changes aim to reduce exam‑day pressure, promote continuous learning, and align secondary‑school assessment with Vietnam’s digital transformation and emerging job market.